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The List: 2011
Dec. 30th, 2011 | 21:32
GPS: 99204
Now Playing: M83
I've been doing one of these every year since ... well it looks like about 2005. Last year's was bad, but you could add in The Salteens and the TRON soundtrack and it makes it slightly more Interesting.
This year, however, marks a departure from the past. I've spent a lot of time on Tumblr this year, found a lot of great new music through it, and used Bandcamp to find/download new music. A lot of ambient this year, as well as remixes, and a lot of things from Brony and Homestuck fandoms.
Let's count down from number 10. Ready? Because here we gooooooo!
10) Pop Massacre Vol 1 + 2
Mashup of pop music. I love mashups, as the previous years' listings may have mentioned.
9) Helplessness Blues — Fleet Foxes
More from the Seattle band. Not as amazing as their first album, but good. I don't think I've listened to it enough yet though.
8) The King Is Dead — The Decemberists
This album felt like a synthesis of Tarkio and Decemberists stuff, which isn't bad — it's different, and the band is growing and changing stylistically, not just doing what they did back in Castaways and Cutouts, which is great.
7) King of Limbs — Radiohead
Lotus Flower dance. Need I say more?
6) Join Us/Album Raises New and Troubling Questions — They Might Be Giants
Both releases by They Might Be Giants were from this year, a few months apart. It's not really a double album, but Album Raises New and Troubling Questions does have a few B-sides, remixes, and material cut from Join Us. I also got to see TMBG live, which was brilliant and totally worth it. The two releases aren't full of earth-shatteringly new things, but just more evolution of TMBG's extremely broad style, and have fun, addictive, quirky songs that you've come to expect from John and John. Solid.
5) TRON: Legacy Reconfigured
A good set of remixes like those in Daft Club before it. Yes, a couple weird ones, but on the whole quite excellent.
4) Hurry Up We're Dreaming — M83
Great, like Saturdays = Youth. I need to listen to it more, but I keep getting distracted by other music this year.
3) Gimme Some — Peter Bjorn and John
Addictive swedish indie pop.
Portal 2's Soundtrack is some of the greatest game music I've heard in years. It's thoughtful, and it was one of the things I noticed about the environment while playing the game, and was so very glad Valve released it as an album to download. You're crazy if you haven't downloaded the three volumes yet.
1) Audio, Video, Disco — Justice
Crossposted from my Tumblr
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Tumblr and Social Media
Jul. 13th, 2011 | 20:43
GPS: 99004
Zeitgeist: 
busy
Now Playing: LMC vs U2
I thought I'd give Tumblr a try a couple
Plus, there's not the same kind of worry of "Am I posting too much for LJ?" or "Is this too big? Are people going to get mad for not putting this behind a cut?" over at Tumblr. And it's more accessible and all-around better at embedding media, images, etc. I suppose some of my words do get lost in the stream of fandom stuff and memes, but I've not really been blogging either. I have been writing and communicating with friends, with people on IRC, and on twitter, but not so much blogging, because I haven't had anything to say.
And as far as dynamics for content release go, I want to see whether things like google plus can work for things like comics, instead of setting up a website, loading up images one by one, etc. I wonder if there will be a shift from "I read these comics at xyz url" to "I read comics made by so-and-so author" and people following comics will follow the authors and creators.
That's really the shift I see: the production companies and imprints are not the intermediaries between creators and the audience any more.
So yes. That's where I've been. Over at tumblr, reblogging homestuck fandom stuff, babbling about Sherlock, Dr Who, and other Steven Moffat-written things, as well as occasional tech-related stuff.
Anyway, if you want to continue seeing things from me, I'm going to be posting things on my Tumblr and my Twitter accounts. Consider this my formal departure from LJ. It's been a good run, friends, but it's time to move on.
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On Masculinity
May. 26th, 2011 | 14:51
GPS: 99004
Zeitgeist: busy
Now Playing: The Chase - Giorgio Moroder
[Image: Photo of a Toyota Prius hybrid gas-electric automobile with the caption, "Toyota Prius," and the subheading, "Your Penis Just Inverted."]
I find this simply unfunny and offensive. I realise it's meant to be a joke, but it's still offensive and comes squarely out of the camp of the cult of masculinity. Worst of all are the assumptions this makes.
The first is the conception that the Prius is somehow a "sissy" car. It's not. In fact, cars are not intrinsically masculine or feminine. Cars and trucks are machines, built for specific purposes. Anything else is meaning we put in them ourselves. The fact that it's regarded as a "sissy" is probably because of the low acceleration, low overall power, etc, since the car is explicitly designed to not waste fuel.
Apparently it's "manly" to have more car than you need, more engine than is necessary, and burn through $50+ at the pump. Personally, I think a more efficient, responsible vehicle that doesn't waste fuel, especially with how much it costs these days, is a much better thing. Get a car for the job you need it for, not for identity.
Speaking of identity, the second stupid assumption is that a car can define an aspect of personhood, in this case, gender stereotypes. I don't like stereotypes. I don't like using external things to try to define identity. I think these are fallacious ways of establishing one's own identity. And in fact, I think there's a lot that's wrong with the idea of masculinity, and all the external garbage that's thrown at men and women by western media about what it means to be a man or a woman.
The third is that there is something inherently wrong with being "sissy." This plays into the stupid MRM. There isn't anything wrong with having a less-confrontational, less-testosterone-addled view of the world. If that's "sissy," so be it, but there's nothing wrong about it. It doesn't even make one "less of a man" to be compassionate. The same is true for women — it doesn't make one less feminine to stand up for one's self, or to be confrontational. It's about being yourself, and that's changing all the time.
But yes, the image above states that by buying a prius, your penis effectively turns into a vagina. This statement really encapsulates all that's wrong with masculinity in the west today: that a man's worth or masculinity is defined by a small part of his anatomy, and without that, he is not a man. That without a penis, someone ought to be a woman, and that's what makes women feminine, is this lack of a penis, and it's not something to be desired; that having a vagina is somehow bad or evil or wrong. This is a sick, toxic idea, that gender binaries are established by genitals, and that identities are established by gender binaries.
Anyway, this simple combo of image and text made me angry today, and I thought I'd share.
Crossposted from my Tumblr
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Tumbling
May. 5th, 2011 | 11:26
GPS: 99004
Zeitgeist: 
hungry
[5/3/11 22:44:18] Steve: samm, you broke tumblr again
[5/3/11 22:46:31] Samm Neiland: Cause of this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xy8jFqGUPMs
[5/3/11 22:46:48] Steve: tumblr is over capacity again
[5/3/11 22:49:18] Steve: I love tumbrl now
[5/3/11 22:50:20] Steve: also, I could begin to explain what's happening there, but why is really the question.
[5/3/11 22:50:26] Steve: I think the answer is "furries"
[5/3/11 22:50:34] Hilary [Pix]: the answer is always furries
[5/3/11 23:06:03] Samm Neiland: Steve weren't you like "I DON'T UNDERSTAND TUMBLR" a few weeks ago?
[5/3/11 23:06:20] Steve: yes
[5/3/11 23:06:29] Samm Neiland: Does it make sense now?
[5/3/11 23:06:32] Steve: Yes
[5/3/11 23:06:33] Steve: YES
[5/3/11 23:06:38] Samm Neiland: What have you learned?
[5/3/11 23:06:39] Steve: You can thank chicago lollie
[5/3/11 23:06:58] Steve: that tumblr is like arrested development jokes without the TV show, all the time
[5/3/11 23:07:08] Samm Neiland: ...yes
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On Design and illustration
May. 5th, 2011 | 11:20
GPS: 99004
Zeitgeist: hungry
Now Playing: Doctorin the Tardis — The Timelords
I went to a portfolio review the other weekend and came away with three things:
1) Showing a portfolio is not about the things you have in the portfolio. Yes, this may seem counterintuitive, I know, but someone meeting you and looking over your portfolio is more interested in seeing how you think about things and tackle a problem than about the work you've done. It's important that they see your skills, but it's more important they can see you know how to think about design.
2) Different designers have different opinions. Sometimes, one will point to something they like, and another will hate the exact thing the other one liked.
3) Combining my illustration with my design is actually a strength — like the Literacy ad campaign or the little rotoscoped printer, my illustration in design is a strength, and all the designers I talked to liked these things — moreover, they were amused, and to stimulate an emotional response! that's the most exciting thing for any artist or designer. I should have realised it earlier, but I haven't even been adding my illustration to my design until the last couple months. Maybe I thought they were different things? At any rate, it's a good thing to have realised, because I can play to these strengths.
So, yes. Pen and Ink. Love the super black ink. I know I do. I have a whole pint.
This post was reposted from my Tumblr
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500% more blades! 300% more running! (or "how I learned to stop worrying and hate Hollywood")
Apr. 26th, 2011 | 21:41
GPS: 99004
Zeitgeist: 
aggravated
Now Playing: Autobahn - Kraftwerk
A travesty.
“The original movie was great in the 80s, but try watching it now next to movies like Attack of the Clones and The Last Airbender, and it really does feel lacking by today’s standards.”
That's because those movies are terrible. I know of no person who thought "Last Airbender" was good. Then again, Bay is a tasteless master of explosions. Are "smashing special effects" a standard? Because those movies are already fading away, but a story with good plot like the original Bladerunner is a classic because it has a real story.
“In the original, the robot characters really didn’t look or act much like robots – due to a lack of CGI options in the 80s. So you really had to use your imagination there.”
No. Just no. The replicants were "androids" in the loose sense that they were artificial, and they were made by humans to perform menial, possibly repetitive tasks. They were also designed to be artificial humans, actually made to look human, not some uncanny fake thing or some tin-skinned Rosie. Someone hasn't ever read Phillip K Dick. Actually, I wouldn't put it past Bay to have never read Dick. And in fact, to have also never read dick.
But I suppose that's what Bay does: he makes movies that are only action, no story. And action without plot is just folly and misdirected rage; arrested development, fit for the manchildren who crave such tailor-made explosion-porn. This whole "Bladerunner Prequel" shows everything that's wrong with the big movie studios these days. Not that anyone should expect any Great Works out of Hollywood anytime soon — in fact, not much more than autofellatio; Hollywood lost the plot a while back, and are only following the money.
Crossposted from my tumblr
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Let's play a game ...
Apr. 15th, 2011 | 11:31
GPS: 99004
Now Playing: Mirrorball 10th Apr 2011 - SSRadio
Well, I'll tell you what. The $RELIGIOUS_TEXT is very interesting. A lot of people say it teaches love and there is a very big group of people who really understand the $RELIGIOUS_TEXT far better than I do. I'm certainly not an expert, to put it mildly. But there's something there that teaches some very negative vibe.
For bonus points, who said it?
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Gentlemen Behold, My Boyfriend
Apr. 13th, 2011 | 9:42
Now Playing: Guest Mix CRUSH Online Sessions - Elucidate
[21:55:15]So I somehow mashed a banana into my keyboard earlier today...
[21:55:39] mekoryuk: I figured that was my cue to clean my keyboard.
[21:56:26] mekoryuk: But instead of putting all the keys back like in Dvorak and have them be all lumpy because for some reason some of the keys can't be placed universally.
[21:56:35] mekoryuk: I put 'em back in QWERTY...
[21:56:44] mekoryuk: And without all the lumpy, sideways keys IT FEELS WEIRD
[21:57:47] bix: how can you stand it?? having a....NORMAL KEYBOARD :U
I need to get that man a proper keyboard where you can switch they key caps. Like a Model M.
I also need to get him a fountain pen. And some other stuff.
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The Singularity
Apr. 5th, 2011 | 2:21
GPS: 99004
Now Playing: Mirrorball 20th Feb 2011 - SSRadio
It's sometimes not apparent how much computing has changed in the last couple decades. In the 80s, it was machines that maybe had a modem, and were based on one of three chips: an 8080, a MOS 6502, or a Zlog 80. They sat on your desk. Today, they are too numerous to count, and live with us all 24/7.
On any given day, we use many computers. Phone, computer, clocks, cameras, MP3 players, e-readers, cars, doors, routers, video games consoles, and ATMs & cash registers.
The idea of a wearable computer seems a bit farfetched even today, but perhaps the idea that first took hold in the 1980s (and possibly spawned the Borg) isn't the right one. The original idea was of a reality moderated by computers, with the devices at a user's beck and call for notifications, updates, information, etc. It's a beautiful idea for a geek, and it's something I've thought about for ages (at least as long as I've heard of Ray Kurzweil). It's an incredibly cool idea, to have a HUD telling you peoples' names and locations and giving you maps.
I still think about how I could use an old laptop or a netbook for the purposes of reality augmentation, and doing such things. But those are as inconvenient and cumbersome as they are ugly (no one has made a heads up display that looks any better than the Thumps). I'd be amiss if I were to say that fashion and convenience were not driving forces in adoption of technology among more than nerds.
But more than that, the idea of a wearable computer is based around the idea that one needs to move a desktop or laptop computing experience (and hardware) to a portable formactor. I have a strong attachment to this idea, but this is a very geek sort of foible: to become so attached to one kind of technology that you can see no alternatives. There's nothing wrong with this approach, and the end result will be more than adequate.
But the simpler process is the one that seems to be acting in the market today. I have, in my pocket, a computer faster than the ones a decade ago, that can connect me to anyone around the world, with voice, video, text, and internet at speeds higher than broadband a decade ago, wirelessly*.
We call it a phone, but it's a powerful computer. The people who carry these things could easily be called cyborgs, and live a computer-mediated life, with computers to show them maps, find information on the go (search google and wikipedia), and communicate with their friends, peers, etc, replete with video and things that people a decade ago were only just testing, and even five years ago, the market penetration was low for such "smartphones."
I'm interested in seeing where this goes, because it's clearly not going the way they predicted in 1985. Or in 1995. Or in 2005. The landscape has changed in the four years since the iPhone, and even in the last year of tablets with Apple's Dynabook. Sorry, I mean Star Trek PADD. No, wrong again, I meant iPad.
--
* Mine's called an iPhone, but these things could be replicated with any of the other smartphones with these capabilities. The fact that mine's from Apple is incidental, and has no bearing on the actual technology which might as well be the same thing, whatwith the ARM CPUs and touchscreens and wireless internet.
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Classes
Mar. 28th, 2011 | 14:37
GPS: US, Washington, Cheney, Spokane, C St
"Hey, Steve, did you get the classes you wanted?""Well, I hopefully I'll get the ones I need. Because you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you just might find you get what you need."
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.
