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07.31.01 "somethings will never wash away" [update: the link to those mp3s is dead. sorry] # the Beta Band talks about economic devaluation, poverty and quality control. # 07.30.01 can anyone imagine the irony of a resturant cliche playing what must be the only pop song about cannibalism? # for the record, this is not summer. # has anyone else noticed that most streaming radio content has gone dry? # 07.26.01 although i'm not at liberty to disclose it's super-secret location, i've discovered a hidden krispy kreme outlet right here in san francisco. how could something like this go unnoticed? are these delicious doughnuts scattered throughout the city? where can i find other stores like this? is there in fact, a krispy kreme underground?! # for your listening pleasure: a 3 minute sample from the album/song/composition "warminister" by adrian utley & mount vernon arts lab. i'd love to link it for you but i can't seem to find it on any sites - if you know about this group/album please comment. regardless, it's very gentle and rythmic, nearly ambiant it's so subtle in parts. the album is one 21 minute track that sweeps through a range of sounds, these three minutes being only one of them. why don't you grab it and share your thoughts. # 07.25.01 i'm sure i've posted about printed batteries before. if they work reliably and get marketed well enough, perhaps we'll finally see electronic paper... # interesting to note at the end of this article is the plan to move west wing to the oh-so-catchy wide-screen format in the fall. also potentially interesting (at the end of the article) is the news that ABC's Nightline will host a week long series this fall about gay and lesbian folks. sounds good eh? the title of the show(s) however, is "A Matter of Choice?" # it looks like gary trudeau's doonesbury folks are right behind me with this "digital cheney" concept. # just got in from spending more money at that evilest of empires purchasing a new bag (notice that a bag is not a purse) as well as new pair of jeans, ushering in a new era of clothes that fit. # apple has an article on radiohead and their use of the mac platform for the creation of the new internet-only video for i might be wrong # arrgh. thar be radiohead freebies here. # 07.24.01 now, i'm just as open-minded as the next guy, but could somebody please tell me what this this was doing in a porn gallery? # "Officials said that the piranha and the pacu are often confused for each other." ha! right! this smells of a fish and game conspiracy to me. 'it's ok boys and girls, you can swim in the lake, there's nothin' wrong at all...' see how close you get me to that lake, mr. fish-and-wildlife guy. # finally, i find a website that does a halfway decent job of explaining all of the (dramatically) different neighborhoods in san francisco. works especially well when combined with this handy map. they even have a handy little suppliment for queer-friendly neighborhoods. there isn't information on all of the diffferent parts of the city though - anyone know of a better place to go for a crash course? # update - radiohead news from follow me around: The 'Knives Out' video will be premiered on MTV (USA) on Wednesday, July 25 at 10 pm EST / 9 pm CDT. Apparently Radiohead will release an Internet-only video for "I Might Be Wrong", directed by Chris Bran of the Vapour Brothers, tomorrow July 25th at radiohead.com/009.html. The video will be available in Quicktime. # speaking of the beta band's awesome new cd, jessie has a track from the album up as his em pee three doo jer. # 07.23.01 not that i wasn't excited before, but after reading a review at salon, i'm really looking forward to hedwig - anyone want to go with me? # 07.20.01 i'm leaving town for the weekend, so you most likely wont find any updates to the site until sunday night/monday morning. in the meantime however, i'd like to leave you with a little entertainment. and so, without further ado, i would like everyone to use the comment system to enter into the following debate: which was tina turner's greater film: 1.) what's love got to do with it? 2.) mad max beyond thunderdome # gym bunnies and circuit boys: for many, these shirtless, sweaty guys tap into something very deep: the rage and resentment against the popular, athletic jocks in high school we simultaneously wanted to blow away and simply blow. but even more, we didn't just want them: we wanted to be them, and because we could achieve neither, we hated them. # by the way, thanks to everyone for their kind words the other day. they really meant a lot to me. # the best thing about the internet #28: if a company doesn't tell you how to hack their product, someone else will. # 07.19.01 you know what i like? i like when a car mechanic isn't afraid to use terms i understand. terms like brake juice. # oh yeah, and let me add my voice to the din of those who were disapointed with yesterday's macworld new york show. # ::click::drag::delete::click::drag::delete:: i shouldn't blog from work, but i've been moving files between servers for the past two days straight and i now know *exactly* how long it takes to transfer a 700 MB folder from one of these machines to another. so i have a minute. ("about 2 minutes" to be exact) i've been listening to the beta band's new CD hot shot's II and it's really really good. the song won is the best. it's really cool. i'll try to post it later tonight from home. :) # 07.17.01 tasty new treats are up in sound* - i'm gonna make a habit for a while of posting a new mp3 and a radiohead mp3. content is subject to change (i.e. this beta band disc is too good not to post!) # one of the less interesting effects of the afterglow is an extremly noticable emotional vulnerability. the smallest negative thing, recieved or even witnessed, causes a horrible veil of sadness. of couse it's more psychosematic than anything else - the realization of exactly how far everyday life really is from that pocket of pure happiness is a very difficult thing to come to. so how about someone leave a positive comment behind them, so i can stop feeling like i'm about to burst into tears everytime i have to interact with other people... # of course, to make up for said bad morning (see below) i treated myself to a few new material posessions. among them are Armistead Maupin's tales of the city, the beta band's new cd and a new import from sparklehorse. i'd tell you a bit about them, but the celophane isn't even off yet... # ...so the only reason i got up for work this morning was because the cat rubbed against my face. of course she was about an hour behind my supposed alarm clock. which made me very late. by the time i made it off the train, the shuttle to work had already stopped. my (fantastic, wonderful, amazing) boss had to come and pick me up from the BART station. what a great start to the day! # 07.16.01 the full video for bjork's new single hidden place is available on her website. # well, there certainly are some fun kids over at sheepish dot org - i can't tell if any of them are # exactly. # my baby sister got a fantastic new job in the mayor's office here. way to go katy! # 07.15.01 brent is such a beautiful writer and a man of such depth, sometimes it almost hurts to read his blog. i found this there today. it's an excerpt from James Baldwin's giovanni's room and it's very touching. # a great link from reese - a new report released by amnesty international entitled "crimes of hate, conspiracy of silence: torture and ill-treatment based on sexual identity" # mac os x: ie vs. omniweb after observing the smallish debate which occured earlier on this site, i thought i'd sit down and do a little experimenting of my own. consider this a sidebar in the 20 page TIME magazine article that is my os x experience. as per mark's statements, omniweb renders truely beautiful pages. after conducting a side by side comparision of the two contenders, i can honestly say that. i think that the reason is that omniweb appears to be anti-aliasing the text/fonts on each page. it's fantastic! pages look great. i tried out a number of common sites under omniweb and internet explorer, including salon, wired (where i noticed ie underlined some links at the top-right of the page, while ow did not - which was correct?), contrasts and the ubiquitous aol.com. what i found was that ow didn't display pop-up ads. this is a wonderful feature/bug for us but i doubt many sites would be happy to know that. the competition fell apart however when both browsers tackled blogger. omniweb simply couldn't handle it. wether this is related to incompatable code at blogger or rendering errors in the browser, i'm not sure. the front page looked alright (ow didn't display the sidebar in blue, as it should have tho) but once we got through the front door and into the posting window, all was lost. ow couldn't even compete. the posting-window was mangled and none of the buttons were functional. blogger became a useless heap. competition was close in other areas as well. as for interface, i prefer ie's, but only by a slim margin. i like the beveled, translucent buttons, as they feel better in keeping with the os x theme. ow looked nicer in a small window, running the page right to the edge of the window. i chose ie for interface however, based on the small amount of screen real estate on my old ibook. in ie the "explorer bar" holds favorites and history and such along the right side and contains it within the window, making grabbing a bookmark simple and fast. omniweb however uses a "drawer" concept, which pulls out from the left hand side, shrinking the window to accomodate. this function was awkward and difficult for me (personally), although i highly suspect that it would be much more elegant and functional on a largers screen. unfortunatly, what it came down to was stability. omniweb makes a beautiful page, and supporting a non-MS entity is exactly what i want to do, but with the release of ie preview 5.1, microsoft finally got their os x browser up to competition level for stable applications. omniweb has crashed on me numerous times, often repetedly, forcing a reboot before the application can recover. so for me (for now), internet explorer takes the prize. # mmmmm. luxury hindenberg. # friday the 13th was nothing short of amazing. period. life should be this good. # "our friendship...was like the dark between the stars" # 07.13.01 radiohead are on the cover of rolling stone. # at home with mac os x: trial 2 so now that i have the problems with mac's Mail application solved, i'm gonna give this os x thing another shot. the problem last time was working with classic applications. so now i'm gonna shoot for an authentic carbon experience. in a few days i'll let you know how it's going. still have to try out some tips, courtesy of MacOSRumors. the most difficult question is ie vs. OmniWeb for the browser. [update: omniweb wouldn't post to blogger. guess that takes care of that] # 07.12.01 technology: pushing the envelope in up-to-the-minute journalism IsDickChenyDeadYet.com keeps readers updated round the clock on the health of our vice president. # 07.11.01 NEWS FLASH! disable x10 pop-under ads for 30 days! # damn. and he's not even that cute! if that's "Gorgeous Guy" then i could earn a craigslist stalker following. any takers? ;-) # referal of the day: over+ 30+ mb+ mpeg+ free+ download+ sex+ movie # "hey Travis, nice banjo!" the latest album from travis, the invisible band has been living in my minidisc player for about a week now. with some solid listening time under my belt, i can honestly say that the invisible band is a nice, subtle improvement over the man who... - less of a followup and more of an upgrade. the first track (and first single) sing is really really nice. i give it three (of four) exclaimation marks (!!!). there's a little banjo thing going on that give the track some very nice texture. overall i don't find the lyrics the least bit grating, as i did with the man who... - they fold very well into the sound of the album and the whole thing has a very nice, light, textured feel. a good album for sure. # today: * all kinds of hoopla over next tuesday's MacWorld expo. looks like the soothsayers are predicting new iMacs, a slight revision to the G4 (internal and external) and an update to OS 9.2 - everyone seems to have given up on OS X 10.1 being released this time around (what a shame). the most reasonable predictions come from bite.org. * an article from today's Chronical discusses the FastTrack peer-to-peer technology as a solid replacement for napster. FastTrack is being used in morpheus and kazaa. now if only there was a mac client somewhere... * got my hands on the new bjork album (vespertine) yesterday (a bootleg, thanks to jessie). after one listen, it sounds a little sleepy in spots, but very very beautiful, as one might expect from bjork. the backing tracks laid down by matmos are fantastic - i'm thinking of picking up their album after hearing the work they've done on this album. final verdict on the album will probably be held for the actual release. # 07.10.01 internal reports from the salvation army show that the faith-based charity is working with the Bush administration to prevent the organization from "being forced" to hire gays, according to the washington post. ...hiring gay employees, "[...] really begins to chew away at the theological fabric of who we are." so why bother with these people? give you donations of money, food, clothing and other unwanted personal belongings to other worthwhile charities which do not encourage discriminatory hiring practices. support local charities and national organizations like goodwill, the american cancer society or disabled american veterans. please. # 07.09.01 i find myself both fascinated and frightened by the prospect of an instant book machine, capable of producting a single, unique, bound book from a single digital file. if it were feasible to place one in the home, i'd be looking for a new career path pretty fast i'm afraid... # got to see RENT yesterday afternoon. it's always such a fantastic show, but i have to admit that its more powerful when you're closer, and much like crack, you can never quite recapture that same first thrill. i'm always amazed when i see it however by how it never feels dated or out of place. i may change my mind in a few more years, but not yesterday. p.s. my boyfriend rocks # someone is on my shit list. i mean really. do we have to flaunt it? # 07.08.01 quick & dirty linky maddness: our prices have never been so low! *real world 10 looks like it will suck. it just ain't the same without danny (real world new orleans) *also at mtv.com, a (potentially) good radiohead interview. *mad thanks to mark for the link - boy, if you've got the low-down on open airport networks, let me know! *more thanks to crush.uprush.org for the link there as well. *everyone deserves something funny and witty from me tonight, but alas i've been out to a few clubs tonight (!) and am going to see RENT tomorrow. :) # 07.07.01 i'd like to take a moment to shamelessly plug my video projects, both filmed in San Francisco and set to radiohead tracks from amnesiac. go ahead, go have a look. comments are welcome (good and bad). # programable function keys on the macintosh are my new best friends. not only can i launch iTunes, my web browser, and my email app, but now with a simple click of a button i can jump to blogger. who knew customization could be so much fun! # 07.06.01 after reading a very well-thought and detailed critique of A.I., (at salon) i'm begining to rethink my opinion a bit. the article suggests a number of different viewpoints on what i consider to be the film's flaws. it doesn't go so far as to deny that they are indeed flaws, but does cast a different light on their origin and purpose. the article seems to accept the fact that A.I. is truly three separate movies that have been poorly stitched together and that, when considered as separate entities, each unto itself is not so bad. it also vocalized the main problem with the movie: "...the problem is Spielberg's screenplay. Oddly for such a visual director, Spielberg lays out the themes in clumsy, expository dialogue instead of showing us." also of note, wired has the original short story (Super-Toys Last All Summer Long by Brian Aldiss) which is quite interesting. it's a short story for sure, full of holes and under-explainations, but it gives a decent idea what went into the original concept for the movie, regardless of its final form. # more kcrw joy: pj harvey performing live, with a new song. i think perhaps this is the greatest radiostation ever. # "i like how they call themselves 'ActiveBuddy, Inc.' - it gives them sort of a spooky feeling, like they have monkey's in cages." -jessie # 07.05.01 ani difranco plays on kcrw. this via peter, who seems interesting, although i have yet to spend much time at his site. who is he, you might ask? why, he's ernie's color commentary for the puppet master game. # as i look around contrasts.net these days, i notice a number of radiohead references popping up all the time. although i may be presenting some kind of influence, i can't take full credit. or blame. ;-) # i'm trying to figure out where to take a couple of visiting friends this weekend - anyone know of a queer bar or club that's kinda mellow (not too!), has some cute boys and isn't too cruisy? # went to see the warrior and the princess tonight, a german flick directed by the same fellow who did run, lola, run. the pace was pretty slow (esp. in comparison to lola) and the whole thing was sort of disjointed. except for a few really strange scenes though, it was a pretty good movie. and I can think of at least one good reason to go and see it. # 07.04.01 i'm having trouble finding a portable cd player that i like. i'm looking for something compact with good skip protection and one of those handy in-line remotes. other interesting feature's i've seen are an optical line-out (sony calls it an "MD Link") and the ability to play mp3 cds. anyone have any recomendations? # happy 225th birthday america, you old hag. # 07.03.01 news comes from CNN of the first totally implanted artificial heart. this could be a medical revolution for those in need of the one of the rare heart donations made every year. i worry a little about hardware failures, and am at least a little freaked out by the power solution: Patients wear the external battery around the waist. A transduction device attached to the skin transmits the charge to the internal battery. regardless of technology's march, nothing saves lives like becoming an organ donor. so do it. # "damn those lesbians, always trying to trick us!" -jessie, upon discovering that a "cute boy" indeed was not... # david has the answer to me "fruit+having+sex" referal. of course, why didn't I think of that... also for david i should mention that there is a cute guy at harvey's that i swear sounds exactly like David Spade (no one else agrees with me, but i know i'm right nevertheless). # if you have an address in san luis obispo (dayv, adam, pete, darin et al, this means you!) please write/email or call sen. Jack O'Connell's office in support of AB 1649, the Goldberg bill (gender-based nondiscrimination bill). info here and a form letter of support is here. # after much fuss and latenight tweeking, i've got a working implimentation of dotcomments in place here at prosaic* - take a moment to comment on *something* i've said in the last few days so i feel like there was some justification for all this work. i'm not even sure i want to keep using dotcomments, as this whole installation/customization thing has been very difficult. any suggestions for comment systems? # 07.02.01 "You are not the Mexican-Okinawan-American Shirley Temple for the New Millennium." aw, 8 Legged will always be my Shirley Temple. # besides a number of radiohead mp3 searches (hint: if you want to find them, go to at ease) i apparently am link number 4 in a search for hopeless+romantic+gay - isn't that sweet? # the new travis album is nice, better than the last i think, at least on first listen. i *liked* the man who but found the lyrics a little irritating. this one sounds nicer. we'll see. # the longest trip or how i learned to love mass-transit so i'm driving back to the city this afternoon, as i often do, and my car (everything honda has done since the '77 "honda-matic" accord has been crap, imho) explodes. well, it didn't really explode, but it whatever it did was pretty explosion-esque. the important part is that parts flew off as i was driving. after making a careful technical analysis of the mechanics of my car, i screamed like a girl and pulled over to call a tow truck. so the truck comes to give me a tow. looks (the truck driver with the handlebar mustache says) like the water pump went out. i note that he makes his rather keen observation based on the parts hanging from the engine block. so i get a tow to the nearest town (anyone know Morgan Hill?) and begin to feel a bit stranded. after nobody offers to come to my rescue (ok, so that's not true, he did offer) i am told by my new friend Dwaynn (aren't all tow truck driver's named Dwaynn?) that there is a bus to the CalTrain. so Dwaynn offers me a lift to the bus stop. by this point i am very tired and hot and uncertain of my future. so i'm sitting at this busstop, waiting for a bus i've never even heard of to take me somewhere i don't know anything about, when a girl walks up to stand at the stop. of course me, being the sage public-transit fellow that i am, asks if the girl has change for the bus. a conversation about destination ensues and the girl tells (is this out of a novel or what?) "stick with me." so i do. we take a bus (the driver misses three people at different stops and pulls the bus over at a fruitstand to get himself strawberrys). the bus takes us to a light-rail (looks like a Disneyland ride). the light-rail takes us to the CalTrain. the CalTrain takes 80 *years* to get to san francisco. an elderly man enlists my transit-savy new friend to help him get from the CalTrain to a bus at a undetermined stop along the way. a large woman in shorts (aren't they always tho?) and her little dog (she was feeding it mexican food - a great idea i'm sure) also inquires about CalTrain destinations. and Denna (my new friend) and I talk about a wide variety of subjects, from subtitled movies to younger siblings to san francisco bars and clubs to crazy greyhound drivers. and so our hero finds himself returned to his maiden fair after a long, exhausting and slightly overwhelming sequence of events. # 07.01.01 radiohead, show 2 the Santa Barbara Bowl makes for a very intimate feeling venue, even in the cheap(er) seats. the lights for the show were spectacular, especially from further back. each song had a very unique lighting program that really enhanced the emotion of the song. on the whole, the show started out sort of slow. the audience wasn't *really* excited until a few tracks in, probably not until they played karma police. packt got the crowd going a little bit, although the clear breakout performance of the night was idioteque; i might be wrong got a lot of people moving too though. the really interesting moments were a very scary version of climbing up the walls, during which Thom picked up his guitar and sang into the body of the instrument. true love waits was a very pleasant surprise, certainly not something i was expecting to get to hear. my favorite moment however was pearly* - Johnny added a few new riffs throughout the song that really picked up this truly fantastic b-side, including an amazing solo towards the end that really made the song. overall, the evening felt a little Bends heavy, very meandering and emotive. bulletproof, pyramid song, true love waits and fake plastic trees were very emotional; each track really got the audience's attention. the silence during Thom's accoustic version of true love waits was astounding - the image of Thom framed in the deep blue lights in the center of the stage with an acoustic guitar will stay with me for a long time. here's the setlist:
National Anthem
Airbag Morning Bell (kid a version) Karma Police Packt Like Sardines in a Crush Tin Box Bulletproof (1 false start) Talk Show Host Climbing Up The Walls No Surprises Dollars & Cents Street Spirit (fade out) I Might Be Wrong Pyramid Song Paranoid Andriod Idioteque Everything In It's Right Place encore 1 True Love Waits (Thom acoustic solo) Lucky Pearly* You & Whose Army How to Disapear Completely encore 2 Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young Cover) Fake Plastic Trees # « June 2001 | archive index | August 2001 » built with movabletype |
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