Archive for April, 2005
few and far between
April 22nd, 2005 cata-wha?
I couldn’t sleep the other night.
I have been spending more time trying to make music with various samplers and sequencers and combining them with live guitar. and, after a not too late creativity session, i COULD NOT fall asleep.
I feel the gears of creativity grinding back into motion. It’s not going to be pretty - and i am sure there will be untold amounts of crap songs before anything good comes out. But I need to do it.
It is difficult to articulate why it is important. I suppose it is unnecessary, too. I do feel the need to have focus, and not waste opportunities to be creative that seem few and far between.
So, it was interesting to sit down during lunch with two magazines I got in the mail, verbicide (containing Interviews with Ian MacKaye, and Tim Kerr) and Magnet (containing interviews with Michael Gira and Sleater Kinney, as well as tons of up-and-coming-and-soon-to-be-forgotten, hopeful indie stars and starlets).
Both zines pointed out things which I aspire to, and things which I either care less for, or truly loathe.
The verbicide interviews with MacKaye and Kerr were good. These guys have been at it for a long time, and don’t plan on quitting music or bailing their punk ethos anytime soon. That is where I want to be. Not in terms of status, but as a lifestyle. For a long time, I think it was, but I dropped the ball somewhere. And where I would have devoured this zine 10 years ago front-to-back - ads, reviews and all, the rest didn’t speak to me. Which is ok.
Magnet was pretty hard to take seriously. Now, I know I do not want to have a color promo shot of me standing in the woods looking contemplative and wearing a thrift store short sleeve acrylic sweater one-size too small, and if I ever get around to naming a band, I really hope I can come up with something better than “Joy Zipper”. The Sleater Kinney photos were painful to see - an awkwardly posed fashion-shoot. Ugh.
Good article on Michael Gira, though. Like MacKaye and Kerr, that guy is staying true to his vision.
So, I took some extra time over lunch and got a new set of strings, and I am set on getting the gears oiled up and spinning. There is sure to be lots of grinding along the way.
Nebraska: cheapest state
April 21st, 2005 cata-wha?
Nebraska: cheapest state to spend a vacation
Is this really something to brag about?
Are you going on a vacation this year? Will it be in Nebraska?
Besides a weekend camping trip, what’s there to do?
Why Bother with Piracy? It’s Mostly Crap Anyway.
April 20th, 2005 cata-wha?
I usually go weeks, if not months without making it to SlashDot, but the following
comment at slashdot summed it up for me:
Honestly, why are we stealing this crap anymore? Especially as the three most popular movies currently are Hitch, The Pacifer, and Be Cool (thanks to www.the-numbers.com)? Why do we waste our time and endanger our freedom?
Well, I say, it’s time to stop. Not just stop pirating mainstream movies, but stop watching them altogether. There’s plenty of content to be found out there on the Web (AtomFilms [atomfilms.com] and INetFilm [inetfilm.com] come to mind).
Show the RIAA that we are not sheep. Show them that we don’t need to see the latest Keanu Reeves travesty. Show them we’re tired of their shit. Don’t see their movies. Don’t pirate their movies. Don’t have anything to do with their movies. If enough of us shake off the yoke, it will make a difference.
I need to check out (and support!) more indie produced net content! Suggestions welcome.
Internet Archive Forums: View Post
April 19th, 2005 cata-wha?
Cheap
April 19th, 2005 cata-wha?
US Air mistakenly sells round-trip tickets for $1.86 - Apr. 19, 2005
“US Airways mistakenly sold round-trip flights for $1.86 to more than 1,000 customers over the weekend.”
Now that would make for a nice surprise! I need a vacation.
DirtCheap Reunion
April 14th, 2005 cata-wha?
Opened the year I was born, Dirt Cheap (and neighbors Trade-a-Tape + Pickles) influenced several generations of Lincoln music fans and musicians. I have more than a few good memories of bus rides home from downtown memorizing record covers and lyrics, playing it “cool” walking through the alleys to the different shops, and telephone poles covered thick with what seemed like years of flyers for shows.
This could be fun to check out…
Participatory Culture Foundation
April 13th, 2005 cata-wha?
While I thought that Downhill Battle’s original criticisms of digital download services were more than a bit off base (I don’t feel sorry for the artists who signed crappy major label deals), they seem to have grown a lot and refined their message to something which makes a lot more sense.
And while the communistic jabs at the music industry are kind of funny (if also more than a bit played out), I was left wondering : “What are creative types going to do about it?”
Just saying “Your failed business model is not my problem” while downloading torrents all day doesn’t get us any further. And, like it or not, it IS your problem if it is someone else’s work they don’t want traded for free.
Well, along comes the Participatory Culture Foundation:
Announcing a new platform for internet television and video. Anyone can broadcast full-screen video to thousands of people at virtually no cost, using BitTorrent technology. Viewers get intuitive, elegant software to subscribe to channels, watch video, and organize their video library. The project is non-profit, open source, and built on open standards. Today we’re announcing the project and releasing our current sourcecode. The software is launching in June.
There ya go! Keeping my eyes glued to this one!
fun with google maps
April 8th, 2005 cata-wha?
Okay. Fun might be an overstatement, but this is
a cool picture of the capitol.
What’s your favorite Lincoln landmark?
