let's pretend we don't exist

Musing over Musical Memory

2011-10-25T14:00:00.029-05:00

My freshman year, I remember setting up a pseudo-psych-experiment where I would listen to one album on repeat per subject I was studying. Keane's Hopes and Fears was assigned to Biology, Ambulance Ltd's EP was paired with Philosophy of the Mind, Panic! at the Disco went with Cognitive Psychology and Badly Drawn Boy was for Chemistry. I wanted to see if a this artist-specific loop of sound would help me remember the content-specific stream of information I paired it with. Would listening to the same album while you studied and while you did a problem set or worked on a paper affect your output? Honestly, this was probably more of a way to justify and fuel my musical obsessions or a desperate attempt at subconscious studiousness than it was a true experiment. But let me have my fun.

I may not have proven anything with my trials, but whole experience helped me rethink a few assumptions about memory...Things I'm sure anyone with a cd or tape player in their car has already found out for themselves. Musical memory is astounding.

How is it that we can listen to a song twice and have its tempo, harmonies and lyrics more committed to memory than a goddamned electrical potential equation we spent all night staring down?

Granted, different brains work different ways, this might not be a universal phenomenon. But it seems there is something about the music that makes it easier to memorize than plaintext information. Leave a CD in your car for one week and then tell me I'm wrong. Before you know it, you'll have every detail about the songs memorized: tempo, tone, and even transitions between tracks. You'll instantly and intuitively know when there is a pause or blip in the song caused by a bump in the road or something external, because you recognize that it doesn't fit. Things you don't consciously attend to are somehow seeping into your brain and creating associations that last for years!

An anecdote to support my point (this post failed to be experimentally sound from the very beginning, might as well run with it):

Over 6 years ago, I bought my first MP3 player: 32 mb Rio 600. Temporarily suppress your disbelief that a such a player could exist: it did and it held ~7 songs (10 if I compressed them as .wma) I brought it with me on vacation and was forced to listen to the SAME 10 SONGS for an entire month. I haven't listened to most of the songs since high school, yet I still know every word.

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to go listen to some Keane knowing full well it won't reawaken latent facts about mitochondria. But I do know I'll feel sharp pangs of nostalgia as I follow the notes of each melody falling into place. Just like I remember them.

Today's Playlist- my best recollection attempt at what was on my 32MB Rio for one that month sophomore year. Spotify'd!

3/26/10

With Love and Squalor

2011-10-25T01:35:00.003-05:00

Oh hello there, I didn't see you come in.

Hope everyone is having a nice autumn. I presume it's better now that you have Goldblum burned into your retinas. My fall has been pretty chill, not too much new in the Life department. Been working on grad school apps. Moved in with three cool dudes at the top of Mt Olympus (I shit you not). Perpetually surrounded by clouds, we sit on our collective butt watch obscene amounts of Battlestar Gallactica. It's great. Also, I've been stocking up on authentic San Francisco experiences -- felt my first real earthquake the other day AND it was a two parter- 4.0 and 2.5. Then I saw Craig from Craigslist walking down the street because apparently we share a neighborhood. But that's all. So I guess it's about time to pump out another prepackaged bundle of associative memories to the Spotify cloud. This particular bundle was requested by Miss Natalia so I kept electro to a minimum. (Eh, I was in a broody grooves mood anyway.) Some newies, mostly oldies. Because my laptop is currently inpatient somewhere around Dell headquarters, this mix is only available streaming for now. Yeah, after two years of touching various metals to the side of my computer in lieu of a power button, I finally decided it was time to cash in on my warranty. Imagine! Anyhow, without further ado: For Nat--

With Love and Squalor

Spotify / Grooveshark (boooo, incomplete)

1. Lifeboat (Instrumental) - Nathaniel Merriweather, Lovage, Dan the Automator
2. Power (feat. Danny Brown and Despot) - Das Racist
3. Parade - Justice
4. Rabbit In Your Headlights - UNKLE, Thom Yorke
5. Singin' In The Rain - Mint Royale
6. Oh Lord - Foxy Shazam
7. A Pretty Girl is Like - The Magnetic Fields
8. Tuff Ghost - The Unicorns
9. Foxes Mate For Life - Born Ruffians [Guest track contributed by Chris Johnson, "for your gaylist"]
10. Strangers on a Train - Nathaniel Merriweather, Kid Koala, Lovage et. al.
11. Daydreamin' (feat. Jill Scott) - Lupe Fiasco
12. Undiscovered First - Feist
13. This Momentary - Delphic
14. Weatherpeople (Instrumental) - RJD2
15. Phosphene Dream - The Black Angels
16. I'm A Goner - Souljaboy, Andrew W.K., Matt & Kim
17. Soundtracks & Come Backs - Goldfish
18. Experiment Number Six - Lemon Jelly
19. A Fifth of Beethoven - DJ Daddy Ray Z

Tangential Note: If you haven't read Salinger's Nine Stories (Title Reference), please do. You can't let negative associations Catcher in the Rye infect his other work. (Am I inside your head or what?)

Completely unrelated note: If you ever find yourself needing Photoshop on a computer where it's not installed- Pixlr is a ridiculously legit alternative. Spread the word!

Audio.Video.Disco.licious

2011-10-17T22:43:00.002-05:00

(more like LEAK-a-licious, am I right? oh so right)

So listening through a few times I'm actually happily surprised. Maybe the early-released singles had lowered my expectations a few hundred kliks but in all the honesty, this album isn't half bad. It's solid. And precious. While any songs standing alone may be pretty weak, as a unit it allows you to appreciate this sophomore album for what it is: a little quest. Venturing off from Hard House roots, exploring and breaking through new sound ground.

<< Don't worry, I'll post links as YouTube catches up to the rest of the internet. Current favorite is Parade, so that'll be first on The List >>

Obviously, you can't go into this album expecting another Cross. Everything they've put out since A Cross the Universe has indicated they were heading in this new direction. Like glamrockers from the future nostalgic for the early 80's, there's just .... something in those epic orchestral synth chords. Their Dior Homme set (aka Planisphere) and remix of Let Love Rule were probably the most noticeable steps in the transition. The release of Civilization and Audio Video Disco were just confirmation.

So in the end, f you're still stuck on zee old Joostees, don't even bother. Go listen to some SebastiAn. That dude ROCKS HARD. He'll fill that hole in your heart right up. I think Total is the most cohesive bundle he's put out to date but I'm probably biased because I'm hands down obsessed! with that shit.

Then again, maybe these new Justice tracks will fill a hole you didn't even know you had. That one hole that requires equal parts Alan Parsons Project and Ratatat, slightly reminiscent of Daft Punk.

What can I say, these musical heart holes are oddly specific.

Lucid Dreams

2011-08-03T01:57:00.002-05:00

It's official, I'm addicted to making playlists.
That, or my tendency to obsess over a limited number of songs easily lends itself to documentation. Whatever. Either way, this one's an attempt to capture the experience of wandering around SF in the summertime. Overall, pretty upbeat and chill, ranging from delightfully quirky to full-on strange. Definitely recommending you whip out a solid pair of headphones-- tracks like Cornelius' Mic Check and Franz Ferdinand's Lucid Dreams are infinitely improved with legit acoustics. Also, if there's any way you can absorb these tunes while laying in the grass bonding with rapidly shifting cloud formations, it's preferrable. Trust me.

Stream on Spotify or Grooveshark / DL on le Dbox

1. 7th Street - Chinese Man Records
2. Nights Off - Siriusmo
3. (My 1st) Big Break - Cut Chemist
4. Tetra - SebastiAn
5. Ladyflash - The Go! Team
6. Life Coach - Fang Island
7. Summer of All Dead Souls - ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
8. Winter That's All - Fol Chen
9. Royksopp Forever - Royksopp
10. Forever Lost - Pretty Lights
11. Bad Idea - Siriusmo
12. Rolling Nectarine - Hooray for Earth
13. Vision One - Royksopp
14. Run Run Run - Phoenix
15. Lucid Dreams - Franz Ferdinand
16. Youthless - Beck
17. Mic Check - Cornelius
18. Of The Mountains - Dan Deacon
19. High School Art Class - Pretty Lights

Album art: cropped Gustavo Peña painting
[Check out the rest of his work, this man's a boss.]

Show me the way to the best Whisky Bar

2011-07-24T16:34:00.002-05:00

So up until last night my ability to distinguish between types of whiskey was limited to how much I hated myself after doing a shot. Obviously, this attitude was part of the problem. Whisky is the pretty much the definition of a sippin' drink and when imbibed correctly OHMYGODISITDELICIOUS.

Anyhow, the point of this post is to gush about the Nihon Whisky Lounge (and to get Alabama Song stuck in your head. Just a little). Not only do they have a ridiculous (entire wall of) selection, expert bartenders and delicious drinks- but it's super chill atmosphere, even on a Saturday night. We sat comfortably at the bar and had the full attention of the 'Lead Mixologist' for a good two hours. Tim and I quickly located a stack of the bar's business cards and used them to send him doodles, poems, and gracious messages.

He set most of them up against the front row of display bottles, which made us very happy

Last night's setlist

Drink one: Green Man Tea (scotch, green tea liquor, pineapple juice, lime juice)

Drink two: Blood & Sand (scotch, cherry brandy, fresh squeezed orange juice)

Drink three: Healthy pour of Kilchoman. (i said GODDAMN)

Drink four: Cablegram (scotch, fresh muddled ginger and lemon)

A nice classy cherry on top of a wonderful evening - they recommend you drink a glass of water per drink served, which not only extends the lifespan general cognitive capacities but also allows you to appreciate what you're drinking. Novel concept, I know.

I really need to make a habit of documenting these adventures in #drinksperimentation. Blogging is already an exercise in external memory dumps, may as well make it a platform to easily access crazy recipes for inevitable future thirsty times.

Strictly Electronic

2011-06-21T11:25:00.005-05:00

It recently came to my attention that my significant other isn't familiar with a fuckton of the music I hold dear, namely key players in the world of electronica. This is unacceptable and must be remedied. Solution: PLAYLIST TIME! While I can't claim this is even remotely close to a History Of or even Comprehensive Introduction to Techno, I can put together a fun mixtape of songs and artists that were essential in developing my own personal appreciation of genre.

Because it turned out so long, I've divided into two movements. The songs are pretty much grouped by artist and somewhat organized by subgenre (...as defined by me). PART ONE starts off with Ed Banger bros and moves through artists based on what I consider to be incestuous remix relationships. It stays mostly within the confines of minimalist, experimental house, if that's even a thing. PART TWO explores the more lyrical, danceable, psychadelic and poppy sides of electronica. So basically, everything else. It even has some dips into trance, drumNbass and triphop. God this was fun to make. A most productive trip down memory lane. Enjoy!

Listen on Grooveshark or Download from Dropbox

PART 1

PART 2

Illustration by So Me.

HEADS UP: For the life of me, I can't find any of The Chemical Brothers on Grooveshark, so sadface. Also, in the zipfile version, the Lemon Jelly tracks aren't obeying my requested changes in their ID3 tags. They are supposed to be songs 63 and 64-- down with the triphop, out of electrohouse territory.

Lastly, no post about electronica is complete without a flowchart. Eventually I have plans to map out the artists featured in this mix based on their country of origin, remix connections and general subgenre tendencies. But that's a good amount of effort and research I'll reserve for another day. Til then, you get this classic:

(toothpastefordinner.com)

Yell at me for leaving your favorites out, I dare you. Some crucial dudes only had tiny roles because I believe their contribution to be universally acknowledged (yeah, I'm looking at YOU DPunk) and this lesson in techno was getting pretty lengthy as it was. But there are people I may have legitmately forgotten and I'm never opposed to expanding my music library -TEACH ME. This way I can have them all in the same thread. Actually I'll go ahead and start: "UHH...KRAFTWERK???"

And in case you need moaaarrrr, have some RELATED POSTS:

nom nom electronica

Sounds of Soulwax

It's not you, it's the E talking

Music for people who should know better

Ticket to Plagiarize

2011-06-19T04:31:00.002-05:00

A friend of mine was casually blasting the new Mother Mother album the other day. It's quite good. But that's not what made it memorable. It was the fact that THIS particular song struck me as so eerily familiar:

You feel an almost intimate connection with the melody, yes? As if you'd heard it hundreds of times before. An impressive accomplishment for an artist, yet I was skeptical. The album is too new for me to have heard it at a party and glitches in the Matrix tend to be more blatant.
Then it hit me:

(specifically, 2 minutes and 47 seconds in)

Hm.
Now I know. there are all kinds of arguments to be made here. "There is no such thing as a creative thought," you say. "It's not stealing if it's an homage," you say. "Stop putting words in my mouth, I honestly don't care enough to have an opinion," you say. Well I agree. On all counts. Call it what you will-- allusions, samples, references, tips-of-the-hat-- unoriginal ideas saturate every type of media and they aren't always a crutch. They can add dimension and support and are sometimes necessary in framing new thoughts.

But seriously guys? That's the same song. Go write your own chorus.

All's Splendid on the Western Front

2011-05-02T19:58:00.037-05:00

Trying to summarize and compile my first month of Being A Real Person Faraway From Home is making me realize that I've gotten some absurdly lucky breaks. From finding an apartment across the street from Golden Gate Park, to landing a job on Haight Street in a bustling local market, to absorbing a fantastic group of solid friends... It's starting to get surreal. Usually I can blame my positive spirit on my deceptively rose-tinted glasses or the fact that I bleed eternal optimism, but I'm pretty sure these scenarios are due to circumchance and impeccable (albeit completely unintentional) timing.

Anyhow, this is as far as I plan to babble excitedly about the beauties of synchronicity. I'm thinking about slicing up my stories/memories into a three part series, lumping experiences into the categories that best capture the spirit of my cali adventures (...also life): PARKS, DRINKING, and MUSICAL ACCOMPANIMENT. It's probably not going to be a very well-spaced series, seeing as I just drank a buttload of coffee but it's definitely too much to squish into one post without boring the bejeezus out of my wonderful Greader friends.

TL;DR - Still Reaganing! Will actually update something of substance soon.

Houston, you're perfect please don't change a thing.

2011-03-18T13:26:00.004-06:00

It's nothing personal. I still love you and I always will. (how? let me count the ways! without rhyming!) Your skyline. Your cumulus clouds. Your summer that lasts from early March until November. Your ridiculous spaghetti webs of highways. The fact you can drive 45 minutes away (at 60mph) from downtown and still be within city limits. You know what? I don't even care your traffic runs from 7am to 7pm - driving around at 3am is where it's at. Down Allen Parkway. Or through Montrose. Or in The Heights. Also your Rice University rocks for bajillions of reasons but ultimately: 2 pubs and a 24 hour library? BAM. Your exhaustive list of restaurants that are open awesomely late. Your young yet impressive music festival and your burgeoning concert scene.Your obscenely cheap housing market and remarkable standard of living. Your resistance to the plague of unemployment. Did I mention the weather? Because yea, the weather fucking rocks. Also you pretty much house all of my extended family and friends, so that's a plus.
Despite all of this, it's time for me to move on and go be my own person in different city for awhile. But seriously, no hard feelings. I will defend your clogged highways, dense humidity, and blood-boiling summers til the very end. 'Cause it's worth it.

Lastly, anyone who's ever driven down Allen Parkway at night knows it's imbued with mystical powers. Today's playlist is brought to you by songs that I like to skip ahead to whenever I find myself on it: they are guaranteed to make you feel invincible if played in tune to the road's epic curves (trust me, this is based on extensive mixed cd testing. Results may vary on other streets).

Grooveshark or Dbox

Supermoves - Overseer
Mausam and Escape - A.R. Rahman
Phantom Pt II (Boys Noize Remix) - Justice
Power - Kanye West
Rock is Dead - Marilyn Manson
E Pro - Beck

Born Free - MIA

Clint Eastwood - Gorillaz
Come Down on Me - Lemon Jelly
Fuckin' in the bushes - Oasis
Halfway Home - TV on the Radio
Rhinestone Eyes - Gorillaz
Ledmonton - Clues
Party Hard - Andrew W.K
Wake Up - Rage Against The Machine
The Parachute Ending - Birdy Nam Nam

and with that, Grooveshark wins the funnest-way-to-make playlists award. *pours one out for Seeqpod* yea, I used the word funnest.
image cred: me! being a creeper on the mandell bridge over 59.

Things I learned today

2011-03-16T17:28:00.000-06:00

Do not take Nyquil in daylight. You might think you just really want to sleep but I guarantee at some point you will need critical thinking (and/or conversation) skills and you'll be at a complete loss.

Why even bother folding your clothes into a suitcase? They're just going to return it to you with everything wrinkled, ruffled and smashed in on itself. I mean yes, SAFETY, but I spent obscene amounts of time meticulously organizing it. ALL IN VAIN (#firstworldproblems, I know) On the bright side, I now have a reasonable excuse to look like a homeless person - I was having trouble coming up with a good one on my own.

Everything works out. Usually. And jesuschrist people, beiing mean to the workers at baggage claim doesn't accomplish anything. I don't understand how some of us think that yelling or threatening magically makes suitcases appear any faster. You just gotta smile, nod and hope for the best. One of my bags was lost but now it is found! See? Everything works out in the end. Now I can go back to seeing the world as muppets.

Pete and Pete is pretty much a show about pedophiles. Or at least, Little Pete has a habit of befriending lonely middle aged men. Sorry about tarnishing your childhood memories, but someone had to say it.

Late night brain splatters

2011-03-06T05:00:00.004-06:00

On constellations and an ethnocentric interpretation of science
How crazy is it that ancient Greeks were able to map out stars by weaving mythological narratives out of what was, for all intents and purposes, a massive game of connect-the-dots? Seems like their science was more about patience and imagination than anything else. (Though they were definitely onto something-- imposing semantic significance is super effective way to store information. Plus it's useful in discerning cardinal directions. But I digress.) Makes you wonder in what ways we've infused our culture into the documentation of modern scientific discoveries. Because we definitely do. The existence of Americium, Californium, Berkelium and Einsteinium on the periodic table are just the tip of the iceberg. Honestly, I'm pretty excited to see which of our theories/assumptions/models will be deemed arbitrary by people-of-the future. Basically any chaotic or quantum system, yea? also binomial nomenclature. On second thought, that's a can-o-worms I am not fit to be opening.

If you haven't heard The King of Limbs yet, fortheloveofgod stop reading this and go do that now.
I know I can't compete with the billions of reviews about Radiohead's new album that've been thrust into the interwebs over the past few weeks, however, I can recommend that you give the album a good listen in the shower. Particularly the song Feral. It's phenomenal. But if you're impatient and don't feel like waiting for your monthly cleansing, here, appreciate this deliciously trippy visual interpretation of the song by Steven Murashige.

He recommends "Lights off, HD on, Play loud." I second this.

*Cue that one Phantom Planet song everyone knows*
Heads up dudes, I'm finally following through two years worth of blog posts and moving to the West Coast! This is going to be quite an adventure and I can't wait to bore you with details! Til then, listen to this way cheerier Phantom Planet song. Or check out Aaron Diaz (of Dresden Codak)'s tumblr where he explains and explores some theory supporting aesthetically strong comics. OR watch this incredible rap battle between Abraham Lincoln and Chuck Norris. Those are your only three options.

Buy My Paintings (PLEASE) Part Deux

2011-03-02T19:41:00.002-06:00

Hey-o friends!

First off, thank you all for your kind words. Seriously, your support has meant a lot and I really appreciate it :)

"Caffeine" 10x14in

That said... Guess what time is? Time for me to beg you to fund my funemployment in exchange for paint splatters! wheeee! So if you want a painting, email me: cristina dot tortarolo at gmail and we can talk specs.
[For people who requested something last summer that I wasn't able to get to: I'm really really sorry- ended up getting a job and running out of time. If you're still interested let me know, I just don't want to make any assumptions.]

"Get In" 16x20in

While I started out mostly doing characters from movies I think I'm finally ready to move away from that. But whatever, who am I kidding, I'll do pretty much anything :3 Lately I've been illustrating quotes and that's been really fun. (You can check out past stuff here) Also anything from graffiti is fair game.

"Auguries of Innocence" graffiti

If you have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA what you'll want we can chat and figure something out. I'm just. that. desperate. :)

"Sound and Fury" graffiti

Rough estimate-wise, I'm thinking a $10 base + $5/hour. So depending on size and the complexity of the image it'll probably fall somewhere in these ranges:
~50in^2 $20-30
~100in^2 $40-50
~200in^2 $100-120
This is definitely something we can talk about more in depth via email per individual case. Just throwing around some general numbers.

"Doors of Perception" 8x16in

Lastly, I've decided to set up shop on Etsy, so that's where I'll be posting anything random that doesn't get sold. Heads up.

Thanks dudes! Much love,
tort

Exploring the Default Mode Network

2011-02-27T00:46:00.004-06:00

Hans Berger, inventor of the electroencephalogram was one of the first people to theorize that the brain remains perpetually active, even across a wide variety of mental states. Whether we are awake, sleeping, focused or daydreaming our brain is always hard at work. Obviously there are key differences between these states both physically and subjectively. But how do these differences translate into brain activity? Recent fMRI investigations have shown consistent patterns of activations in people's brains when they are awake (but resting) and this has been deemed the "Default Mode" or "Resting State" network. This animation explores some relevant theories theories its activations and potential applications of the research.

The whole project took about 4 months to complete. Of course, I blame my snail's pace on whichever task-positive networks failed to inhibit default mode connectivity (teehee really bad neuro humor). That and the fact that this was my first full length frame-by-frame animation! But seriously, that's why the audio is so terrible. If anyone knows how to export a Flash CS4 file and retain decent audio quality I'm all ears (my Google-fu has failed me).

Thank God for the Catfish

2011-02-26T18:15:00.011-06:00

Heed the tagline. Don't let anyone tell you what it is.

I solemnly swear that all mind-vomit in this post has been edited down to strictly spoiler-free content (except for the part where Snape kills Dumbledore). Then again, if you're one of those people who insist on stalking IMDB or Wikipedia before investing time in a movie you'll probably still enjoy it. The "twist" they advertise can be seen from a mile away and it's still difficult to prepare for how emotionally affecting it's going to be. Here, have a trailer:

Despite what those clips might lead you to believe, the film relies on a lot more than suspense to keep your attention. I think what makes this documentary particularly compelling is its execution and its sincerity. Somehow they've managed to capture our generation's intimate and unbelievably complex relationship with technology. From dissecting the hyperrealistic nature of our online interactions to exposing how the internet has become a fundamental tool in the way we conceptualize and define what's real. Seriously, this film is like an American Beauty for Millennials. And hands down, the best part is that they don't even openly discuss it. I'm a big fan of subtlety; I tend to appreciate movies more when they develop a theme or message without addressing it in a long preachy monologue.

Of course, following in the footsteps of every mindfuckumentary ever been made, the first and most pressing question on everyone's mind remains, "Wait, so was that actually real?" Let me answer your question with another question, "Does it fucking matter?" If this film is fake -- as in, staged or scripted, contrived-- the the writers are brilliant. If it's real? It is the single most unsettling thing I've seen in quite a while. So whether you like your cinema verite or PoMo, I submit Catfish as a masterpiece.

Plus, after you finish watching, dear reader, we should chat about it! Like how movie itself is a ******* (meta as shit, yea?). And how ******* ***** it is that the ****** ****** was ******. Also, confession: I can actually relate to that. I've **** * **** ******* used to ***** ********** *****. But that's a whole 'nother story.
See? No spoilers. I promised.

Now, due to a construct in my mind

2011-02-23T01:30:00.005-06:00

That makes these songs and their lyrics,

Symbolic of my entire existence.

It becomes important for me,

To make a playlist.*

Inspired by Nat, I've compiled a list of songs that were written for and/or about me. Basically, tunes that either perfectly capture what the voice in my head wishes it could say or somehow describe my life experiences with eerie accuracy. Not to be confused with my "Favorite Songs Ever Ever Ever" playlist, which is coming soon. And this, kids, is what I do after midnight.

HEY, YOU CAN LISTEN ON THE GROOVESHARK!

Also here's the designated coverart and tracklist with blurbs so I can look back at this post in 20 years and giggle. Oh, life.

Mr. Mastodon Farm- Cake Because everyone's attributed life-shattering significance to random external events at some point in their life, right? God, we're weird.

Breathe - Anna Nalick Honestly the best advice I've ever gotten from the radio.
Do You Realize??? - The Flaming Lips "The sun doesn't go down /It's just an illusion caused by the world spinning round"

Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games- Of Montreal Oh hi there, blogname!

Winter Wonderland - Animal Collective Exposing ridiculousness of existential denial.
Why Do I Keep Counting? - The Killers Good question.

Trouble with Dreams- Eels "You never know when to hold on or when to let go. "

Dinosaur- Whitey A refreshing take on the circle of life.
Apartment Story - The National *Happy sigh* It just is.
Flagpole Sitta - Harvey Danger "Hear the voices in my head / I sweartogod it sounds like they're snoring"
Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan Psh. No blurb necessary.

Rock N' Roll Lifestyle - Cake. Way to make me self conscious about loving concerts, CAKE.

Time to Pretend - MGMT I love every single thing about this song.

Feel Good Hit of the Summer - Queens of the Stone Age Or Fall. Or Spring. JUSTKIDDINGGUYS

Never Be Alone - Simian deliciously depressing song about friendship #1
All My Friends - LCD Soundsystem deliciously depressing song about friendship #2
Butterflies and Hurricanes - Muse "Your time is now." (Also +10 for chaos theory reference)

The Past is a Grotesque Animal - Of Montreal "At least I author my own disaster" (Even though Kevin Barnes authored the sentiment)
C'mere - Interpol Yup.

Tear You Apart- She Wants Revenge Yup.

Change your Mind - The Killers Also, yup.

Romeo and Juliet- Dire Straits "Yeah, I used to have a scene with him."

Conquest- White Stripes bwahahaha.

Red Flags and Long Nights - She Wants Revenge "You can rent a space inside my mind / at least until the price becomes too high"

Waters of Nazareth - Justice Shh. It doesn't need words, it speaks the language of my soul.

*to the tune of Mr. Mastodon Farm
**image from I LEGO NY

I've Measured Out My Life in Coffee Pots

2011-01-11T19:05:00.011-06:00

Fellow Caffeine Addicts, this is a note for you. I'd like propose an quasi-experiment based purely on information gleaned from a Futurama episode . We will be utilizing qualitative methods so if you want to participate, I will expect serious field notes of experiences and observations. Here's a rundown of the procedure:
Step 1: Drink 100 cups of coffee in a 24 hour period. (YouTube user incrediblydownfallen recommends you accomplish this to the tune of a Dethklok song and I am inclined to agree)

Step 2: Observe and document the phenomenological effects on time perception. You don't have to set your house/workplace on fire, but hey let's just face facts, it can only make things more interesting.

Allright, who's down? I've already started supersaturating my bloodstream with delicious Colombian-Dark-Roast goodness ...FOR SCIENCE! *twitch*

edit: Oh wait, just in case I'm legally obligated to write this somewhere, "Seriously though guys, I'm not actually advocating you drink yourself to death by means of heart explosion. Be responsible. No more than 63...64 cups a day. Anything more is just reckless."

Surprise! Scientists lie too.

2011-01-05T22:33:00.002-06:00

As you may have heard, the British Medical Journal is publishing an investigative series looking into the 1998 study that originally connected vaccines with autism. On top of the first author Andrew Wakefield being concurrently involved in a lawsuit against vaccine companies (helloooo conflict of interest) there is also evidence of his team completely misrepresenting data in the results. Despite this and the fact that the original publisher retracted the paper last May, the National Autism Association has issued a press release stating that the BMJ investigation is "Yet Another Attempt to Thwart Vaccine Safety Research." So there's that.

Even though I empathize with the confused public (and worried parents), my first reaction is to point out Hey, maybe this is what happens when you listen to A PLAYBOY BUNNY ON OPRAH over SCIENTISTS. But don't worry, my second reaction kicks in quickly enough: if it weren't for certain scientists lying in the first place, this wouldn't even be an issue. Ugh. Moral of the story, kids: Trust no one.
In the immortal words of Michael Crichton:

"Fraud in science is not rare, and it's not limited to fringe players. The most respected researchers and institutions have been caught with faked data. Even Francis Collins, the head of NIH's Human Genome Project, was listed as co-author on five faked papers that had to be withdrawn.

The ultimate lesson is that science isn't special- at least not anymore. Maybe back when Einstein talked to Niels Bohr, and there were only a few dozen important workers in every field. But there are now three million researchers in America. It's no longer a calling, it's a career. Science is as corruptible a human activity as any other. Its practitioners aren't saints, they're human beings, and they do what human beings do- lie, cheat, steal from one another, sue, hide data, fake data, overstate their own importance, and denigrate opposing views unfairly. That's human nature. It isn't going to change."

Well said, my love.
So what can we learn from this ongoing scandal? Every perspective deserves a healthy dose of skepticism. Not to say that conspiracy theories are the only answer. I still wholeheartedly believe that following the standardized procedure of the scientific method is an effective way to observe and speculate on environmental truth. But it's not perfect and never will be.
... womp womp.

Post-script siderant:
Call it a side-effect of too much academia, Wikipedia or I don't know, the pursuit of truth, but I'm getting increasingly frustrated with all these Major. News. Outlets. not including an easy access to references (links go to relevant articles from CNN, USAToday and NPR.org, respectively). Example: How can USA Today even be allowed to write the sentence "The study has long since been debunked and dismissed by the scientific community, which points to 14 independent studies that have failed to find any link between vaccines and autism." without actually citing these 14 studies?! Seriously? Come on, guys. You don't even have to go through the immeasurable trouble it must take you to find a link, just give me plaintext citation--information you should already have-- so that I, the eager-to-be-informed reader can look it up myself. Thanks.

[Top image from here]
[Crichton excerpt lifted from his novel Next / borrowed from an old xanga post, emphasis mine.]
[GodDAMN I rock at citations. Seriously, every one of these links is useful (except this one). Take that, NEWS]

Come with me if you want to live

2011-01-05T14:05:00.006-06:00

The Super n00b Guide to Fixing Your Computer or: Safe Mode is No Way to Live, My Friend

It's no secret that I live life on the edge *wink* . When it comes to the great, dark expanses of the internet I tend to pass my time stomping along the thin line separating safe-but-foolish and well-now-you're-just-being-reckless. Of course given my risky life choices, I've come to terms with the fact that I have to put up with the occasional infection *doublewink*. I don't get them often, and usually the symptoms are easily treated with good ol' system restore back to a safe point. However, for some reason, the last two great meltdowns of my computer have refused me that option. So, I thought I'd put together a little guide for Future Me (and Potential Readers) so that I can remember what to do when the first line of attack fails. Note to all of my computer savvy friends: PLEASE don't hesitate to correct me if (...when) I say something stupid.

The last three or so problems I've had with my computer have been the sudden appearance of "Antivirus" applications insisting that I use them cure my computer of its contracted afflictions. Obviously, do not click or in any way acknowledge these programs. How do you know if it's fake? You should know what security programs you have installed and hopefully a) They know how to properly spell words and b) you can recognize the application on sight (is it bad that I won't trust something completely written in Verdana?) Again, assuming you can't system restore, boot in Safe mode (with networking) and get ready to strike.

First, GOOGLE THAT SHIT. Chances are, there are other people in the world that have been affected by this same virus/spyware/adware/whathaveyou. Which means someone smarter and more capable may have already fixed it. Word. This should go unsaid, but be cautious whose advice you listen to- people telling you to download suspicious software to fix something probably don't have your best interest in mind.

Second, go into msconfig and look through the programs that are starting up with your computer. Disable anything that looks sketchy (within reason). Unfortunately, this became very frustrating for me since the location listed for said sketchtastic files didn't actually exist in my computer (searching with windows explorer OR command prompt). But hey, disable away.

Third, gather your battalions. The champion of this round was Malwarebytes. It was the final, deadly blow to those sneaky trojans. But before that, I used Spybot-Search and Destroy, which also found infected files (possibly other latent problems. You're welcome, Future Me). For whatever reason, this most recent infection rendered Trend Micro, Avast! and AVG completely useless. But multiple lines of attack are always a good idea. So see whatever works for you (Ooo Frittata, that's cure-a-licious!) Though, do note that if you have a lot of pirated software *cough* don't use Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool because uhm... I've heard it does bad things to your entire workflow. And life in general.

Fourth, pester your IT friends. I put this one last because no one likes being "THAT GUY/gal" that everyone turns to for help. But you never know, sometimes they have the human insight that Google lacks (...for now). Start off with "Yes, I have tried turning it on and off again , and here is a detailed explanation of what I have done so far." Then, no matter the result, buy them a beer (I owe you a keg, Mister Kyle, mostly for listening to me complain so much. But also for helping a sistah out.)

There. Hooray for regaining sound! and a resolution better than 800x600! Plus now Me-in-6-Months will have a compilation of fun links to turn to when the self-aware Skynet sends another brigade of trojans to infect my innocent system. That's how you get viruses, right? Definitely not through porn or pirated software. Nope.

It's way too late to be this locked inside ourselves

2011-01-03T17:27:00.004-06:00

Something that has always boggled my mind is the concept of revenge. Not that I don't understand why it exists, it's probably just as much biologically hardwired as love or fear. Retaliation is a reflex, an instinct. And hey, sometimes it's justified. People can suck. We have the potential to be stupendously awful to each other. But what I don't get is how we can let vengeance completely overrun our lives, or how people can think it's an effective method for dealing with social conflicts. If movie subplots are any indication of the human condition, it's a pretty serious issue (that or I watch too much Tarantino). Maybe I should be more specific, I'm not talking war-crimes proportions, I mean day-to-day interactions with friends, significant others and coworkers. I don't think I'm alone in saying that I can hold a mad grudge. But why? Since when do grudges ever change anything? They just make you angry and bitter and that doesn't solve shit. Ever.

"Forgive and forget" is an aphorism for the lazy, life and relationships are definitely more complicated than that. Yet, time and experience have only shown me that whether or not it's right, it's the healthiest option. We all deal with getting hurt in different ways, but at least for me, I'm starting realizing that just letting go is the only way to actually move on. Holding grudges makes you suffer. Vengeance continues the cycle of hurt and christ, it's not like we need any more of that in the mix. Everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves to be happy. No exceptions.

Whew. That's my cheesy/preachy realization of the day. Parents and elementary school teachers should be proud, it only took 20-some-odd years** for all those lessons to sink in.

On the flipside, sometimes I wonder if this laid-back attitude is what makes people feel they can get away with hurting me in the first place. Valid question. Luckily for me, I'm armed with the delusion of perpetual optimism. So bring it on, world!

**plus a fun day in the park, plus Interpol on repeat. Recipe for maturity?

Specialization is for Insects

2010-12-29T01:03:00.003-06:00

If anyone wants the PDF, I GoogleDocs'd it HERE.

#SFN10

2010-11-20T16:38:00.008-06:00

I officially fail at social media. Told myself I was going to liveblog the bejesus out of this year's Society for Neuroscience conference but of course I chose the road more easy to travel by: a path paved with 140 characters and mobile connectivity. In my defense I was pretty busy during the daytime wandering around the convention center, stalking awesome professors and refueling on Starbucks grande chai lattes. But anyway, so that the nerdtastic excitement and general awesomeness of everything don't wither away in my terrible-excuse-for-LTM storage, I've decided to extrapolate my memories from posts to the twitterverse and hope this compiles a somewhat coherent narration of experiences.

It really was though. Airports are usually such depersonalized spaces: you're surrounded by thousands of people shuffling brusquely along in their own worlds, too worried about their own travel plans and schedule to waste time interacting with others. Understandable. Still, it was nice to look around and be able to connect with these complete strangers without saying a word: I knew why they were here and where they were going. It felt like we were all part of some secret club except instead of a complicated handshake, membership is demonstrated with long, awkwardly shaped luggage (even though technically I didn't have one. Boo. Joined my lab too late to be included in the abstract submission. But hey, I could still appreciate the unspoken bond.)

Touched down on Golden ground and had our spirits instantly lifted. How can you not smile at such a gorgeous state? We took shuttles provided by the conference to our hotel and were welcomed by this view. Immediately made a pact with my roommate to miss our returning flight and become bums on some, any, street corner of this beautiful city. But enough about our plans for umbrella tent shelters- IT'S TIME FOR #CONFERENCEBANTER.

View from our hotel room. Rockstar.

I really wish I could have taken pictures to capture the enormity of this convention. It was just... mindblowing. Humbling, even. Here are 30,000ish people that have come together to learn and share and explore research in a fantastically broad field. I was surrounded by molecular biologists, geneticists, computer scientists, engineers; people who work with worms, rats, clinical populations, controls; studies that utilize psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, behavioral psych measures... the list goes on. Yet we're all here on the same mission: to understand the brain (or waste our lives away trying). Gets me all warm and tingly.
Poster of the day: "An fMRI Study of Two Brain Interaction Using a Novel Dual-Head MRI Coil System" That's right, you heard (/read) correctly- a dual head coil. The ability to scan two people's brains simultaneously opens up a new dimension of social neuroscience research. Assuming you have two verrrry small people that are comfortable hanging out in an enclosed space for the duration of the study and you're not particularly interested in the visual cortex- the possibilities are endless!

How about instead of asking me what I'm supposed to do with a handful of eppendorf tubes you ask yourself what CAN'T you do? eh?
Poster of the Day: "Atypical Thalamocortical Connectivity in ADHD Youth" Theoretically, when we're not actively engaged in a particular task, our brain runs on a functionally connected network of brain regions, nominally, the default mode network. Looking at differences in activation between ADHD youth and control youth can help us understand what is going on when people's minds wander. Which, if the way I write is any indication, is something I'm INTENSELY interested in.

Eeeeeeeeee!

No offense to Science, Cell, Interdisciplinary Reviews in Cognitive Science, Nature, Nature Reviews Neuroscience or NIDA brochures. Just saying, you'd be a lot cooler if you were color-in-able.
That is all.

So this reminds me of a good point about social media: not everyone uses this platform to have narcissistic conversations with total strangers about the everyday minutiae of their lives: sometimes Twitter is actually useful. Case in point, if @BrainCatalog hadn't started following my account, the chances of me seeing their booth in the sea of vendors would have slim to none. And that would have been tragic. In a nutshell, they're creating a GoogleEarth-esque application that allows you to browse through mouse brain terrain. The exciting potential of this technology is tangible- can't wait to see where it takes us in the next few years. You can read more in the NYTimes or watch their intro video:

Poster of the day: Uhm, that one. "A Remarkable Increase of Visual and Mental imagery Following Ayahuasca Ingestion: An fMRI study" While I'm still very curious how they're explaining away the fact that an MRI machine overwhelms even the most sober of participants with booming, unsettling sounds and overloading the senses of someone on psychedelics is INFINITELY different than using the same environment with a control subject... this still wins the My Favorite Poster Ever Award (prestigious, I know). They interpreted their results to mean that more activation in areas typically associated with memory, vision and intention shows that using hallucinogenics affects our perception and separation of real life and our internal mental environment. A small step toward exploring reality perception and consciousness but a friggin' LEAP toward making psychedelic research a respected branch of neuroscience.
And it's about time.
(Randall Munroe, you're not helping. Even if we were all thinking it.)

(Almost) last but (certainly) not least:
Check out my lab buddies' sweet posters!
B. KING-CASAS et. al. The neurobiology of diffusion of responsibility in social dilemmas
S. BOUCHER et. al. Affective phenotypes exhibit distinct neural response magnitude and duration to emotional sounds
J. EISEMAN et. al. Neural substrates of interpersonal function in post-traumatic stress disorder
G. CHRISTOPOULOS et. al. Behavioral and neuronal mechanisms underlying reinforcement learning of social stimuli
L. LINDSEY et. al. Neural substrates of drug use, craving, and executive control in cocaine users
K. MCCURRY et. al. Neural correlates of aggression in cocaine dependent individuals
D. TANKERSLEY et. al. Reward and punishment learning associated with differential response to positive and negative prediction errors in stimulant-dependent subjects
** I actually need to go through and fix the links so they redirect to the SFN website, but for now this'll do**

Much love for the CKC Lab :)

Some parting thoughts: In the end, I'm very grateful for having the opportunity to attend this year's conference. It was a learning experience on many different levels and definitely makes me appreciate academia just that much more. Thanks to everyone who came to present their research and share their positive energy with the rest of us. Also, a special 'thank you' goes out to SFNPosterFace.com for access to the abstracts and entertaining us with their super creative Lady GABA- Posterface parody.

"When it's cor-ti-cal / If it isn't rough it isn't fun" ...Truth.

See everyone next year!

It always had to go this way.

2010-10-31T12:43:00.004-06:00

I was asleep in a hammock

I was dreaming that I was a web

I was a dream-catcher hanging in the window of a minivan

parked along the water's edge.

I'd say that I was all alone.

Finally got around to listening to Wolf Parade's album Expo 86 and of course, am left absolutely infatuated. I know it's trite to say shit like "they've really matured as a band over the years and it's been a privilege to tag along for the ride" but there, I said it. Not because Expo is better than Apologies (blasphemy!) or Mt Zoomer (not-quite-as-blasphemous!), just that it demonstrates progression, exploring and conquering new territories of sound. There's something mesmerizing about their particular brand of synthpop -- the songs feel optimistic despite intense melancholy overtones and electric harmonies that pierce your soul.

Case in point: In the Direction of the Moon.

Also see: What Did My Lover Say (It Always Had to Go This Way)

Maybe I'm too vulnerable to cover-art influence, but listening to the album straight up overwhelms me with nostalgia. The kind that gnaws at you until you stop whatever you're doing to go roll around in the grass or build a couch-cushion fort.

Well, that or channel the flood o' feelings into a Wikipedia binge...

Here are some highlights:
Expo 86 refers to the 1986 World Exposition on Transportation and Communication in Vancouver (Hellloooo Skytrain). 22 million people attended and some argue it incited "the transition of Vancouver from a sleepy provincial backwater to a city with global clout."

This year's Expo (Shanghai) has been going on since May and ends TODAY. Over 70 million people visited making it the largest in world history. Jackie Chan sings the theme song (lolwut) and the main building-- the Expo Axis -- sports the largest membrane roof construction OF ALL TIME. It spans 100 m with a surface area of 65,000 m2 and it looks like this:

and this-

Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering was the firm put in charge of the project. For good reason, too, they definitely rock abstract geometry and fluid structural designs.

Check out Weltstadthaus in Cologne...

and the MyZeil Shopping Center in Frankfurt.

Sweet.

Science is art, art science

2010-10-28T16:06:00.008-05:00

—that is all

Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know

I'm going through another one of those phases where I obsess over the people I want to be when I grow up instead of working on the steps to become them (like tracking down their address and social security information). Actually that's not quite fair, I have been trying to work on a fun side-project animation for about a month now but keep getting distracted by my job, responsibilities to my future, and fantastic animators who blow my mind open with their science-art.

First up: Candaş Şişman dives into the artistic side of math with F L U X.

Dedicated to the sculptor İlhan Koman, this animation explores new perspectives on his works "Pi, 3D Moebius, Whirlpool and To Infinity" with hypontic audio-visual textures. Remember Peripetics? Similar animation style, but overall F L U X is more fluid and less... strange.

(via Change the Thought)

Next: David Bolinksy's 2007 TED talk, The Inner Life of a Cell. He chats about truth, beauty and the exciting field of medical animation. You can can check out more of his studio's work on their website. Seriously Jeremiah, your dad is a bamf.

Now, I know I've been saying this a lot lately but how has someone not made a live action remake of the Magic School Bus series yet?! WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY. I'm looking at you, Spike Jonze, for apparently not having any qualms rewriting our generation's collective childhood memories anyway. Wait, I take that back. The only person I would completely trust with my favorite book series is Michel Gondry. So you guys should to work on it together. Mmkay, good talk.

Last but not certainly not least, I present to you one of my all-time favorite animations: Procrastination, an unassuming masterpiece that perfectly captures how it feels to resist productivity at all costs. This is Johnny Kelly's graduation film from the Royal College of Art in 2007 and while it might not have anything to do with the science-of-art or art-of-science, I trust in your abilities to figure out how it's relevant.

Aaaaaand that's my cue.

Ozzy Osbourne Gets His Genetic Code Sequenced

2010-10-27T22:59:00.007-05:00

"I was curious. Given the swimming pools of booze I've guzzled over the years—not to mention all of the cocaine, morphine, sleeping pills, cough syrup, LSD, Rohypnol…you name it—there's really no plausible medical reason why I should still be alive. Maybe my DNA could say why."

Looks like pretty flawless logic to me.

Thank you Ozzy, for your dedicated contributions to science and mankind.

You can read the full article on Scientific American where they interview one of the co-founders of the company in charge of genetic analysis. They talk dopamine, metabolism and the presence of "rare genetic variants." The interviewee actually does a pretty solid job of answering questions clearly intended for the CSI generation. FYI kids: Analyzing genetics is friggin' hard-- you can't just dump someone's DNA into a machine and have it spit out all predispositions for illnesses, character traits and the "secrets" to their existence. YAKAWOW!

sup SAN FRAN CISCO

2010-10-15T13:42:00.016-05:00

Observation number one: It is surprisingly easy to get from Oakland airport to the Haight-Ashbury district. Yes, I went from bus to train to another bus and walked a total of about 2 miles but it was ridiculously easy to do so. I didn't realize public transportation could be so available, useful, and tourist-friendly. Weird.

Observation number two (brought to you by Mr. Timothy Faust, Master Fusion Food Finder): You can shove literally anything into a flour tortilla and call it a burrito. Don't think I'm complaining about these flexible semantics though, I'm devouring them. We started with a spicy Korean bbq kimchi&pork burrito and ended the night with a Curry Up Now Green Monster delight. MulticultralWIN.

Observation number three: This has absolutely nothing to do with San Francisco and everything to do with what goes through my head when I'm alone for too long. So let's just say, studying for the GRESubject psych test has left a fair amount of buzzwords swirling around my working memory. I first noticed this when I brought up Kandel's experiments on the sea-slug aplysia in the middle of a conversation because I genuinely thought it was relevant. It wasn't. But anyhow, as I sit here sippin' my second cafe au lait of the day, I'm imagining what a coffeeshop conversation with John B. Watson would be like were he around. He'd probably point out that drinking coffee is part of a multi-reinforcement model with both primary positive (the energy, euphoria and overall warm tastiness) and primary negative (the headaches, ohtheheadaches!) reinforcement. Add in the common traits of free wifi and a chill place to sit around and you've even got some variable-schedule secondary positive reinforcements. Word. And now you know! (and knowing is half the battle)

Observation number four: Wandering around alone outside is officially my most favorite pastime ever. But who am I kidding, we all already knew this. There's just something so awesomely meaningful about journeys powered solely by your rhythmic footfalls- uphills, downhills, aroundabaout hills, through parks, under trees. Suddenly everything becomes a great purposeful metaphor for life in general and as Mr. Tom Wolfe would say "it's phony goddamnit it... but mysto..."

Observation number five: It is fucking GORGEOUS outside. And that's all I've got, folks.

Now back to working on my grad school apps. Spoiler alert: Berkeley's statement of purpose begins: "I would like to be a part of your program so that please don't make me ever leave here ever"

It's phony goddamnit...but mysto...

2010-10-14T14:25:00.001-05:00

"They mean it. Everything in everybody's life is...significant. And everybody is alert, watching for meanings. And the vibrations. There is no end of vibrations. But anyway, this talk just flows. Everyone is picking up on the most minute incident as if they are metaphors for life itself. Everybody's life becomes more fabulous, every minute, than the most fabulous book. It's phony goddamn it...but mysto...and after awhile it starts to infect you, like an itch, roseola.

There is also a lot about games. The straight world outside, it seems, is made up of millions of people involved, trapped in games they aren't even aware of."

"...Now I'm doing it again, ah, that amiable itch, I just extracted a metaphor, a piece of transcendental bullshit from this freaking toothbrush case."

-Tom Wolfe
Electric Koolaid Acid Test

I think I'm going to start posting awesome quotes here as a way to keep them all in one spot without *heaven forbid* overloading my Facebook info.

Diagnosis: Chronic Infomania

2010-08-08T15:37:00.018-05:00

So, this thought-train started up earlier this afternoon when I was trying to get some serious work-stuffs done. I need to study for the GRE, get headway on three different tasks for work, and dedicate time to paintings I promised to people months ago. (And here I thought being stressed during weekends ended with receiving that ol' diploma tube in the mail. False.) But before getting started on any of these projects, I have to stop and think about how I'm going to spend my day. This requires mentally organizing tasks into functional categories: does this one require computer/internet? Can I do it at the same time as something that doesn't? Can I do it outside? How can I mix-match-multitask my way into the most efficient use of my time?

For example:
Painting (+1) while watching Java tutorial on computer(+1).
Painting requires that I stay inside at home -> Home means I don't have to wear clothes (+1) but I don't get stable internet (-1).

Making GRE flashcards (+1) while downloading abstracts of relevant experiments (+1) at Coffeegroundz (internet (=chat + email + PubMed) + being outside= +4).

Maybe it was the more-than-decent amount of coffee in my system, but for the first time in quite a while I actually started listening in on myself ticking through iterations. Making these pro/con lists of combinations isn't something you do consciously; years of practice (and probably procrastination) have made the process automatic. So I paused a minute... when did this happen? All we've ever been taught about attention and memory is that focus and critical thinking are the best ways to absorb information. So when did I start equating multitasking with productivity?

Oddly enough, I do remember the first time I thought about it. The first time I became aware of how technology has affected our ability to focus on work. It was sometime late middle school and I was doing homework on our family computer- probably writing an essay of some kind- when my mom walked in to check up on my progress. She asked how I was doing. I said fine. Then she starting laughing and asked how I could possibly be getting anything done. This caught me off guard... I was just doing work as usual. A Microsoft Word document was open in one corner of the screen with snippets of paragraphs scattered across an otherwise empty page and three or four IE windows were haphazardly sized and stacked in the remaining desktop space. The taskbar was lit up by intermittent blinks from a handful of minimized AIM windows and the physical desktop of our office workspace was littered with looseleaf notes and open binders. I cupped my hand over the base of our landline phone (I had been chatting with a friend from New York) and answered "I dunno, I just do." Which is the truth. I'd never really questioned a workflow that came so naturally...but when you see it from an observer's perspective it makes absolutely no sense.

Somewhere along the way, this ability to do-lotsa-things-at-once turned into an compulsion to do-lotsa-things-at-once. Otherwise, you get bored or feel like you're wasting time. Go ahead, try to focus. Before you know it, a thought reminds you of that other thing you're supposed to do so you look it up on Google or Wikipedia which reminds you to check that one thing on Facebook or Gmail and then you're drowning in a sea of tabs and programs and uncompleted thoughts.

We're a bunch of infomaniacs and it's sort of a problem ('cause I wasted my afternoon writing about this instead of whateverthehell else I was supposed to be doing. Meh.)

I wish I had some fun conclusive moral to this rambling. But I don't. Of course. and that's the whole point. Here, have some relevant links:

Chuck & Beans comic: Life Before Google.

BBC News says that Infomania worse than Marijuana

Other countries say ADHD is very culture-bound: at best, overdiagnosed in the US. At worst, a phenomenon we made up to describe flighty state of mind.

And of course, the kickass Currrent Show: InfoMania

Just thinking out loud.

2010-08-04T20:08:00.007-05:00

Listening to good music in the car is the only way to prevent road rage. Turn it up, sing along and prepare to be pleasantly surprised at how much easier it is to endure stop lights, cut-offs, and old people.

I had a dream the other night that my neuroimaging lab at Baylor decided to start running memory-altering experiments a la Eternal Sunshine. My subconscious wasn't able to put together a coherent procedure, but it had something to do with birdseed and cryogenic freezing. On that note, people who assign symbolic significance to dreams make me giggle.

For the first time in almost 20 years, August is just another month. No last minute shopping for school supplies, no rambling soliloquies whining about the subjective passage of time, no anxious stomach-butterflies warning me of impending responsibility. It's just... August. Huh.

Crystal Head Cult

2010-07-04T15:52:00.020-05:00

When I left my job at the Business School this past January, one of my Coworkers gave me a Crystal Head Skull full of vodka. Easily the best going-away gift ever. However, while I can't yet attest to the quality of the vodka (I'm waiting for the right occasion! It's too beautiful!) I do have a few things to say about the company. Like WOW DAN AKROYD HAS GONE BATSHIT INSANE.

"Connect to the message of the crystal heads here on earth- the enlightenment of human kind and the spiritual awakening which can occur in all of us and the acceptance that there is more to life than mere material reality."

Uh... what?

Go ahead, go to the website (if you dare). He's completely serious. I watched the entire introductory video waiting desperately for some sort of punchline.

"We chose Newfoundland for the purity of their land and water...We [quadruple distill the vodka] through carbon... and then triple filter it through 500 million year old crystals known as Herkamer diamonds."

Oh. my. god.

Do these people not realize that the novelty of buying liquor in a skull is enough to make this a marketable product? Are there actually customers out there that only prefer this brand because of its "purity of spirit" and ethereal connection to other planes of existence? Either this website is one huge flawless joke on pretentiousness in general or they're a just few steps away from moving to Guyana and mixing up some Koolaid, Cyanide & Vodka cocktails. Yeah, I went there. (OHHHHHH YEAAA.)

Speaking of cults, the whole POINT of this post was to bring up an awesome thought I had the other day: why does Crystal Head co. limit themselves to skulls? Animator David O'Reilly allows people to download a free version of his 3D model Walt Disney Head from his internet website. You might remember it from his remarkably adorable (/absurd) animation ?????:

????? from David OReilly on Vimeo.

I don't think I'm alone when I say I'd LOVE to do shots out of a Disney head I keep in the freezer. I mean come on, that's like a million cryogenic preservation jokes just waiting to happen. Am I right, guys? Guys?

OMGBRAINZ

2010-07-03T14:40:00.012-05:00

THAT'S RIGHT KIDS, I GOT A JOB!

Get money, get paid, you know what I'm sayin'?

I have officially survived one week of being a Research Technician in the Computational Psychiatry Unit of the Human Neuroimaging Lab of Baylor College of Medicine (because I'm pretty sure the more prepositional phrases I tag on, the cooler I sound.) I'll be running subjects through giant supermagnets to get both structural images and time-sensitive maps of blood-flow during specific tasks. I could explain it in slightly less layman's terms, but that's really as far as my comprehension of the matter goes: these machines are ridiculously awesome and complicated and I've only scratched the surface of the iceberg that is 'working knowledge of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.' I know I've had lots of fun drunk conversations with my Electrical Engineering buds about how fMRI works on a more fundamental level, but for some reason, I never seem to retain much of the information from these discussions.

I can't even describe how excited I am about this position. Call it the 'honeymoon phase' if you will (but let's just say, I'd be getting A LOT more out of it if this were a honeymoon...) but so far the lab perfectly balances my need for empirical methods and interaction with people. Smash together qualitative Sociology, CogSci, and Neurobiology to find Social Neuroscience nested right in the middle. There is so much I can learn from working here, and the best part is, they're willing to teach! My goals for the end of the year (/semester) will be to operate the scanner solo, pick up some MatLab and get a better grasp on what neuro-niche I'll pursue for grad school. Last but not least... OMGBRAINZ!!! Um and also, I have hand-print access to get into certain rooms. So I'm basically a secret agent now.

Post script: Just so it's out there: If you don't know what the quote from my image macro is from, you really should catch up on your Juggalo-culture references. By watching this Insane Clown Posse vid (circa 1:50). Oh yeah, I went there.

Post-post script: I just realized I never posted my Psych animation presentation here, but it's on my folio-blog. I taught myself Flash for this digital short, so be kind.

Historical Justification for my Obsession with Scion

2010-06-17T23:19:00.019-05:00

or It's Hip To Be Square.

If there's one thing Scion does well, it's stand out. On the highway, in their advertising, and even from the traditional definition of a car. Sounds like I'm exaggerating but honestly, the more I research their marketing strategies and campaigns, the more infatuated I become with their revolutionary take on branding. Sure, I'm biased--I fall smack dab in the focal point of their target market but that doesn't make this company any less groOovy, maaan.

A (NOT SO) BRIEF HISTORY

This subset of Toyota was founded in 2002 with a very specific market segment in mind: Generation Y of the United States. (You heard right, this brand isn't sold anywhere else in the world. Yet. September 2010 marks its release in Canada.) Given such a limited target, they were allowed certain freedoms in marketing strategies that wouldn't have been feasible on a massive scale. Honestly, the company's promotions resemble the evolution of a cultural trend than product-pushing which is either awesomely authentic or brilliantly engineered. Either way, remarkable. Observe:

The first year of sales were contained to California.
Advertising started at the ground level- local events, concerts, art shows. TV ads didn't come til later.
When TV ads did appear, they were alt as shit

Unsurprisingly, the Scion has been heralded as "one of the auto industry's most extraordinary marketing success stories" for empowering consumers and creating a market for (what used to be) a new car at a used car price (Ad Age). I think the keys to Scion’s success are sincerity, consistency, and customizability. After all, marketing to Gen Y doesn’t just mean throwing around recycled buzzwords to catch consumer attention, it means creating an experience that is reflected on every level of interaction with the brand.

In doing this, Scion created more than a marque of cars, it paved the way for a new kind of relationship with your car. Because, let’s face it, anyone can make a square car: Pontiac has the Aztek (2001), Chrysler has the PT Cruiser (1999) and Nissan has the Cube (1998), Honda has the Element (2003). No big. What Scion offers, on the other hand, is literally and figuratively a vechicle for your creativity. Back in 2008, the company estimated that on average, Scion owners spent as much on accessories and customizations for their car in the first 36 months of ownership as they did on the car itself. That's anything but normal. Did you know that Scion prices are nonnegotiable? If a Toyota dealership charges you more or less than the listed MSRP, their license to sell Scions is revoked. So no matter where you live or where you go, you pay the same price. This creates an easy, open environment for car buying and completely removes the frustration of playing cat and mouse with the pushy salesmen. Why? Because Gen Y is fucking tired of games.

Backing up the no-nonsense Pure Price policy is the (perceived) sincerity of their advertising. Scion continues to sponsor and support local-level musicians and artists. They even have their own music festival in Oregon (of course). Browsing through the website, you get the distinct impression that they selling you the community as much as a car. Call me a sucker, but this is a nice change from every other brand listing endless specs.Anyhow, enough of my soapbox, now for the fun part:

THE COMMERCIALS!

Divided into my three favorite campaigns: United by Individuality, What Moves You, and Want2BSquare.

UNITED BY INDIVIDUALITY

The is the commercial that caught my eye and started the ball rolling on my obsession. One of many reasons to stay up late watching adult swim on a large HD screen. The ad pairs visually stunning graphics of the infinite creative possibilities with custom-made sample-based mashups to represent the remix potential of the car’s (and the owner’s) identity.

Microsampling

Splicer

Just in case consumers start wondering "How can I be unique if we're all buying the same cars?" They throw in some catchy (/cheesy) taglines: “Stand with us by Standing out,” “Become one of us by becoming none of us,” “Create a following by never following.” etc

Declaration

This is my least favorite of the series. It seems a little cheesy. But it definitely ties the room together. Baseline of the campaign: The car is a blank canvas of expression that is as alternative and eccentric as the individual behind the wheel.

WHAT MOVES YOU

Any company trying to embrace counter-culture advertising is forced to walk a fine line between garnering support and scorning mass appeal. In a sense, the Scion cars were the perfect product for this balancing act. Consumers can immediately appreciate the quality, as each is essentially a Corolla, which is one of, if not the, best-selling car in its class. At the same time, the aesthetics of each model almost guarantee limited popularity. I’ll admit it, the first time I saw an XB I thought it was horrible. Scion takes advantage of this guttural reaction and markets it as a strength. And THAT’s good advertising.

Pendulum

I love the creepy little kid's voice, it definitely adds to the overall eeriness of the commercial.

Or Not

We know some of you think it's ugly. But we don't care what you think.

What Moves You

This one fits more into the customizing theme of the other campaign, but I'm categorizing it by tagline. Yup.

WANT 2 B SQUARE

This was one of their most successful guerilla marketing campaigns because it took advantage of the internet back when viral marketing was still ramping up. The websites associated with the campaign featured games, interactive activities and a quirky online atmosphere to draw users in. Nowadays, we expect this from a website. Then again, nowadays we’re all overstimulated, attention-deficit brats spoiled by information overload. So the context is a little different. But I think these commercials transcend context and will remain awesome forever and ever amen.

Plus, the “Being Square” pun is pretty clever (cuz the cars are square, get it?)

Oh and back to the idea of supporting local—all three of these ads were created by individuals that ATTIK found by scouring youtube for quirky aspiring animators/filmmakers. Pretty sweet, if you ask me.

Surgery

Reminiscent of Saw this ad follows mad-scientist Christopher-Walken-lookalike in his exploits.

Round to be Square

Delightfully whimsical for such a morbid cartoon.

CONCLUSION
H’okay. That’s enough for today. Eventually I want tackle the crazy topic that is SCION CONCEPT CARS, PAST PRESENT, FUTURE. But mehh this post is TL;DR enough as it is. Am I right? I'm pretty sure I already mentioned something about information overload but I’m too lazy to scroll back up...well whatever nevermind.

IN THE END, I believe the marketing department of Scion (and those cool cats at ATTIK) are fucking geniuses. They’ve pumped out 8 years of solid, smart eye candy all the while remaining true to their original target and goal. That said, I think the brand is at a cross-roads. Whether Scion sticks with the young-hip-cultural vibe or decides to age along with Gen Y, they’ll have to reassess their strategies and values.

Parting thoughts-- Sadly, no matter how much I love and admire the company on an abstract level, I couldn't bring myself to buy one of their new cars. I miss the First Generation of XBs.Maybe this is a sad sign I'm slipping out of their target demographic.

Well THAT is a sentence I never thought I would utter.

Ceci n'est pas une blog post

2010-06-17T16:15:00.006-05:00

This is, instead, a mere future reflection of posts to come. An intentional and hopeful self-fulfilling prophecy. And so I present to you Things I Have Been Meaning To Write About But Haven't So I Am Posting Them As A List Both To Encourage Writing and Pass The Time:

- Historical Justification for my obsession with Scion commercials

- Why David Lynch is a such a baller

- Understanding hallucination perception

- Bonnaroo memories (Completely unrelated to previous item. I think.)

- I FINALLY GOT A CAR and all is well in the world.

- General World Cup enthusiasm

- Postmodern analysis of some Adult Swim programs

I know part of the point of blogging is spurting out information in a well-paced, timely manner but I only have limited access to caffeine and (more importantly) a stable internet connection so this is no longer an option. Plus I am lazy. Very very very lazy.

Hope Springs Eternal

2010-04-17T16:33:00.011-05:00

in the cerebral cortex.

But that's harder to rhyme with.

Damn.

I am THISCLOSE to being done with school, graduating and becoming a real person. Definitely feeling overwhelmed and overworked, but it's nothing I can't drown in a few cups of caffeine juice. More serious is the lingering anxiety about closing off an entire life-phase...eek!

In the end, I've decided that the best way to get through this inordinately stressful time is to just stop focusing on it. We all know it sucks. So let's pretend it doesn't. There are so many positive opportunities awaiting our release from the hedges of Rice U. Obviously, thinking happy thoughts won't make schoolwork go away...but it's helpful to remind yourself there's (quite a bit) more to life than these awe-inspiring todo lists. Like flying. Happy thoughts make you fly, right?

Last of all, beware: the ides of May will be upon us sooner than we think. Except, if we're lucky we'll just graduate and not get stabbed to death. (The power of optimism!)

Today's Playlist: Optimism! featuring ELO, The Icicles, Ben Kweller, M83 etc.

The Sound of Surrealism

2010-04-13T21:26:00.022-05:00

Isn't it fascinating how our brains have trained themselves to interpret reality? All we're doing is inputting vibrations from the environment. Somehow this assault of stimuli is translated into electrochemical signals and sorted into networks, popping out the other end as sound, color, and meaning. (It's magic! ...fucking magnets...)

After awhile we get pretty used to how things are supposed to sound, look and feel. I mean, we've built up a lifetime of experience to tell us what is or is not physically possible. And that is why surrealism rocks so hard. I like to think of it as the art of stomping on your expectations. Ironic, absurd, subconsciously extracted- call it what you will. Sometimes it means transcending reality by drawing inspiration from internal reservoirs (ex: dreams). Sometimes it means messing with the fundamental laws of nature (ex: melting clocks). Sometimes it means disturbing you on a fundamental level, forcing you to question what exactly it is that you've been experiencing all along.

So, here to wake you up from this perceptual operating system we call reality, I present Zeitguised, a 3D motion-design group, self-described as "the strange, obscure twin of contemporary zeitgeist imagineering." I found their videos browsing through Vimeo staffer's favorites (a very redeeming way to waste time, for sure).

This audio-visual candy comes from a six-act (but only three-minute) exhibit they aired for the opening of the Zirkel Gallery. It presents a hyperrealistic fusion of plants, human bodies, textures, sounds and architecture. Watch it fullscreen. With headphones. Relax let yourself travel to a reality controlled by sound waves and fueled with lysergic acid diethylamide. Delicious.

First up, the original Peripetics. And because I so love the way they describe themselves, this is an "installation of an irreversible axis on a dynamic timeline."

Don't worry, there's more : Peripetics Ex Machina features scenes, outtakes, and iterations of the exhibition that didn't make it into the final cut.

(and that is why I want to learn 3D modeling)

Other gems among their work include Room Zoo, commercials for the Toyota Aygo & Yaris TVC and Untitled Geometries: Booleay. They remind me a lot of ATTIK's work on the new Scion ad campaign, but that's a whole different can of worms (/blog post).

Honestly, I'm curious how watching these videos makes other people feel. After all, that's the best part about perception, maaaaaaan. Even when presented with the same stimuli, we all walk away with our own personal gut-feelings. Brilliant or nonsensical, you decide!

: : : : : Want MORE Zeitguised? Visit their portfolio, blog, or videos

And I've decided to make playlists again.Partly because it's fun to think of songs that are conceptually linked to posts and partly because I like documenting what I'm listening to. Unfortunately, seeqpod is dead and buried and took all of my previous playlists with it. So it goes. Cristina-from-the-future, this is for you.

The Sound of Surrealism

Alan Parsons, Beyond the Wizard's Sleeve, Chemical Bros, Lemon Jelly, MM MMM GOOD.

Some things to look forward to

2010-04-11T17:28:00.017-05:00

We're out of Federal Holidays for the school year and I'm tired of counting down til Graduation. Time to set some new markers to cross off your calendar for the next few months.

NEW THE NATIONAL! (May 11)

EEEEEEEE! Listen to the singles: Bloodbuzz Ohio and The Runaway

NEW CHEMICAL BROTHERS! (June 7th)

Get ready for 8 tracks and 8 accompanying psychedelic short films. Listen to the single: Escape Velocity

NEW WOLF PARADE! (~July 2010)

Album name: Expo 86.

NEW DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH?! (um, either March or Summer 2010)

NOT the album name, I just like the word: Interrobang.

NEW JUSTICE! (Projected: early 2010)

Vague article. Also: Spaceship Cross Shirt.

NEW INTERPOL! (Projected: early 2010)

Confirmed by an interview from Nov. 2009 and three million rumors spread by rabid fans.

: : : : : EDIT! FOUND SOME MORE! : : : : :

NEW LCD SOUNDSYSTEM! (May 18)

Play songs, preorder the album -> here. This is happening!

NEW OF MONTREAL! (September-ish?)

False Priest. (thanks for the tip, Dean)

NEW THE AVALANCHES! (October. Maybe.)

I certainly hope so...

Drink! Watch Short Films! Be Merry!

2010-04-11T15:58:00.008-05:00

Okay so-

a) There's going to be a viewing of of some short films made by Rice students at the Media Center (the one by the Police Station) this Wednesday, April 14th.

2) I think we should go to Valhalla, drink a lot, and THEN go watch them.

iii) I won't ask you to vote for my video, but I will say this: the video voted the "audience favorite" at the screening wins a prize. So that's cool.

If you like beer and want to support Rice students making short films- JOIN US!

: : : : : The Official Rice-Sponsored and Tragically Beer-less Facebook Event

Oh Rauschenberg, You Elusive Beast

2010-04-11T12:45:00.018-05:00

Visiting the Menil Collection always brings back good memories. Houston in the Summertime. Wandering the surrounding neighborhoods back when I didn't recognize the street names... Good times.

UNLESS THEY TAKE AWAY YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF ART.

Which leads me to this post's

Bad News:

That big Rauschenberg from the back room has been replaced. (I know, I know, it's really embarrassing that I don't even know the name of my favorite. All I remember was that it was hard to remember and I to write it down somewhere after every visit. Yea, a lot of good that did). Honestly I'm a lot more torn up about this than I thought I would be, and I blame this on the fact that I CAN'T FIND IT ANYWHERE ONLINE. Seriously, anywhere. (It'd probably help a bit if I knew the name but that's not the point). I've been looking through artcyclopedia archives for about an hour, which in internet time is like fucking YEARS. Zipped through the first three stages of grief like nobody's business, getting hopelessly stuck on the fourth which I assume will stick around until I either FIND THE GODDAMNED PIECE or realize I've wasted an entire afternoon pining instead of writing up that Research Methods paper. I should go do that at some point.

Good news:

My desperate searching hasn't necessarily been in vain. Apparently by browsing through every. single. art. archive. ever. you turn up some pretty obscure works (whodathunk) So I present to you: Rauschenberg on Dante's Inferno.

Specifically, this one is Canto VIII: Walking around in the fifth circle of hell and Virgil getting denied entry into Lower Hell (a-thank you, Sparknotes). There's an entire gallery if 12th-century-literature-you-read-in-high-school-but-don't-remember-too-well is your thing.

Also, I found that there are a lot of places nearby-ish that have Rauschenberg pieces on permanent exhibition. Fieldtrip, friends?

Museum of the Gulf Coast in Port Arthur, R-berg count: 21

Downtown Houston MFAH, R-berg count: 3

Obviously, Menil Collection, R-berg count: LESS THAN IT SHOULD BE.

The Modern in Fort Worth, R-berg count: 2

And last but not least, Save the Date!

Sunday, June 6, 2010, 3:00 p.m local artist Nathaniel Donnett will be speaking on Robert Rauschenberg in The Menil.

: : : : : More Menil Programs

:::::EDIT:::::

I have the best friends in the universe! Charlotte found it!! The piece is called "Holiday Ruse (Nightshade)" and the only picture I can find of it is on this artblog. (Which does a great job of describing the museums and neighborhood in the area, by the way)

Now I just need it back.

plz k thx

Heligoland: Splitting the Album

2010-04-11T06:12:00.004-05:00

First impression: Heligoland makes me want to take these Senneheisers into a sensory deprivation chamber and let phosphenes work their magic.

Second impression: Too entranced to move, so this computer-on-the-kitchen-table setup will have to do.

But seriously, if you haven't picked up Heligoland yet, you're missing out. Especially if you're into their brand of dark, calm, trip-hop (perfect for spring-cram-study-sessions if I may saysomyself). The album is seamless incorporation of various fun people and minor chords. If there was an English word seated directly between ominous and optimistic (semantically, not alphabetically) it would probably be the most appropriate. This is why I can't write nice things.

For whatever reason, we tend to be pretty harsh critics when Bands We Love release A New Album: sometimes you have to listen to music a few times before you can truly appreciate it. Yet Heligoland sucked me in on contact. The layers of sound are woven flawlessly, allowing you to deconstruct the levels of instrumentation or just let it hit you all at once. Back to first impressions, I was genuinely moved. Inspired, even. Closing my eyes, letting the audio flow over my consciousness, I swear I was one sensory deprivation chamber short of conjuring up an accompanying visual trip a la Interstella 555 (Hm note to self: get on that). Luckily for us chamberless folk, there have been five professional visual interpretations of songs from the album. All are absolutely phenomenal and I highly recommend this screening be your next break from productivity:

Splitting the Atom - directed by Edouard Salier Beyond being a miraculous work of CGI rendering, this pretty much exemplifies the "darkly sensual" tone of their sound in general and this album in particular. Cherry on top of the delicious video? You're hearing reggae-singer/songwriter Horace Andy (see: awesome voice from MA's Angel) and creepy keyboardings of Damon Albarn (aka Gorillaz...and 25% of Blur). Fantastique!

Paradise Circus - directed by Toby Dye (classy, but NSFW) This microdocumentary accentuates the song's underlying eroticism overlaying Georgina Spelvin's insight on the surreality of film, the narrative of sex, and the Devil Inside of us (allusion alert!) over vintage clips of her most famous work.

Flat of the Blade - directed by Ewen Spencer A day-in-the-life glimpse of black youth sifting through memories and experiences and music. Ambiguous, yet implicitly haunting.

Saturday Come Slow - Adam Broomberg & Oliver Chanarin Exploring the physical effects of sound, resonance and vibration on the human body. Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Ruhal Ahmed reflects on his experiences, like high-volume music interrogations. Stunning, eerie visuals.

Splitting the Atom (Round Two) Except this time it's about Bullfighting. Proof that you can affix this music to essentially any image and leave the audience residually unsettled (and that's why we love them so!)

Last but not least: Atlas Air Live from Russia with love.

Apparently the song is named after an airline company that sold out to the US military after going bankrupt by transporting supplies to war zones. My only source is some dude on YouTube, so take it with a grain or two.

Then again, in all honesty I don't even care what the song is about. The music this band produces transcends meaning. I'll bother with the allusive (/elusive) meanings of lyrics after I can comprehend the pure audio so uh... this might be a while.

: : : : : Buy the digital download, check out their tour listings, or find similar music

: : : : : Official Website: http://massiveattack.com/

The Internette

2010-04-05T16:26:00.004-05:00

Remember when Microsoft Word used to spell-check-correct the word "internet"? I don't just mean recommending the approved AP style guide version (The Internet), I mean a time when it would underline it with those cute red squigglies and suggest "net" or "intern." Those were the good ol' dial-up days.

(image via timanderic)

2010-03-29T18:06:00.004-06:00

Never stop being fascinated by life.

Happy day after Pi day!

2010-03-15T08:20:00.004-06:00

...

IT IS DONE.

for now.
I'll keep uploading things, but am ready to unveil it to the world!

Drumroll please...

MY WEBSITE (/portfolio)!

Go ahead: click it.

Trololo

2010-03-15T01:02:00.007-06:00

If this song doesn't raise your spirits, nothing will.
Also, I love the psychedelic entry scene, this video is just full of surprises!

One day our cerebral cortex will be USB compatible.

2010-03-14T14:00:00.001-06:00

Found this in my unpublished archives: May 2008. Hooray digging through the past!

My roommate wrote an insightful post about the YouTube Generation on her blog that really got me thinking (in other words, blogging). She pointed out how lost we would be without our precious internet not only because it's entertaining (can I just say that RSS feeds are comp-nerd crack? Because they are.) but also because it gives us immediate access to information beyond our wildest dreams. The world is quite literally at our fingertips. It's easy to forget this as we type our cute little emails, browse our cute little webcomics, or stalk our cute little e-friends, but when you step back and think about it, it's mind-boggling. It's no wonder the older generations are scared of technology... If I didn't know better, I'd just as well assume this series of tubes is witchcraft.

Sometimes I think that being exposed to all of this information is evolutionarily counter-productive. Our brains begin to rely completely on what the computer provides. In the novel Shampoo Planet, when one character forgets where a country in Africa is located, the main character replies:

“Fairs fair. I mean if we are supposed to learn all the new information people are inventing, we have to throw old information out to make way for the new stuff. I guess history and geography are what’s being thrown away. What is geography to anyone who speaks to people all over the planet every day all at once on their computer nets and modems?”

He has a good point though, when we have Wikipedia, CNN.com, facebook to tell us everything that’s going on, (or basically anything that’s EVER HAPPENED) we don’t need it in our heads anymore. Who really NEEDS to know when the Civil War was or who invented the helicopter (even though I OWN one). Did I mention I’m thinking of getting metal legs?

Then again, that's exactly what the internet would want me to say...

…c0mput3rs ar3 t4k1ng 0v3r 0ur m1nds!

Moral of the story: We rely a lot on computers. It's kinda neat. It's also kinda scary. Now go read a Douglas Coupland novel and watch Grandma's Boy.

Endnote: The idea for this post came from my roommate's blog , and my comment on it. I figured writing up an entirely new post would be a) stealing her intellectual property and II) harder than Ctrl+P. In other words, I'm thoughtful but lazy.

Work, Fear, & Waking up that voice in my head.

2010-02-28T22:06:00.001-06:00

While my friends went off on an exotic cruise bouncing along the pan-american coastline, I decided to spend this week doing work. Catching up on homework, going to a workshop, applying for post-grad work, and using force to move things a certain distance (multiply them, btiches! it counts!) I'm doing this, not because I am the most responsible of my friends, but because I am driven by the most powerful emotion in the whole wide world: fear. Fear that I won't find a job, fear that I've tinkered with my brain chemicals beyond repair, fear that if I don't learn marketable skills NOW I'll be useless once released to the real world, and the ever-present haunting fear that if I leave my desk for ONE SECOND I'll lose momentum, fall into an abyss of apathy and never graduate.

But enough of that. Let's talk about stories.

My first SB10t task at hand is to prepare for a Digital Storytelling Workshop that starts in eh... approximately 12 hours. By class time tomorrow I need to have created storyboard for a memory or event that will form the frame of the production. This is what brings me back to the wonderful world of xanga: it holds about 4+ years of posts spanning the most tUmUlTuOuS years of my life. Surely something buried among these archives is worthy of visual digitization? Probably. But that's not what has caught my attention as I peruse through high school/early college content (surprise! I got distracted again!). It's the presence of the online narrative itself. Reading over my old posts has made it abundantly clear that somewhere along the way I seem to have lost my ability to tell stories! Back in the day (circa 2004) I could weave an entire xanga entry from a mere song-lyric, an observation, or a funny thought. Symptoms of overanalysis? Most definitely. But at least there was something there, some narrative process in which I convert thoughts streams to metaphors or morality tales.

As excited as I am about learning a new computer program (Final Cut Pro) and developing my skills as a filmographer, I think the best part of this workshop will be that it forces me to reexamine my role as a narrative being. I will make a story and I will make it coherent. I will make it longer than 140 characters. I will complete a sentence without referencing hyperlinks. I can do this.
Whew.

PS:

This post was directly copy-pasta'd from my xanga weblog... which brings up another goal for this spring break: CONSOLIDATE. There is no need to have five different blogs. I could either move them all here, start up a Wordpress, or buy a domain name and set up shop there. Maybe writing down this goal ON my blog will force me to take action... maybe.

Hasn't anyone in the Pentagon read Jurassic Park?

2010-02-09T09:45:00.005-06:00

You know something's up when a project's goal is to "[eliminate] the randomness of natural evolutionary advancement." And that something is awesome.

Darpa's Biodesign research is looking into producing organisms that can live forever, be loyal (read: un-hackable) and be shut-off by a "genetically-coded kill switch." You know, just in case something goes horribly, horribly wrong.

The project is getting $6 million outright, but will probably benefit from the $20 mil they're pushing for a new synthetic biology program and $7.5 mil put towards improving methods of analyzing cellular genomes.

This kinda reminds me of the time in high school when we extracted the DNA out of a strawberry. Not because we did anything scientifically ~~irresponsible~~ groundbreaking with it, but just seeing the proteins swirling around in our little plastic tubes and knowing that that fluffy substance was the secret to the biochemical processes of life was mind-blowing.

Yeah, I don't get out much.

Full article and image credit: Wired Danger Room

Specifically, freshly ground Southern Pecan.

2010-02-04T22:36:00.005-06:00

I want to start reviewing things.

Coffee. Movies. Music. Cloud-computing applications.

I want Bettie Page bangs.

Assuming my hair will allow it.

I wanna learn how to work the linux-counterparts of my favorite adobe cs software.

Probably start off with GIMP, Xara, and Scribus.

I wanna finish reading those three books I started over Christmas break.

David Lynch, Acid Dreams, Everything is illuminated! Your bookmarked pages taunt me so!

I want to organize my music library, delete shit I don't like and free up hd space.

Never been one to listen to artists ironically anyway.

I want to figure out how to connect to a wireless network while running my ubuntu partition.

Hmm, and buy an external DVD drive so I can fiiiiiinally install Win7.

I want more boots.

Especially if this cold-rainy-weather keeps up.

MORAL OF THE STORY, KIDS

Coffee makes me want to do many many things- even write a post on my godforsaken blog! Basically, anything but homework.

This might be a problem.

59 at night. Because a non sequitur post deserves a non sequitur picture.

Finished my finals, wrote a paper about it.

2009-12-14T22:31:00.011-06:00

5:00 today marked the deadline for my last three finals of fall semester. FREEDOM! How do I choose to spend this freedom? Drinking beer and rearranging files on my hard drives. It's actually really interesting to dig through the stacks of folders and unnamed .txt files that accumulate over the span of a semester (though I wouldn't want you to get the impression that I clean up my computer files after every semester- this is just a relatively new computer and I haven't had time to properly clutter it beyond all hope) It's almost nostalgic to open up half finished Word documents, scattered images I absolutely had to right-click-save-as and music I forgot to move into my directory. It transports you back in time to the many hours spent wasting away in front of this bright little machine: for all intensive purposes, useless but entertaining.

Anyhow, the reason I mention this is to draw attention to a particular file I came across. Stored in E:\Words\TODO\finals08fall\ I found a paper entitled "A Compilation of Neurophysiological Evidence for Functional Word Webs from Pulvermüller’s The Neuroscience of Language." Some fun facts about this document: it was completed on May 4, 2008 at 4:11 in the morning, it weighs in at 15 pages (14 excluding references), and in a twist I can only describe as painfully ironic, I have no recollection of writing it. At all.

This reminds me of a conversation I was having a few days ago (or earlier today... attempting to understand how time perception works during finals is futile). What purpose do final papers serve, exactly? They are supposed to be the culmination of an entire semester's worth of information, applied to a topic of our choosing. But for what? To prove to the professor that we learned something? To show we can integrate information and regurgitate it in an organized manner? To expand the knowledge base of an academic field? Yes and no (to which question?? Who knows!).

The idea that I could have no tangible memories of something I spent 15 pages discussing baffled me, and this has led me to devise a theory on paper writing- of course.

First of all, papers you are not personally interested in are just exercises in bullshitting. I'd say this comprises an unfortunate amount of my schoolwork, and each one has made me faster, more efficient, and more jaded.

But then, there is the second type of paper: one that you do attach some significance to, (whether or not this is reflected in the amount of time you spend on it. whoops.) My new theory about paper writing is that researching for this kind of paper really is as helpful to the process of learning as sitting in on a professor's lecture. You delve into the world of scholarly books (or more often, .pdfs) in search of information to absorb, analyze, piece together, and spit back out in narrative form. Assuming you don't go through a research project copy-pasting your way from source to source, you're forced to analyze and evaluate in your own words. Definitely an effective model for learning. I guess you technically do the same thing in the papers you bullshit, but for some reason, I feel like there is a different level of processing. Bullshit requires only training and peripheral brain power.

So as much as I want to complain about paper writing during finals, I think I'm finally starting to appreciate the concept. Maybe it's because I actually enjoyed the topics for my 12 and 15 pagers this semester (both completed above the minimal page count!). Or maybe it was finding a final from the spring of my sophomore year and having absolutely no mental reaction to the paper's title. Reading through the document, I know it's mine, but the information all sounds remarkably self-evident (well of course stimulus activation patterns have helped us develop neural models of functional word webs...). Instead of seeing this as evidence the paper was an employment of effective bullshitting, I'm choosing to interpret this as a sign that the amount of time and energy I spent on the subject matter deeply ingrained the information into my skull. I can no longer tell where my prior knowledge starts and stops- what I learned writing that final is now a fundamental part of how I understand and conceptualize the world. (Well, that, and I'm sure the paper-accompanying coffee binges weren't great for conscious retrieval.)

So for now, that's going to be my theory. Humans seem to be capable of convincing themselves of just about anything (like me convincing myself that writing a blog post about final papers was a good idea), it makes perfect sense that the very act of devoting so much time and energy to a 15+ page bundle of words could slightly alter our worldview (learning?).

Then again, maybe that's just me. a) Because I have a terrible memory and feel the need to grasp at the air for explanation. b) Because my brain still hasn't quite recovered from finishing finals up and I'm not physically capable of making sense. Maybe I should check back in two years and see if I remember writing my fall 09 finals*. Ha.

Okay, so where was I? OH RIGHT. This is why my computer files never get cleaned up.

* Just in case anyone cared AND because I'm proud of them AND because they make myself sound super cool:

Paper 1:

A Neurobiological Approach to the Treatment of Psychopathy: Theoretical Overview and Proposed Experiment (the experiment I propose is: Measuring Selective Attention to Angry and Fearful Faces after Repetitive Transcranial Magnitic Stimulation at the Prefrontal Cortex)

Paper 2:

Evaluating Wikipedia: Issues and Solutions in Technology, Policy, and Application

2009-11-26T01:03:00.004-06:00

Been really productive today. I think I'm going to set a record for how many Kubrick films someone can sit through in a 24 hour period. Right now I'm in the middle of the fourth, but I'm scared of what will happen to my psyche if I fall asleep with images from The Shining reverberating in my skull. Next up, Lolita! In other news, I baked a pan of cookies! Thanksgiving break is looking very promising.

Miss you, Michael

2009-11-03T22:33:00.007-06:00

So, it's officially been one year since Michael Crichton died of cancer.

I guess when you read enough of someone's writing, (and I read 13 novels worth of his) you start to feel like you know them: learning about author inbetween the lines. I don't care if it sounds silly, he was my idol all through middle and high school and I miss him. A bond and friendship that transcended time and space and aliens and global warming and white gorillas and nanoparticles.

Looks like it's time to reread some scific, yum.

Voodoo Day One- Justice & Eminem

2009-10-31T11:39:00.007-06:00

Only good decisions are made between the hours of two and four and the morning. Like deciding to drop my weekend plans of being lame and studious for a six=hour roadtrip to VoodooFest in New Orleans.

We got into the actual park around 7:30, and literally RAN to the playstation stage so we could get a good spot for Justice. I was a little surprised to not see the big cross and epic speaker system set up that they'd had at Treasure Island, for a moment I thought we might have run to the wrong place. But sure enough, my boys Xavier and Gaspard strut out, looking ragged yet adorable with their long tangly locks and unshaven faces. They started out the set playing remixes of Across the Universe which pounded both eardrums and chest cavities with its "block rockin' beats." Pretty soon they'd abandoned their music and were toying with random beats and sirens. The rest of the show they spent sampling/remixing other sweet djs: Boys Noize, Chemical Brothers, Bloody Beetroots, Daft Punk represent! So in the end, it might not have been as fucking epic as Across the Universe, but it was crazy fun for a dj set.

Next up, Eminem. Floods of sixth grade memories and obsessions come rushing back- WHAT UP SLIM SHADY! Since he closed the night, the show turned out to be more of a music video than a festival set. Songs were separated by strange "personal" narrations, as if he was trying to add a bridge of stories. Honestly, I found it a little awkward. I just want to you RAP your ass off, Marshall, I don't want all that dramatized bullshit.

Drunk, happy, tired, cold and wet, we journey home- only to change into dry clothing and head back out for some steak po-boys and Harpoon IPA nightcaps.

I can't believe I've never been to New Orleans before.

This Must Be The Place- Miles Fisher

2009-07-31T08:55:00.003-05:00

Miles Fisher - This Must Be The Place (Cover) from Miles Fisher on Vimeo.

A Talking Heads cover with an American Psycho music video?
I think I'm in love.

Download the EP for free on his site: http://milesfisher.com/

Disney & Dali

2009-07-09T10:17:00.008-05:00

Destino is a short surrealist animation film, collaboration of Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. It originally started production in 1946, but for some reason lost funding and remained incomplete until Roy Disney unearthed it in 2000 (working on Fantasia). He and others finished it up, releasing it to the world in 2003. Absolutely brilliant, I want MORE!

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T15:49:00.002-05:00

Stopmotion Fireworks by PES (watch HQ for sure)

Updates & Information on the Green Revolution in Iran

2009-06-17T22:38:00.019-05:00

...because I thought it'd be useful to have gather/organize my twitter updates in a medium that is more stable and less easily spammed. The main purpose of these posts are to spread awareness and information, promote free speech and human rights. If anyone wants to add to it, send me linkz!

Where to go for Information

Anonymous has proven to be more than just an internet meme and troll by hosting forums on a protest website. They organize information on the protests, post advice, instructions, and materials for people that are interested in supporting the cause ( Pirate Bay has changed their logo to lead to the site.) Recently posted (Jun17 10:58pm) was a current event news brief which included specific updates which ended in a hopeful note:

"It seems that the Green Revolution has garnered the support of Hashemi Rafsanjani, Nateq Noori, Tabatabayee and other prominent clerics and politicians. The Rohaniyone Mubarez organization that which has in its ranks pretty much most of the clerics except for the ones in power and includes Mr. Rafsanjani and Mr. Noori has declared their support for the annulment of the election and holding of new elections. Ayatollah Montazeri has yet to declare clear support."

The website has also posted a Worldwide Protest Event (yes, you can attend it on facebook too)

For more general information, you can always count on Wikipedia! I'm sure the page on Iran Election 2009 is going to be controversial (and have somewhat disputed accuracy), but it still offers an expanse of frequently updated and reviewed information.

And, if TL;DR texts are scaring people off, Washington Post streams a few short 'n sweet videos about "what is happening in Iran." Also, Wall Street Journal has posted a slideshow of pictures of mass protests from the streets of Tehran to last night's soccer game.

What you can do to help

1. Set up a proxy on your computer. This allows information to continue to flow out of the country where it has been blocked or slowed. Basically- keep Iranians connected! Instructions here.

2. Seed free speech (or rather, documentation of violence) by downloading/seeding Iranian video torrents

3. Ask Google to change their logo for one day as a way to increase awareness across the web by voting or contacting Google Press.

4. If you are on Twitter, you can show support by changing your location and timezone to Tehran, Iran ( both a gesture of encouragement AND a way to inundate authorities trying to monitor information coming out of Iran) and by overlaying your icon with green, done easily here and added to a green wall of support here.

5. Spread the links found here to other people! Information is powerful :)

Also, http://whereismyvote.org/ is looking for a web developer to help them better organize their site- "PHP, CSS JAVA, DRUPAL." DirectMessage them on twitter for details.

Misc.

New York Times has been liveblogging the events and conversations concerning Iran, offering an up to date perspective on what is going on.

Articles (1-TEDblog, 2-MSNBC) discussing the massive twitter/socialnetworking response to the Iran conflict. Is this just a web fad or if it has potential to be a serious source of information dispersion? I guess only time will tell.

Eeven though this isn't breaking news, here's a beautiful motion graphic short: "Iran, a Nation of Bloggers (2008)" Very reminiscent of the animation used in the film "Persepolis" which I highly recommend to anyone interested in learning more about Iran's political past from a civilian's perspective. (imdb, watch online!)

& Soapbox:

Though I can't promise complete accuracy, I assure you that I'm wading through the mountains of information being splooged all over the twitter and trying to find valid sources. Keep in mind, however that in an anonymous information war, credibility is never certain. Anyhow, like I said before, the main goal is to spread awareness of the situation. The Iranian people deserve to be heard!

Mmm, Walt Disney's Head on a Platter

2009-05-14T11:32:00.009-05:00

Obsession of the week: David O'Reilly, animator extraordinnaire!

I like that even though he toys with abstract/absurd images, he still manages to achieve some sense of realism and poignancy. After stalking him on Vimeo , I've come up with a list of MUST-SEEs for all you bored internet fiends. First, ????? (my favorite) a clip from a previous film collaboration.

Yes, that is Walt Disney's head. Yes, you can have one of your very own. Take up OReilly's challenge and create something fun out of it. (Download- 3D WALT DISNEY HEAD.)

Next, Please Say Something is a short film about a cat and mouse in a "troubled relationship." This has been winning all kinds of awards (Golden Bear at 2009 Berlinale, Best German film at Oberhausen). I love the way he uses sound in this short- he seems to channel everything I love about David Lynch.

There's also Son of Rambow - an episodic depiction of how a young illustrator sees the world, Floaters - a short starring the bio- debris that floats around in your eyeball jelly (is that awesome or WHAT?), BANG - some explosive graphics for an M.I.A song, which apparently COME OUT OF THE SCREEN AND SHOOT YOU if you wear 3-d glasses, Identity - is his logo a pooping dog or a flying duck? The world may never know!, and his iPhone app of a kitty hologram.

You can follow David on Twitter or go to his website for more info/works/stuff.

New Jersey Iced Tea

2009-05-06T16:40:00.006-05:00

An Alex Dinur recipe:

1 part Bacardi Coconut Rum
1 part Smirnoff Watermelon Vodka
1 part Publix Pina Colada Mix
1 part Red Wine
1 part Jose Cuervo Tequila

Half of a Lime
Whipped Cream (whatever is left in the can)
Dash of Tobasco Sauce

Mix well

Enjoy!

Hoooooooray Beach! Hooray Beer!

2009-05-05T16:33:00.005-05:00

Woke up around ten with the SUN ACTUALLY SHINING (huzzah!) so we ran down immediately to the beach (and stayed there till... now.) Cracked open a Corona and started rereading Fear and Loathing. It's been my first summer pleasure read three years in a row, which I figure by now can be considered a tradition. But that actually didn't last too long- sitting thisclose to the ocean and hearing its alluring roar called me away. We caught some hella sweet waves man- like totally- alternating between kayaking, body-boarding, and free floating. At first the lifeguard wouldn't let us take the equipment out because of the red hazard flags that were flying, but when he admitted that the flags were just waiting to be changed from yesterday's madness, I think he realized he couldn't stop us. We're persistent. And sneaky.

Despite the crashing waves, there was a fisherman out about waist-deep in water, just chillin' with his pole. Trying to be friendly I asked him if he'd been seeing many fish today, to which he responded "Yep, and wherever there are fish, the sharks follow. Oh, but don't worry or nothin' thems just the small ones." Oh, pleasant. This didn't actually freak me out much until we kayaked out near the sandbar and then completely ATE IT when a wave crested on our boat. I thought it would be fun idea to swim back to shore, but all I could picture beneath the deep emerald waves were hungry marine animals, circling, just biding their time.

Other than that, I bought a mango habanero hot sauce (advertised as 100% pure pain!) in a specialty store and Peter fucked a pig. Great day, this was.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Sunshine State is not living up to its nickname...

2009-05-04T15:57:00.008-05:00

I have some downtime for the moment so here goes a short documentaiton of the flawrida road trip thus far. First, highlights of the 10 hour drive:
-In Baton Rouge, Abhinav's GPS system, Alfred, decided to use private driveways, back alleys and condominium parking lots as "roads" to lead us through the ghetto to a restaurant. Of course, at the end of the journey, there was a construction fence separating us from our destination.
-Later, in Alabama, we got pulled over for "swerving" by some profiling cop who really just wanted an excuse to question this dark foreigner sporting out-of-state plates and white girl in the passenger seat. We'd been making jokes about this possibility the entire way there, but the fact that it actually happened: priceless.

By the time we got to the condo at 12:57am(Alfred had projected 1:13. HA! We showed him.) every one had already fallen asleep. But honestly, being welcomed by a fridge stuffed full of beer and cheese was good enough.

Next day, I wake up to natural light and the sound of the ocean... heaven. After an amazing breakfast at Waffle House followed by some Krispy Kreme minis, we split into two groups: the girls (sans me) ran off to take advantage of the desperate outlet malls' sales, and the rest of us decided to make like beached whales and head straight for the sand. Unfortunately (as the title of this post has already hinted) there was no sunshine in sight, only a thick misty fog blanketing the beach for miles. This is where the fun comes in: terrible laying-out-on-the-beach weather makes for fantastic fucking-massive-waves. Kayaking attempts failed for the most part, so we turned to body-boarding and the old-school childhood method of entertainment- jumping into breaking waves. I forget how much I like real beaches. Living 45 minutes away from the murky, (and no doubt disease infested) waters of Galveston beach you quickly learn that there are more safe and entertaining ways to die young.
Anyhow, the awesome-waves soon turned too scary for even us reckless adolescents to crash. Now we're back inside watching Crowder play Zombie Nazis. I love summertime.

Beyond Wizard's Sleeve

2009-05-01T15:22:00.010-05:00

Now that school is FINALLY done interfereing with my music stalking abilities: here's something I seem to have missed in the past months...

Apparently Erol Alkan and his buddy Richard Norris (aka Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve) have putting out new albums without telling me! Unlike Erol's usual M.O. of high intensity club remix, this side-group demonstrates his mind-blowing electro skillz taken off into another direction: experimental electro trip-hop (or whaever). The use of audio reminds me of The Avalanches and Lemon Jelly, but past that it's hard to really tie them down to a genre. Too bad I found this after finals, it’s the perfect study music: interesting enough to keep you awake, but not so much that it’s distracting. The good ol’ interwebz has sponsored the first album- Ark 1 and a neat 2007 DJ set they did if anyone is interested. I'm still searching for the Re-Animation, their remix compilation album, so till I actually find it, I'll just post the tracklist to drool over:

01. The Chemical Brothers - Battle Scars (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
02. Franz Ferdinand - Ulysses (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
03. Late Of The Pier - The Bears Are Coming (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
04. Peter, Bjorn And John feat. Victoria Bergman - Young Folks (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
05. Tracey Thorn - Raise The Roof (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
06. Badly Drawn Boy - Promises (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
07. Goldfrapp - Happiness (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
08. Midlake - Roscoe (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
09. Dust Galaxy - Come Hear The Trumpets (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve
Re-Animation)
10. Real Ones - Outlaw (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
11. Simian Mobile Disco - Love (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)
12. Findlay Brown - Losing The Will To Survive (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-Animation)

update: posting links as I find them!

thanks to Feeder, Kumo,

A Note to Unknownbrother81

2009-04-30T10:10:00.010-05:00

Okay, so a million years ago I posted a youtube video called "Know your Dope Fiend" up on my blog. It featured a scene from the movie Halloween, a few audio clips from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas set to the user's own "industrial beat."

Know Your Dope Fiend

Awesome.

Anyhow, I decided to go back and stalk Mr. unknownbrother81 to see what else he's been up to- and came across some pretty pleasant surprises. I mean, if eerie techno beats are your thing...

Destroyer of Worlds

Described as "a tribute to the first atomic bomb." All audio comes from nuclear bomb test.

False Flag Assault: Another industrial beat matched with eerie, highly-saturated images of soldiers.

Perception: A scene from Jacob's Ladder & a synthesizer.

Dream State: Industrial beat, scattered audio.

Pull Out: Hip-hop beat. No images. Still pretty cool.

Anyway, posting all of these was my little internet wave of acknowledgement: "Hey, your stuff is cool. You should post some more."

The end.

Music Festivals, Schmusic Schmestivals

2009-04-29T19:39:00.008-05:00

I still can't decide whether to spend my recently-earned kidney-money on Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, or ACL. I even made up an excel document to help me quantify pros and cons, but I'm still torn...

So, as a part of my hourly routine of procrastination (wow, I'm optimistic) I decided to put together my ideal lineups for the three festivals. (PS they're all free)

Austin City Limits

Lollapalooza

Bonnaroo

Unfortunately, I cannot take all of the credit for the awesomeness of these "wrdlz":

First saw it @thiswebsite,

got my lastfm info all text-ed up @thiswebsite,

and had wordle do the rest of the work.

However, I can take all of the credit for the awesomeness in my music taste. haHA!

(My lastfm overall top artist's, 6 month rolling, and this week's music chart, respectively)

Anyhow, there's always 2010, amirite? Get on it, music fest peeps!

update: yes, I expect Jimi to be there. Somehow.

Mini Sirloin Cupcakes!

2009-04-28T16:01:00.003-05:00

Best excuse to take a break from crunch-cram-final-writing ever.

Also, most delicious excuse.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KYLE!!

The idea for these delicious mini-nomz came entirely from Smiley's Sweets and Creations where she called them "Little Slider Cupcakes." Adorable and super creative! Buy stuff from her!

I did it!

2009-04-21T21:44:00.005-05:00

an excerpt from America by Jean Baudrillard

with completely unrelated linkz

"The slogan of a new form of advertising activity... a pure and empty form , a challenge to ones own self that has replaced the Promethean ecstasy of competition, effort, and success.

The New York marathon has become a sort of international symbol of such fetishistic performance, of the mania for an empty victory , the joy engendered by a feat that is of no consequence.

I ran the New York marathon: "I did it!"

I conquered Annapurna: "I did it!"

I finally got a Twitter account: "I did it!"

The moon landing is the same kind of thing: "We did it!" The event was ultimately not really so surprising; it was an event pre-programmed into the course of science and progress. We did it. But it has not revived the millenarian dream of conquering space. In a sense, it has exhausted it.

Carrying out any kind of programme produces the same sense of futility that comes from doing anything merely to prove to yourself that you can do it: having a child, climbing a mountain, making some sexual conquest, committing suicide.

The marathon is a form of demonstrative suicide, suicide as advertising: it is running to show you are capable of getting every last drop of energy out of yourself, to prove it... to prove what? That you are capable of finishing. Graffiti carry the same message. They simply say: I'm so-and-so and I exist! They are free publicity for existence.

Do we continually have to prove to ourselves that we exist? A strange sign of weakness, harbinger of a new fanaticism for a faceless performance, endlessly self evident."

Nothing like a good ol' postmodern critique of society to start off your day.

In other news:

Kanye West gets free fishsticks! @Kanye'sblog

Tricky (of Massive Attack) shares his musical wisdom. @Wired.com

2009-04-19T21:22:00.007-05:00

Trippy music video. That is all.

Daedelus LA Nocturn by Eli Stonberg from Alfred Darlington on Vimeo.

wut up FOOLZ

2009-04-01T18:02:00.024-06:00

Fun fact: I was never a big fan of April Fool's as a kid. I wasn't creative enough to think up pranks or prepared enough to carry them out. Usually I'd just end up lying to people- but this isn't as fun or easy as it sounds. It has to be timed perfectly if you want to yell APRILFOOLZ before they burst into tears or punch you in the face, so honestly, it's not even worth the trouble. Thankfully for people like me, when real-life is fail, there's always somewhere to turn. The Internet. Where 4pr1L f00Ls is fucking AWESOME.
So, for anyone who missed the foolery, here's a nice little compilation:

Gmail
Gmail turned 5 years old today, hooray! To celebrate, they released Autopilot an automatic message-answering service powered by their artificial intelligence bot, CADIE (Cognitive Autoheuristic Distributed-Intelligence Entity). Apparently, CADIE even has its own blog, so you can feel safe that it sufficiently comprehends human emotions and insight.
edit: damnit, the link is broken now, I'm out looking for a screenshot. WANT PANDAS BACK.
edit2: CADIE HAS A YOUTUBE CHANNEL!!

Google Mobil
Has created Brainsearch, which is basically a way to ctrl+f your brain, you know for when you just can't think of the right ... er... damn I lost it.

Gizmodo:
In honor of the Conficker worm, Gizmodo was taken over virus. Each post was flooded with spam-tastic images and nonsense numbers that perfectly capture the eloquence and artistic expression of typical junk mail. They continued this for the whole day and even sent out an apology message for readers that were annoyed by teh ne3w layoutz.

Lifehacker:
Since we all know how much Microsoft loves Google, Lifehacker posted a code that allows them to unite! Better Windows Live is a Greasemonkey script that reinterprets any Windows Live webpages as the Google counterpart. (Absolutely genius! Too bad I already use Google for everything...)

Team Fortress 2
The Sniper introduced a new weapon- JARATE! First seen in Sniper promo, these jars of pee (karate in a jar!) "wreak havoc on your opponent's mental state, psychological well-being and trust in the inherent goodness of his fellow man." Sweeeeet.

Xbox
Xbox is coming out with a new interactive music game Alpine Legend. One player yodels, the other plays an alphorn. WANT.

FilmDrunk
So apparently, George Clooney and your mom made a porno. Yeah, YOUR mom. (via Variety)

Youtube
To enhance the viewing experience, Youtube flipped its videos. Now people from Australia can finally understand what's going on! Surprisingly, Chemical Brothers videos still hurt your head.

The Guardian
Staying ahead in media distribution, the Guardian will stop printing newspapers and instead publish every story on it's twitter page. After all, "experts say any story can be told in 140 characters." Soon the entire archive will be translated, says journalist/tweeter Rio Palof.

Others I don't feel like writing about:
Wii fit is cute, Google Chrome in 3D, Picasa adds red eye, BMW's Magnetic Tow Technology, Macetech's Stealth CapsLocker...

If you saw some good ones I don't have: leave a comment with the link, your name, bank account number, and mother's maiden name so I can add them to the post!

nom nom electronica

2009-03-28T13:04:00.011-06:00

Nothing much new this week.
Insert generic complaints about school, overall tiredness, strange weather etc. Every day brings a new excuse to skip classes, go to bed (or similar iterations: skip classes, catch up on work and skip classes, play outside) Something about Spring semester in general just pisses me off for no good reason. Probably the cumulative lack of sleep and proximity to summer.

But anyway, KNOW WHAT MAKES EVERYTHING ALL BETTER?
NEW MUSIC!
(and NEW MUSIC VIDEOS!)

Slagsmålsklubben
Cute swedish electro-pop group. Their sound is definitely reminiscent of old-school video/computer game music, and listening to it almost makes you feel 8-bit. Almost. Fun fact: Slagsmålsklubben means "fight club" in Swedish. Here's a cute techie interpretation of "Little Red Riding Hood" using their song "Sponsored by Destiny":

Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny from Tomas Nilsson on Vimeo.

Röyksopp
Not a exactly a new band, but a new album! Hooray!
Junior was released online March 23, and Senior (a "more mature and introspective album") will be coming out some time later 2009. So be on the look-out! Till then, we can just replay the video for "Happy Up Here" over and over because Space Invaders rock.

Happy Up Here from Röyksopp on Vimeo.

Lemon Jelly
Sounds delicious, yea? WELL IT IS. And it's also super chill "trip-hop." Songs @ seeqpod. But since EVERYOTHERBAND I posted got a vimeo embed, I figure it's only fair to include one here: okay, so you know how people with too much time and Christmas spirit wire up their house's lights to flicker synchronized to the tune of a Trans Siberian Orchestra song? Well someone chose to use Lemon Jelly's "Space Walk" instead! Whatta trendsetter.

HD Version - Space Walk - Christmas Display from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.

N.A.S.A.
I hadn't heard of this group till they came out with a video for the song "Gifted" (which features Kanye West, Santogold, and Lykke Li). But a little last.fm background check proves them to be as fucking awesome as the vid implies. Basically, N.A.S.A. is the musical production two DJ's and their "international collective of musicians." Which translates to 'catchy melodies that transcend genre'. Nice.

N.A.S.A. - "Gifted" video from Anti Records on Vimeo.

MOAR @ myspace.

And a little musical sidenote from the ole' orifice:
If you're into the whole female-vocalist-acoustic-guitar thing, check out Jasmine Commerce. She's a coworker's friend from college, which is pretty cute and worth a mention. In other news, my boss's high school friends also started a band, and they're more my style. You might have heard of them....

Oh Rice Baseball, how I missed you.

2009-03-17T22:00:00.010-06:00

Rice vs. University of Texas

Some thoughts:

First off, WE WON. Ha. Suck it, Longhorns.
But winning isn't everything- I'd like to congratulate us on a surprisingly underwhelming number of errors. Huzzah.
Hey, remember the idea that "OUR ENERGY WILL PREVAIL"? Yup, definitely still there. Something about being there in Reckling with a crowd full of screaming fans inspires inextinguishable confidence in all things right and good. Namely, Rice.
Rick Hague's home run scored him four ass-slaps (count it!) Keep up the good work boys and remember, the more inappropriate the physical contact the better it is for ~~crowd~~ team spirit!
So many new players! This is the first game I was able to schedule my disgusting amounts of homework around, so I want to issue an informal welcome out to Steven Sultzbaugh, Jeremy Rathjen, Brock Holt and all the other dudes I have yet to stalk on the Athletics website. (though Brock Holt gets an extra special welcome for picking the "Requiem for a Dream" theme song as his intro.)
Notable fan ritual: While obviously, nothing will ever top the Beanie-Owl-voodoo I witnessed at Regionals, a lady in the front row held up a Go, Diego, Go doll that blew bubbles every time Diego went up to bat. Why hadn't I THOUGHT OF THAT?! Well, actually, even though me and Seastrunk are basicallybestfriends (read, he was in my O-week group) , it's probably best I keep my Diego obsession's separate. One is for baseball. The other is for sheets.

real sports news @
game tracker @

Note: So maybe a good chunk of this was really just self-promotional links back to my previous baseball posts, but I promise as the season continues I'll be able to generate more creative thoughts. That and I'm in the middle of writing 3 midterm essays due Thursday. That's where I'll be spilling all my brain juices for now, thank you very much.

'New Dora' is sexy...and legal!

2009-03-17T09:39:00.010-06:00

SCANDAL! A new Dora figure was released recently and apparently, the public isn't very happy with it. She's too sexy to be a good role model for teens, they say. Growing up isn't natural, they say. Well, at least her head is smaller, allright? And honestly, she still perfectly conforms to the wholesome and innocent expectations of soccer moms with the flowery dress, ballet flats, and leggings (the latter of course, is a challenge rule 34 enforcers across the internet have already begun tackling in MS paint).

Anyhow, the real issue is that Dora was released alone. Where is my post-pubescent Diego?! I've been patient, Mattel...

Story @
Press release @

Let them eat crack.

2009-03-17T09:24:00.017-06:00

This week's edition of Mild Obsessions is brought to you by British badass BANKSY:
a somewhat anonymous Graffiti artist from Bristol who specializes in satirical street art and drawing rats. Visit his site for more sTuFf: outdoor stencils, indoor installations, a video, a "gift shop" of downloadable images. Saweeeet.

"Pissing Guard"

"Artiste"

"Media" (My favorite)
"Let them eat crack."
You shouldn't mess with graffiti writers...

And just so it's out there: Houston has a pretty kickass street-art scene as well.
CHECK IT @ Marco From Houston's Flickr

Sup Dawg

2009-03-08T08:54:00.006-06:00

One of the more strange symptoms of identity crises in college is the splintering of blogs. Or maybe that's just me. It seems whenever I stop writing for an extended period of time, I grow less and less attached to whatever style/subjects I used to write about. So of course, I have this incredible urge to open a new account, disconnect completely from my past posting and create a new identity for myself on the internet. (oh you know, back in high school I was all like philosophical and political but now I'm more like into internet jokes and music and shit, you know? like totally) Right now I'm in the mood to just type out all inane details in my life that for whatever reason feel relevant enough to document. Anyways, long story short, I'm continuing with this poor old thing. But I don't have a choice- I honestly feel incomplete without a functioning blog. So, till punctuated equilibrium of identity evolution strikes again, I'm baaaaaaaaack!

Do you love that picture/failed meme of Nic Cage, or what? Too bad I'm pretty sure it's photoshopped. The shadows are all wrong.

lulz

2009-02-12T19:39:00.005-06:00

For MOAR cultural insight, visit Superpoop.com

Because Kyle wouldn't give the Maître d' head.

2009-01-18T10:35:00.009-06:00

Mmmm REEF.
Having dinner at this mid-town seafood restaurant is an experience, to say the least. You get to hear yourself order trendy things, such as the the snapper carpaccio, with grapefruit agra dolce and garlic bruschetta as an appetizer and then the grilled amberjack with plantain and long bean saute in pickled plum jus as an entree. Don't forget the Thyme after Lime martini made with a base of grapefruit juice and gin.

Absolutely Delicious, highly recommended for peeps who like seafood, drinks and pretentious menus.

Mmm Schedules

2009-01-13T20:18:00.005-06:00

I'm pretty excited about this school year. But we'll see how long that lasts:

Soci 101: Intro to Sociology
Soci 360: Culture
Engl 389: Gen X Literature
Phil 303: Theory of Knowledge
Swgs 355: Sexual Medicine

I'm putting up this list because they will probably be affecting the way I think for the next few months and so if I start obsessing over culture and generations, you'll know why. It's okay as long as I admit that I'm an amorphous blob just waiting to be molded by my university larnin', yeah?

Speaking of Cocaine...

2009-01-12T23:00:00.007-06:00

I'm in love with Robin Williams.Sure I thought he was cute in Mrs. Doubtfire and Hook, those are childhood classics. But after watching a stand-up routine and his phenomenal performance in One-Hour-Photo, I can now say I actually respect him. After all, that's really all it takes to earn my adoration: make me laugh and reveal psychotic antisocial tendencies. We'll be great friends!
He's coming to Houston in February, and I would go specifically to profess my love, but $300+ tickets mean I will probably just sit at home alone re-watching his stand-up routine and pretend it's like we're having a conversation.

I don't care for fancy things

2009-01-09T00:37:00.003-06:00

Since I know you probably have better things to do with your lives than obsess over music blogs, I'll help spread the word. Merriweather Post Pavilion, Animal Collective's new album, leaked a few days ago. And it is beautiful (even beyond the trip-tastic album art.)

In all honesty, it's not my favorite album of theirs. At first I thought it was overly repetitive and, considering it's Animal Collective, tame. But second time around, it hit me. This album is repetitive in the same way that techno is repetitive: a certain acoustic elegance emerges from patterns and echoes. It allows you to focus in on various sounds by playing with slight variations in these patterns, and each time around the chorus you unravel different layers of sound. Or maybe I'm listening way too much into this (hey, I had to think of a way to justify my electrohouse obsessions somehow...) As for the album's "tame-ness," I guess I can appreciate a chill album every once in a while. BUT I EXPECT THE NEXT ONE TO BE OFF THE WALLS, MMKAY?

Anyway, in the end, who could turn down fiftyfour minutes of cheerful tinkling, ethereal reverberations, warm harmonies, and well... all of the other soundbyte goodies that come with an experimental-psychadelic-freakfolk-band? Not me, that's who.

Torrent link
MOAR Animal Collective

But you used to be so deliciously cynical!

2009-01-09T00:00:00.005-06:00

I can’t believe that the film star of St. Elmo’s Fire and Less Than Zero is now acting in Lipstick Jungle. I mean, how do you go from Bret Easton Ellis adaption (albeit a shitty one) to a show that rips off Sex in the City?

For some reason I find this to be very depressing.

Goddamnit, hyperrealistic expectations.
Or John Locke. Either way.

Doctors and Lawyers and Business Executives

2009-01-06T00:34:00.003-06:00

What I like least about going home for the holidays is being asked what I’m going to do after college. Ideally, I’ll just continue this trend of messing around on photoshop, pirating entertainment, and enjoying the moderate use of substances. Maybe I'll sell eggs to support myself in these endeavors. No, that's weird. I'll just sell any organs I have in double.

Weekend update

2008-12-13T11:07:00.004-06:00

Surgery complete! I survived!

Pros:
I look like a mummy!
I got three different color hospital wristbands! (and a vay nize dose high-power pain meds!)
In two weeks I'll have a straight nose again! Which means I'll be able to breathe well again! and my glasses will fit correctly!
It snowed a few days ago! I love snow!

Cons:
I can't actually breathe yet. Or sleep, for that matter.
I still have two 10 page finals to write up.
So, why am I writing a facebook note instead?
Because my fun little cocktail of pain meds/antibiotics/face bandages make concentrating on schoolwork pretty difficult.
However, they do make Graffiti THAT MUCH more fun.

In the end:
CHRISTMAS BREAK TIME IS SO CLOSE I CAN TASTE IT.
Everyone have a great one!

2008-12-05T16:33:00.001-06:00

I miss the days when I wrote papers I was proud of.

2008-11-30T15:51:00.003-06:00

This finals period will be characterized by a very specific cocktail:
Justice, Jamba Juice & Djarum Blacks
Bring it on.

2008-10-20T22:51:00.015-05:00

Picked up my new glasses today. They're a lot stronger than the last pair. Long distances are in focus, everything nearby is super crisp, and I already have a pounding headache to accompany the gorgeous view. Boo.
It's strange, but as much as I like this new clear world, I almost miss the blurriness. It was fuzzy and welcoming and didn't hurt my head. I guess only time will tell whether this newfound clarity will be worth the pain.

In other news, I bought a cool book! Advertising in the 1970's- basically, a historical picture book. It features a wide range of ads: from cigarettes to cars to movies to vacuum cleaners, all of which are pretty entertaining. Though, the best part is realizing that no matter how much the art of manipulating society may evolve over time, it never really changes. Comforting, I know.

Mondays are Delicious

2008-10-07T09:49:00.011-05:00

...My life is so exciting that I blog about meals.

Actually, this one was special. Introducing, the First and Best Steak Ever To Be Grilled At My House! (Thank you, Kyle) Every once in awhile I fall into veggie-mode and forget how much I like meat. But meat good, me like meat. Ooga.

On top of that, we got a pack of St. Arnold's Divine Reserve. Why were we so excited about "just another beer", you ask? Because the Divine Reserve is a small batch they brew uniquely each year and then NEVER MAKE AGAIN. If you're really into the whole connoisseur thing, they like to describe this particular one (No. 7) as

"...dark, slightly chocolatey weizenbock with an undercurrent of bananas and cloves."

Well whatever it's supposed to taste like, it was a perfect compliment to the MMM MEAT.

Okay, that's enough procrastinating my work for this hour. w00t.

Oh, the STRESS!

2008-10-06T12:43:00.014-05:00

So, who's seen the music video "Stress"?

Justice - Stress (official video)
by 75_prod

It's a pretty interesting interpretation of the music. Clockwork orange meets GTA4. Definitely a lot better than I would have come up with. The first time I heard the song all I could picture were killer bees. Lots of killer bees. (Then as I learned to appreciate it over time, the song came to mean something more personal: now it reminds me of that terrifying and urgent tingling in the pit of your stomach you feel the night before a really really hard test that you haven't studied for. Mhmm. Whatta great song.)

It's even more entertaining if you watch it on YouTube because you face great moral dilemmas such as:
What is scarier?
That people like those in the video might actually exist,
or that people like those who comment on the video do exist...

(I mean, really?? "thrashing"?? Who says that?!)

Speaking of sTrEsS, what's the deal with CNN? I haven't seen a shiny happy picture in days. All these people moping around about the DOW closing below 10,000 or the global shockwave the whole ordeal has caused or banks buying banks buying banks buying banks. Come on guys, cheer up a little, it's almost my birthday!

Though on a serious note, I do feel really detached from the crisis. My daily life hasn't changed in the slightest (other than FINALLY having something to talk about with my exec business school frendz besides cheese). Part of me feels like the media is hyping this WAYY up just because they can, but the another part of me realizes that 700fuckingbilliondollars isn't being thrown around just for a politico-media frenzy (...I hope.)
I guess what I'm trying to say is that just like the millions of other political issues being torn to shreds at the moment, I try to care, I know I should, but at the same time I find things that are more pressing in my life to pull my hair out about. Like how I have a test tomorrow that I haven't studied for. *cue justeece*

Besides, I bank with Chase, bitches, I'm going to be QUEEN OF THE WORLD!!

remixxin'

2008-10-04T13:06:00.001-05:00

I really like carrot cake.

I GOT DA POWER!

2008-09-24T01:12:00.013-05:00

And it's about time. I'd bet money that one more day would have irreversibly damaged my ability to ever care about school again. Ever. But what do you expect following a week of no assignments, no class, no responsibilities? As much as I appreciated the slack (given my entire neighborhood was without power) it screwed up my body cycles of "no worries summertime" and "study study schooltime." And really, how can I do homework with only 2 hours of available daylight and a city-wide curfew? How am I supposed to focus on classes when I have soooOOOOoo much complaining to do?
I really hope getting electricity back at my house switches on an a fresh academic mindset. I probably need that more than most household appliances anyway (because the most important things are battery operated anyway, amirite?)

Maybe next time the rain-gods will plan this out a little better: the idea is to pummel Houston with exciting! dangerous! weather without actually causing any longterm damage.
The middle class demands entertainment, after all.

Above picture taken at the Esplanade post-storm.
That'll teach 'em to plant trees in the area.

Treasure Island 2008

2008-09-22T08:08:00.001-05:00

*melt*

Video: Justice remixes D.A.N.C.E.

This is a super cop-out post.
More eventually.

ROCK YOU LIKE A

2008-09-13T20:35:00.007-05:00

Ike update: We survived!
The storm ended up being 110 mph winds when it hit, just barely missing being a Category 3. Which made for an exciting morning. (4:00 green lightning storms, baby!) Our house wasn't harmed, but one of our trees snapped in half and it looks like a forest threw up all over our yard. Pictures of zomgdamage to be posted. Still no power or running water in the house, I'm posting this via telepathy. No school Monday woot.

Edit: Sun Sept 13
Still no power. Running water is possibly contaminated. Everyone smells.

Edit: Mon Sept 14
If you ignore the massive debris everywhere, it's actually quite nice outside. Temp in the 60's (in Houston? In the summertime? NO WAI)

Post-hurricane playlist:

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Hooray?

2008-08-13T11:05:00.002-05:00

Advisor training starts today.
My summer is officially over.

ohwell.
Here's last week in terms of seeqpod:

SeeqPod - Playable Search

So it's official...

2008-08-09T08:33:00.001-05:00

Likelihood of you being FEMALE is 10%
Likelihood of you being MALE is 90%

Site	Male-Female Ratio
youtube.com	1
wikipedia.org	1.08
facebook.com	0.83
flickr.com	1.15
weather.com	1.08
isohunt.com	1.94
discovercard.com	0.87
moli.com	0.96
ytmnd.com	1.25
io9.com	2.33
btjunkie.org	1.94
easybib.com	0.9

FIND OUT YOUR BROWSER'S INTERNET GENDER HERE.

Keep Houston __________

2008-07-31T13:54:00.000-05:00

Not another Music Post

2008-07-30T22:52:00.011-05:00

I'm going to ease back into this blog-writing business by defaulting to music obsessions and the unoriginal thoughts that accompany them. Cool.

Dethklok
I like the show Metalacolyse as much as the next guy, but I love the band. I guess there is something beautiful about a pretend death metal band with a cult following that openly mocks their fans and genre. Wikipedia says that "the album [is] the highest charting death metal record ever with 33,740 copies sold in its first week." HOW ABSURD.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Bitter:sweet
Something about the crisp, clean sound forced me to put my dislike for female vocalists aside and fall helplessly in love with this cute little band. How can you resist their upbeat, quirky harmonies? I'm really excited for them to come to Houston in August. I expect to acquire at least one article of clothing from each band member so that my closet shrine will finally be complete.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Scars on Broadway
This is one of many bands that splintered off of System of a Down when they took a "break" from each other. If you ignore the obnoxiously repetitive lyrics, they aren't bad. It's very SOAD-like. In a good way. Notice the sharp contrast with Serj's independent project/band which takes itself and its lyrics way too seriously. System of a Down is the happy medium. GAH, why can't System just get back together already? MAKE ME SOME GOOD MUSIC, GODDAMNIT. And while you're in there, a sandwich would be nice. Thanks.

SeeqPod - Playable Search

Even if this isn't a new artist or a new album- IT'S A NEW MOVIE! Apparently Soulwax put together a documentary about what it's like to be master DJ gods. I can't wait.

Summertime in the City

2008-07-08T12:50:00.005-05:00

Pool? Check.
Awesome view of clouds? Check.
Classy green interior decorations? Check.
Cyndi's new apartment at Kirby place now has my official stamp of approval.
(But she's only allowed to move in on the condition that I get to keep the spare bedroom.)

2008-07-04T16:08:00.009-05:00

Ah, the Fourth of July.
There's nothing more American spending obscene amounts of money towards blowing pretty shit up to appease the masses. (Bread and circuses are sooooo Roman Empire.) Besides, fireworks show how much we truly care about the environment. And the poor. And our National debt. (Calm down and remember Rule #20 mmk? No matter how much I mock the holiday, I still ADORE it. Even if this leaves me slightly disgusted with myself...)

Buy the ticket, watch the FILM.
(Seriously though. Go do it. Now.) Gonzo, the Hunter S. Thompson documentary, came out today. I thought it was pretty amazing, especially since I didn't know most of his background story going in. Then again, I can't objectively say whether or not it was actually a good movie since I'd probably end up enjoying anything that has to do the good Doctor. (This explains why I intend to buy all promotional material for the flick: the movie poster pictured here and a handful of severed kitten heads seared with F&L quotes. Delicious.)

And then there was the BBQ,
and it was good.
Learned something new today: apparently they make jalapeño flavored burger patties. Apparently they are quite delicious.
Many props to Alex-Randy-Viren on being great hosts. I can't wait to kill you all and claim the house. *ahem* I mean, move in for the school year.
Daft Punk is Playing in My Head, MY HEAD.
The walk back to the Esplanade to watch fireworks was trippy as fuck. Mostly because the medical center at night is absolutely GORGEOUS. You lose yourself in the pretty colors. (And find yourself in the Bright Lights, Big City *happy sigh*) And just so you know, I did actually have Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem reverberating through my skull the entire time. I was living a James Murphy music video. I can now die happy.

Fireworks. are. visual. orgasms.
I have just decided this.

Soulwax remix, anyone?

Silver Lining on a Shitty Workday

2008-07-03T11:22:00.009-05:00

Had a Lunchable for Breakfast.
It was awesome.

I got to play with a roll of bubble wrap at work that is bigger around than I am ( by "play" I mean sit in a classroom for 7 hours organizing and packaging textbooks)
It was awesome.

An EMBA student wandered into the classroom to chat for a bit and in the middle of a sentence he paused and asked me, "Oh no- is something wrong with your computer?" After a slight hesitation he laughed and answered the question himself "Wait. Never mind. That's just your music."
It was awesome.

The Sounds of Soulwax

2008-07-02T19:06:00.006-05:00

Today's musical obsession: Soulwax.
I know I'm jumping between musical infatuations pretty quickly, but I have a feeling that this one might even last a few days. Maybe even a week. (who knows?!) Not only does this dynamic duo manage to capture everything I love about the electronic, remix/mash-up, and rock genres, they also tend to wear tight black outfits during photoshoots. Definitely a sign we were meant to be.

Remember "E talking" on Erol Alkan's remix album? Yup. That was Soulwax. However, I first noticed them last week during my Justice-binge. Justice remixed Soulwax's NY Excuse, and Soulwax remixed Justice's Phantom Pt. II. (Electronic incest, I love it.)

The best thing about Soulwax is their mastery of such different genres. In the album Any Minute Now (right), they are an alt-rock-indie band who's style is slightly reminiscent of QOTSA, with maybe a bit o' early Beck. (Incidentally, their lead singer sounds like he could have been the lovechild of Josh Homme and Beck. Ohgodthat'shot.) But here is where the personality splits completely... under the name "2 Many DJ's", they made 2 discs of crazy good electro-dance remixes (left). What makes the remix album so extraordinary (beyond the fact that each song is phenomenal) is it's cohesiveness. It isn't just a jumbled compilation of various artists and beats- there are many recurring clips spread throughout the disc connecting the different songs via musical deja vu.

Good stuff.

[Sidenote: Apologies about this post being ALLOVERDAPLACE. This music makes me really excited. That and I drank two cups of coffee this morning to make sure I'd survive the workday. You know, it's one of those days where you spend more time at work than you did sleeping in your own bed the night before (oh wait, that's every night... NEED MOAR coffeecoffeecoffeecoffeecoffee)]

SeeqPod - Playable Search
Seeqpod Tracklist
Originals: E talking, Compute, Miserable Girl,
ReMiXeS: E talking (Soulwax remix), Miserable Girl (Soulwax Remix), LCD System- Daft Punk is Playing at My House (Soulwax remix), Muse- Muscle Museum (Soulwax remix), The Gossip- Standing in the Way of Control (Soulwax Remix)

One more time.

2008-06-30T21:48:00.022-05:00

Today I decided it would be a good idea to walk out to my aunt's house. She was going to take me to lunch and a haircut, so I figured I would do her a favor and save her the drive to campus. She lives in WestU, so it was really the perfect plan- I could make a pit stop in the Village for a Jamba Juice refueling (or rather, my daily fix), pick up a book I ordered at the WestU library (Kings of Methlehem... I hope it's as cahrazy as it sounds), and then meet her with time to spare. Halfway there, she calls me asking where I want to be picked up, to which I gleefully respond, "Don't worry about it! I'm walking over so I'll probably be there in about twenty minutes." She laughs for a bit and reminds me that she moved earlier this summer. Far away. Past 610. Which means I'm retarded and walking to the wrong house. Now that was a fun conversation. Though I have to say, the award for most awkward exchange of words goes to one we had later in the day:

Aunt: What's that red mark near your shoulder?
Me: What mark? Oh, err...it's from my bag. I always put too much stuff in it so it's really heavy.
Aunt: Ah, okay. I was worried for a moment. And what's that mark on your neck?
Me: Uhm...that's from my bag too. Sometimes I have to change up the way I wear it since it's so heavy...
Aunt: Hm, it looks more like a bruise.
Me: I bruise easily.
Aunt: On your neck?
Me: Wowlookattheclouds! Can you believe that it's looked like it was going to rain all day and it hasn't yet? Houston weather is so crazy.

In other news, I'm temporarily obsessing over Daft Punk. Again. I blame the viewing of Interstella 5555 (anime version of the album. So fucking good.) I went through Discovery on my walk to the house that is NOT my aunt's and it turned out to be surprisingly good background music. Especially for a journey leading nowhere. One more time. (Story of my fucking life, amirite?) The songs all set the perfect walking pace and I realized that the lyrics, though repetitive, shouldn't be discarded as just meaningless accompaniment to the pulsing melody. Music makes you feel so free. Don't stop. Let's just celebrate. You know you need it. Hey. I need it too. Allright. It's good for you.
One more time.

So yea, good day. I really enjoyed my walk. Found some gorgeous flowers (see pic above. I bet you thought I stole that off the inturwebz to add some color to this post, didn'tya? WELL I DIDN'T. Houston really is quite colorful when you stop and look around), really listened to a great soundtrack...

I guess even journeys to nowhere can end up being pretty meaningful if you let them.

It's not you, it's the E talking.

2008-06-29T02:00:00.006-05:00

Newest musical obsession:
Erol Alkan: Bugged Out Classics (Disc 1 and 2)

I originally met him through his rework of Interpol's Mammoth, but fell in love when he remixed Justice's Waters of Nazareth. Listening to this mix has just confirmed that I want to have his children. (Even if it means giving the lame-emo-hair gene a chance at surviving for another generation.)

Basically, the tracklist is a compilation made for those of us who do not have the luxury of attending Bugged Out! parties. Personally, I like the first disk a lot better because it really captures the club feel-- the songs are more intense, upbeat, and basically overwhelm you with the urge to do the D.A.N.C.E. The second disc is aptly dubbed the "Bugged in" mix since it's built of the more chilled-out tracks. Keeping it on shuffle creates a dynamic bouncing-around-the-room experience, since you alternate between frenzied rock-out and soothing trip-out. All in all, LOVE IT. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go yell at my mom for birthing me on this side of the Atlantic.

My two favorites (so far) :

2008-06-28T21:20:00.002-05:00

Mmmm Houston clouds, how I missed you.

Currently listening to:

It's meme-tastic!

2008-06-27T14:46:00.005-05:00

If you can name the 8 meme-characters present, I will give you a cookie.
(This really only proves that you can read, but I still think it deserves a cookie.)
If you can name the origin of the 8 meme-characters present, then DING-DING-DING! YOU WIN AT ONLINE LIFE!!1 I will award at least 100 online respect points, but I'm going to have to deduct over 9000 for you being such an IRL loser. I hope you're ashamed of yourself. Go outside and fly a kite or something.