shout out

A public-as-I-have-the-ability-for thanks to Robin and Christina for watching the dogs and putting up with the mad way of life I've taken on these two weeks. You guys are the best.

barfzil

In Brazil. Busy busy. Learning possibly too much about some research group members, which is fun.

The new Why? is pretty good, still not sure. Though These Few Presidents is amazing.

Album of my life lately, that acursed Tokyo Police Club album. Bristling with nervous energy.

stuff i've been doing

Here's some objects I've created recently.

KatamariI made this Katamari for Chad for Christmas late last year, his girlfriend Mary posted some good pictures of it here. Hear that? It's lovely.

Light Wars Circuit Bend
Here's my first circuit bending project. It started with a toy called Light Wars, a game where little lights whip around these tracks and you try to deflect them. The bottom two buttons were rewired to my bends. I tried to rig all my connections this way, but it turns out the built-in buttons induce some resistance even when the connection is closed, which messed with two of my other bends, so I ripped two of the buttons out and put in two of my own. Most importantly, I put in a volume control knob, shown at the top. This thing is fucking loud.

Basically this thing plays itself, since I've rendered the basic game unplayable, while the bends alter the rythmic sounds. Then there's a couple buttons that make it totally flip out if you press them when the game ends, which is fun. Not really enough smarts to make it a wholly satisfying project, but it was good practice for...

Talking Computron Circuit Bend

This was my second circuit bend project, with some much more satisfying changes to it. Each of the four main red buttons I added does something different under different conditions, and I'm still finding interesting combinations. Once I got it to randomly play sound bites from its memory, one after the next, including answers from its spelling and pronounciation lessons, so it just went "Four. Flower. Nine. Your score is. Heaven. Elephant. Three. Times. Please Choose an Activity" and so on, forever. I'm still trying to figure out how to get that loop on cue. There's also all manner of incredibly noisy, sub-word freakout loops to send it off into.

The knob on the top enacts a slowdown/speedup that really screws with things, though I had to also attach a switch to it, since it also sometimes completely locks the thing up. My best guess is that I'm somehow changing the period of the clock signal?

But dilemas like this are half the fun, there is something alchemical, black magical, about it all, where you're just nudging a system beyond your control and seeing what it does. Also, the light display wigs out while all this is happening, resulting in non-standard configurations like this:

Though, man, this project in particular was really time consuming. It was hours finding the bends, then hours of soldering, and hours of drilling holes, mounting buttons and reconstructing the whole thing. Fun, but I don't think I'll do another one for a little while. Some day I''ll have to post a video to prove I didn't shiteaster this whole thing.

Pig Mask

Some random impulse compelled me to make this thing. I had this vague memory from a trip to Home Depot of this aisle of metal brackets that seemed like they might make an interesting mask. Contrary to the circuit bending, this was easier than I expected. I managed to find a satisfying configuration while just using bolts through the holes that were already in the parts, and that restriction was interesting to work within. Then I primed it and sprayed it down with this stone-texture stuff, with flecks of pink and black in it, giving it a pretty organic look, at least surface-wise. Here's a front view.

Its really a horrid object. I sort of like it, but I don't really want to display it anywhere in my house.

Homunculus Pumpkin
I also found a picture of the pumpkin I made last year, in its final days.

Speaking of which, fin for now.

little stuff

- endless ocean, on the wii, is a really nice little design, really unique. Pretty fun, not amazing, but likely worth your 30 bucks.
- Lost is winning me back over, great first few episodes. I love the new approach to the storytelling
- hope kobe's finger can hold up, so much potential in the lakers all of the sudden
- I finished the light wars circuit bend, will try to post a video some time

Rez

I sought this game for a bit, but 90 someodd bucks was too much for a ps2 game. Now on XBox live for 10 bucks. Really? The whole experience is great, on the level of Portal, in that it's short, but you need to really run the course of the artwork to get the full experience. Fully worth the 10 bucks and handful of hours of gameplay to run through its 5 levels. Great, arty, compelling achievement of a game. Bonus levels seem fun so far too.

back in the act

back from trips, they were good. nectar might be might favorite happy hour in seattle, pretty good $6 pizzas and $2 pints of sierra nevada. more or less done bending the talking computron, just need to solder and mount now.

actually

that toyko police club cd should have made my favorite albums of 2006 list, probably at #6. still love citizens of tomorrow.

good qualities for winning

when i consider the co-op pirate game, and its book of tales, i consider the qualities a crew might have to succeed in a given challenge. these are basically the skills one should have to succeed in high adventure.

recent movies ive seen give hints.

fistful of dollars says you need:
weapon skills
cleverness (deception / manipulation)
toughness (bravery?)
stealth

seven samurai says you need:
strategy (deception)
bravery
unity

Both deal with tales of being outnumbered, whether 7 to 40, or 1 to 40. Your approach seems to boil down to:
-trick your opponent
-having tricked him, fight him well
-when the shit gets tough, don't break

But in fistful, being utterly unable to truly muster the ability to fight offyour opponents, you need to rely on:
1) turning enemies against eachother
2) being tough as hell when the chips are down
which is a strange combination of zen-like redirection of force, and pure american fuck-you overpower.

Also, both have weirdly similar fire scenes.

In Samurai, the group aspect is almost a liability. The protagonists' success depends on everyone working together perfectly.

Do you depend on your allies, or turn enemies into allies? At the end of the day, you need help, and utilizing this kind of strength requires cleverness. Neither is a story of raw power, but a matter of raw will. Both are a matter of harnessing power that you have availible. Both somewhat inspirational from a gamerly standpoint.

pats again

id love it if they crushed everyone. id love it like the everything. but at least they're finding a way to win. as jr seau said, they can be part of ever.

gift

i still cant believe the pats get to play the chargers instead of the colts. hope this gift isn't a trojan horse. if they lose, ill barf quarters.

speaking of the playoffs, am i the only one who thinks R. W. McQuarters sounds like an arcade? i picture a mayor mccheese type, with a quarter for a head, shreiking "hey kids! come to R W McQuarter's! where fun's only a quarter away!"

snattle

word on the street is there's snow in the attle. hope it keeps up till i get there.

as rafter says

its working.

30 rock

how are you so good? you're no venture brothers, but barring that. huh.

electric football

i saw this thing on espn, and apparently, there is a community of people who still play electric football. they meet at conventions, wear uniforms, paint figures, and have tournaments. they take it totally seriously, ask rules questions about what kinds of figures are allowed in what positions, and apparently apply a great deal of strategy somehow. this is GODDAMN AWESOME.

video games

boy, a lot of good video games came out this year. mario galaxy and bioshock were obvious choices - and were rad in completely different ways. rock band is probably a winner in some category, and the ds zelda game was awfully well designed. don't make me choose.

the consumerist

i really like the consumerist and sources of similar stories. i don't know why, its not the sense of social justice when a company gets exposed or something gets fixed, i just like hearing about the horrors in the first place. think i mostly like the sordidness of things companies try to get away with. i like the tragedy and the indignity. it might be related to my DEEP LOVE of tales of epic failure. ill get to that some day.

gulty pleasures

my taste in music is fucked right now. I keep coming back to this stuff that is simultaneously:
a) trashily indulgent, childish, sacharine, low
b) completely unlistenable
its awful music that I can't get enough of. I can't decide if I'm ashamed to like it, or hipster proud to like it becuase i can get over how horrible it seems. I might be more ashamed in the latter case. For reference, see:
- Girl Talk: Night Ripper
- Dan Deacon: Spiderman of the Rings
- Spank Rock: Yoyoyoyoyo
- Muscles: Guns Babes Lemonade
Actually, those album titles sum up my point better than anything else I could possibly say.

raging bull

I just watched this. my take is: a nice halfway point between the male weakness I loved in sideways and the male madness I liked in herzog stuff like fitzcarraldo and stroszek.

moby

hasn't done anything for me in years, and im not amped on the video, but i rather like this song. that is a rap cadence and a buzzy bass sound i can get behind.

tina fey

is my favorite woman in entertainment right now. she is intrinsically good at funny. when she polishes off jack's steak in 30 rock, season 2, ep 2, its pretty much the best thing ive seen all year.