Can you feel it?

Maybe it's that for the first time since i drove back across the south, i got to see the sun come up, combined with the cool air filtering through my windows. But i think the swelling in my brain caused by all this heat hubub and humidity has gone down and i might be able to think straight for a few hours this afternoon.

Autumn can't come fast enough for me - and then it'll past so quickly into winter.

When i was a kid and i'd look out my bedroom window in the mornings and i'd see that it was cool and crisp, sunny or no wasn't important, but that the air had metal in it and sharp. I waited for these days - It was always bittersweet though, that smell meant all sorts of good things to me, but also it meant school was back in session.

There was a field through my backyard and my cousin's backyard, that crossed a road and that was how we go to school. I could look out my bedroom window in the morning and see across that field. Sometimes their would be little rainwater ponds i'd have to navigate around - these mornings when it was wet and fresh, and i wanted to stay in bed i'd call them Earthworm days.

Christmas in the Mountains
will oldham

Should i play ball with the dogs
or walk away.
Should i play ball with dog
or walk away.
should i, take your hand,
walk across the sand.

time in the enemy,
time is the guide.
enemy behind, enemy lines....


we need an enemy.

I'm saving all my rage for you,
we need an enemy,
i'm saving all my rage.

it's christmas time in the mountains,
everything is white, tonight.

|mp3|

Man gives Birth! ...sorta.

Have a good weekend everyone, i'm gonna go throw up now.

Retro-Gaming at the Green Door Studios

My friends Athena and Andrea hosted a retrogaming party tonight down at my old studio space on Pine street; I got the word about it from Todd at work and spent the rest of the day excitedly waiting to head down. It's been a while since i've done much console gaming, let alone nintendo, genesis or *gasp* Atari...

I can't tell you how much fun it is to play these old systems with other people and to hear the stories everyone tells; the hours spent trying to find that one special item, thinking you just beat the game, when actually you have to beat it twice, the second time you have to do it twice as fast. The terrible (yet worthwhile...) toll they took on our free time and family relations....

One of the best moments of the night came when i was going one on one in Ultimate Mortal Combat for the Genesis, and i landed such a severe upper cut that it set the other guy up through the ceiling of the screen, and then caused the whole game to freeze, and display a lovely Console version of the "Blue Screen of Death" -

Can i also mention the waves of nostalgia, followed by a gauzy almost sedated sensation that comes with taking out fussy NES carts and going though my elaborate cleansing ritual. pop it up hard and down hard, pull it out, blow out the cart, blow out the box, blow out the cart again, check for dust, put it back in the machine, slam it down, power up. Repeat as nessessary. (did anyone else just get as turned on as i did?) Makes me wonder if that gauzy sensation has more to do with hyperventilation than nostalgia...

anway, here's a list of the systems we were playing

• Atari
• NES
• Nintendo 64
• Gamecube
• Super Nintendo
• Sega Genesis
• Sony Playstation 1+2
• plus a couple portables
• The Schwin tricycle tv stand

Gahlord rocking some sweet Missle Command
he's still got it - 25,000 points first go.

Q-Bert

This is like porno for gamers

Matisyahu Keith Fullerton Whitman Interview

I meant to throw this up here yesterday, but i'm lazy - either way, everyone who cares probably checks pitchfork more often than i do and already read this interview. I thought it was fairly interesting, with Keith talking about his various live processes, and his self doubt being a guiding factor in the creative process. He also dicussed his on going work on his "Complete System", an ongoing collection of various electronic systems he wants to integrate into his live set:

Pitchfork: Is your "complete system"still a work in progress?

Whitman: That's my main thing right now. I'm a real big electronic music nut; when I was young I listened to musique concrète, German music from Cologne in the early 50s, all kinds of stuff. So I wanted to build a system that incorporated everything.

I have a tape machine, and I can record sounds and manipulate the tape in real time. And I have a Commodore 64 doing 80s home computer sounds, sort of like mainframe computer music. And then I also have the analog modular synth, so I can do San Francisco tape-music-center type stuff. Then I've got a bunch of circuit-bent boxes and things that are controlled by my Mac through a big breakout box. I want to create this total environment where I can bring all this gear to the show but maybe just use one or two elements, if that's what's called for.

Judging from what Keith mentioned in his interview, he hasn't yet discovered the newest trend in programable electronics, a little handheld device by French developers called "Je Joue". Though it has a fairly steep pricetag, i found that it more than makes up for it with customizability, and shear functionality; coming with it's own proprietary software system, and access to an online community where users can share hand made patches. You can even download the patches, take them appart and rearrange them to suit your own likes. And boy do I likes. Never has such a small peice of gear given me so much excitement!

I seriously recommend this small but essential peice of gear, especially if your work has been leaving your stressed and unhappy, within 5 minutes of setting up the je Joue i garantee you'll have a smile back on your face, it's such a joy to use. I reckon that if Keith had had one of these on his english tour it would have turned his whole set around, no joke.

Pitchfork Interview (Here)
Je Joue Online (Here)

Severed mouse heads are low in Carbs, right?

I went up to Highgate today to, also know as the land of "stupid weird" - and while visiting my family's hardware store I over heard a conversation sometime along the lines of "Gonna stick to my hungry man one pounders, hyuck."

They were talking about the headline in Franklin County's evening "newspaper" The Saint Alban's Messenger. Not the "Pedophile's pending release angers Father" headline, but the one right below it:
Here's an excerpt:

When Bridget Zurn bought the frozen Lean Cuisine meal in January... ...The ingredients looked tantalizing: Blanched whole wheat orzo pasta, wild salmon, assorted veggies... A variety of cheeses. However there was one inedible item lean cuisine never included on the label...

... She opened the box and poked holes in the cellophane wrap. She left the kitchen as her lunch cooked - four minutes, five tops. She returned and noticed a "Funky" smell.

"It kind of smelled like a mixture of fish, and dead." she recalled (Whimsically?)

When she looked closer she noticed three light colored hairs protruding from the dish
"Uhg," she said, "There's hair in here..." She grabbed a dirty fork (?) from her sink and poked at a strange object, which looked like a fuzzy marble. Then she saw the teeth. And the Whiskers, It was a severed mouse head. Which explains the smell." (Leon Thompson, Messenger staff writer)

The Strange and Wonderful World of Video Game Re-Enactment

Other noteworthy re-enactments:
Pong

Tetris on a building

Tetris again

Pac-Man: The Movie

Pac-Man on campus

Super Mario Bros.

Another Super Mario Bros.

The Legend of Zelda

Pac-Man

- Blinky: The most cunning and most dangerous: Fast and trying to corner you with direction changes. When he's after you run quick and run twisty through lots of corners to shake (as with all others, cornering successive turn is most likely to lose the ghost). It also seems that Blinkey does get a burst of speed when only a few dots are left in the maze. It is at it's most dangerous then. It will also track you by your poistion in the maze, trying to get to where you are as quickly as possible. It will try to line up with you vertically first, then horizontally. Blinkey owns and patrols the top right hand corner of the maze.

- Pinky: Fast but more predictable. Once he's on your tail he won't let go. But he'll stay on your your tail running after you, hardly trying any tricks. Pinkey will line up with you by always following the direction which you are moving in or facing. If Pac-Man and Pinky are heading toward each other, and there is a hallway just before he hits you, Pinky will turn into the hallway first and try to run in the same direction as Pac-Man. All this is explained by the fact that Pinky is hard coded into the program to read the movement of your joystick and follow it. Pinky owns and patrols the top left of the maze.

- Clyde: Slower and a lot less harmful. Usually if you can stay out of the way of the top two (Blinkey and Pinkey) you can get away from Clyde and Inky by running through the maze. Clyde doesn't seem to want to line up with you or actively chase you. He just wants to get into your general vicinity and then only eats you if you happen to run into him. Clyde owns and patrols the bottom left of the maze.

- Inky: The slowest and almost shy. Often when faced head to head he will turn and run away from you. Mostly he will only catch you if you happen to run into his pattern. Nevertheless it seems like it can adopt the characteristics of any of the others at any given time. All of a sudden shy Inky might try and outwit you like Blinkey and you won't even know what hit you. Inky owns and patrols the bottom right of the maze.

Guide to Pac-Man (here)

And what's better than a cold refreshing 7up when you play your next game of Pac-Man.

Lets get serious for a moment...

"The Phish farewell tour was like an all-you-can-rape buffet."

Radio Jah

The thrift-store motor-cycle helmet is covered with antennae quills, and fitted with sufficient surveillance technology to receive signals from the gods. The helmet is mounted to the wall on an ornate arm and a small kneeling stool is provided. To use the Antenna the worshipper must kneel on the stool and inset their head into the helmet. The visor is blacked out. Integrated headphones allow the supplicant to experience the signals. Sufficient controls allow him/her to tune the signals.
details @ we make money not art

I want one.
------
Sid Barrett died, but you all knew that. still sucks.
maybe this will make you feel better.

Swimming holes

Woke up today around 2pm, sweating and contorted into a pretzel, i felt like i got hit by a mack truck - i don't really know why, but i slept really funny, so i started the day off feeling like it wasn't going to be my day, So i decided i'd get out of the sinagog and head over to the new Coffee shop in the North end, next to Pandera (the new Bakery) get some coffee, do some blogging and work on the Pure Pop Website - i was just getting out of the shower when todd came in and we sat down and split an afternoon beer.

Todd wanted to go swimming at the marosy's - and since i only know marley sort of i was reluctant, but the idea of swimming got stuck in my head... maybe what i needed was so ice cold water in my face, so while we sat and smoked, i ran through my head where we could go. I don't like lake champlain cause it's dirty, and i don't know anyone else in burlington with a pool - then i remember that me and Sara paule used to go up to Bartlet falls just past her house in Starksboro in the summertime... that i could do, fast moving fresh mountain water seems clean and safe to me.
We decided on that, made a few calls and headed out - stopping on the way to pick up our friend Clark from the studio. I also got ahold of SP for the first time in a while, and luckily enough she was on her way to babysit her little brothers in Starksboro, so we decided we'd all go out swimming together, the three of us guys, sara paule and her two little brothers Miles and Spencer.

If any of you have ever been to Bartlet falls, you know how great it is, otherwise, let me sum it up - it's gorgeous. Shallow fast moving river, with stone bed (you'll want to wear water shoes) that grows deep to about 8 feet in places, one side is lined by a 20 foot rock ledge that kids always are jumping off much to my alarm, and on the other a gentle, but slippery slope rises out of the water, that acts as a perfect place to sun yourself or use as a little water slide back in. at the far end of the swimming area (cordoned off by visitors who've made a makeshift boarder out of stones in the past) out into the deeper water, is an amazing waterfall, with a cavern cut out behind it, fit for climbing into and re-enacting the waterfall scene from "The Last of the Mohicans" (todd, wasn't having any of it...) then diving through and into the deep cold water, if you come up to quick you'll get battered back down by the falls.

I'm also amazed at how empty it is, even on days like today there were only a couple other people there, and it felt like we had the whole river to ourselves.

The greatest part of the whole afternoon was definatly getting to hang out with my old bandmates Spencer and Miles, these two personalities are about as dynamicly opposed as two brothers can be, yet they work so well off each other - Miles, 11 is the brain, he's smart, and thoughtfull, we used to play video games together and talk thoughtfully about whatever he was on his mind, usually video games... In the old band, he played Trumpet and a little guitar

Spencer, the 9 year old is an animal, i've never met anyone that so perfectly embodies the out of control Id. You never know what he's gonna say or do, and today was no different, the first thing he said as we pulled in the drive in Todd's 84 Saab "You know... i gotta tell you, this car is a peice of Junk!" From there he pretended to swill vodka drunkenly (water) and at the end of the afternoon he had filled up his swimming shorts with 15 lbs of large stones, and tied them in with a peice of string, walking around hold them and laughing, gyrating and making childish sexual gestures. Hilarious. He was of course, the vocalist for the band.

Todd loves Spencer, and its not hard to tell why - he's basically everything Todd hopes to be; free, unfettered - self contained and unhindered - infact, he's everything i think any of us hope to be. But i can tell that Todd shares a special appreciation for little Spence, that's where these pictures came from.

So if you havn't been to Barlet Falls, check it out - but i'm not telling you where it is, it's not that hard to find anyway - but the less people know about it the better i'd say. Afterwords we went and got Cree-mee's - this is Summertime, no doubt about it, and just what i needed to shake out whatever had gotten into me in my sleep...

The Proposition

Affecting, lyrical, decidedly reminiscent of a swift kick to the face.
Go see this.

Know how i know you're gay?

Over at Bligbi, they've posted their top 10 reasons why gay marriage will ruin society - it's rather informative, here's a few choice examples:

• Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
• Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
• Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
• Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
• Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.

Check out the rest on Bligbi's Blog (link)

A Tan for All Seasons...

Captain Tannerito scanned the horizon,
searching for any signs of land or life;
nothing yet, and it had been days now
- the crew was restless and hungry, there were
wispers of mutany abound; the sky's were
growing dark and the setting western sun glowed
blood red.
Still, all was not lost - his baby blue
Izod polo was still clean and fresh,
(downright sexy really...) and there
were at least 2 hours of battery life left in
his Ipod.
"...if only i had my MacBook with me..."
he thought quietly to himself but Tannerito
knew he had to remain strong; if only
for the sake of his crew.

(Meanwhile, down on the main deck)

Eva surveyed the other crew members as they eyed her
hungrily - they were all starving; it'd been days now since
they'd seen the land, and no fresh water. She feared the
worst, and as they licked there chops and slowly closed
in on her, she knew her fears were about to be realized...

"But i never got a chance to be on the cover of the
New York Times Sunday Arts and Leisure section!"

Eva pleaded to the mob,

"Not even a New Yorker write-up!"

"Hark!"
called out Captain Tannerito -
"Take your foul hands off mine fair wench, and puttith
thine lapping tongues firmly back in cheek -

"There, yonder - Land HO!"

The End.

Super Nerds!

Eva just put me onto this, it's the Pilot episode of a failed sitcom called "Super Nerds"- seemingly another attempt to capitalize on that growing (and maturing?) demographic of comic book fans, sci-fi junkies, video game dweebs, and the generally oft-ridiculed and now no longer marginalized.

Thank you, the interweb.

Anyway, i normally wouldn't be that interested in a show trying to capture the geek world as it doesn't seem to be a world easily, or at any rate, accuratly portrayed, being that it's nature is constantly changing and secretive, kind of like Al Qaeda, sorta.

(Eva (over shoulder): "Crafty nerds...")

Indeed; But this show seems to have been made by nerds for nerds and stared a cast of some of todays most brilliant comic minds, including Brian Posehn, Patton Oswald, Sarah Silverman, and that guy from Mr. Show, that i love... John Ennis, there we go. (thanks wikipedia.) These guys actually seem to be true nerds; and the humor reflects it.

For example at 0ne point an argument breaks out between the two main characters, brian and patton (one who manages a comicbook store (a disheveled and dimly lit mess very reminiscent of Pure Pop), the other just hangs out and reads comics) and Sarah Silverman, who justed invited patton to go to a convention together dressed as Batman and Catwoman.

Brian guffaws, "catwoman is a villain"
silverman says, "ok, maybe Green Lantern and Scarlet Witch..."
Brian "Scarlet witch is Marvel, and Green Lantern is DC!
Silverman "Ok... maybe it's a crossover"
Brian (incredulous) "There's a huge difference, every time there's a crossover it doesn't work because there power's arent analogous.... you're talking two separate universes!!!!!!"

lol; priceless... i think i've actually had this conversation with Pure Pop's resident comic dork Herb (i got my BA in Comic Books) Van Der Poll.

or later, as they both side and think to themselves:

Brian: Look at that smug little hobbit, dreaming about all the hot nasty devient sex he'll be having with Gwen... no fair

Patton: ahhh yeah... it's finally gonna happen to me.... once i get those resident evil cheat codes, it's hello level 4.....

Anyway, it's a shame it never made it past the pilot; but until then there's great shows like "The IT Crowd". By the way... XP is running well on my macbook nicknamed "Mac 'Cuin" screens are on their way. I hope everyone enjoys there's days off from work, if they get any - and maybe even gets some sun (i'm planning on going sailing!)