very mëtal

so, yeah.

sometimes, Lake Michigan really stinks. we're not more than 1/4 mile from the lake, and today the whole neighborhood smells like, i dunno, stale fish er something.

so, what's new?

plenty of stuff going on, which is why i haven't posted in awhile...

1) before i forget, check out that PostSecret link over there on the right. i dunno how long that's been around, but i just found out about it a coupla days ago. great stuff. in other blog news, TMWCB has been doing some particularly great stuff lately.

2) recently celebrated my 37th trip around the sun at the Ancient Well, a surreal little chinese restaurant in the basement of a very institutional looking building down the street from our house. when i get a chance i'll post the flyer Jen made, as well as a photo of the fantastic Ding-Dong birthday cake Jen and her friend Holly put together. i've always liked having birthday celebrations in odd-ball places that i think my friends will get a kick out of, and i think this was the best birthday i've had yet!

Ding Dong Cake!

3) went and saw Martha Wainwright (sp?) and Neko Case at the Pabst Theater last night. that was pretty good.

4) i sometimes wonder about the symbolism (if any) of elements of dreams. a recurring theme for me lately has been bookstores and libraries. about a month or so i dreamed about an outdoor used bookstore--it was your usual tall, cramped shelves stuffed with books, except that it was all set up in a big parking lot. i seem to recall that it was a feminist bookstore, if that means anything. So then a coupla nights ago I dreamed that I visited a bunch of used bookstores in some section of what i assume was Chicago, and that at one bookstore I found a copy of the complete illustrations of William Blake, in color, and printed in the late 1800's (I have no idea if such a volume exists in real life, but that's what it was in the dream). for some reason i passed it up. So last night I dreamed that my pal Steve and I were back in Chicago to look for that book. except i couldn't remember which bookstore it was at, so we had to visit all of them. after lots of wandering around not finding anything, we stopped at some mom and pop Polish restaurant for perogies (sp?) but ended up leaving before our orders came. we passed the outdoor feminist bookstore at some point (all closed up, shelves covered with plastic tarps), and finally made it to one bookstore that looked familiar. had a feeling of deja vu that got stronger the more we looked around the place. finally found THE VERY SHELF where i'd seen the Blake book, but of course someone else had already bought it. i was bummed, but picked up the complete works of HP Lovecraft (a book I actually already own) and went home. the end.

5) so, I'm carrying 18 credits this quarter, more credits than i've ever attempted in a quarter or semester EVER. for the first 3 weeks it was pretty smooth sailing, and i kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. well, it hit this week, tho i think i'm gonna be ok if i get a boatload of stuff done this weekend. my VLSI labwork has sort of been a bust, but i'm trying. we shall see.

6) there is no number 6.

7) even tho school started kicking my ass this week, it didn't stop me from building a home-brew version of this thing, a graphical voltmeter so i can tell what some parts of my synth are doing in real-time...mine is a little inaccurate, but good enuf for what i'm doing. I'm pleased that even tho it took me awhile to get it done, it worked and i only spent about $7 bucks on it. a far cry from the $100 that Blacet wants for it. yay me. Next project, building Jen the sampler i said I'd have done by Valentines Day. the parts are in the mail...

Robot Goes Missing!

This file photo shows a reporter with Russian TV's Channel 1 interviewing an android version of science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick at the NextFest 2005 in Chicago.
Photo: AFP

Philip K Dick is missing.

Not the American science fiction writer whose novels spawned hit films such as Blade Runner and Total Recall -- he died more than 20 years ago -- but a state-of-the-art robot named after the author.

The quirky android, was lost in early January while en route to California by commercial airliner.

"We can't find Phil," said Steve Prilliman of Dallas-based Hanson Robotics, which created the futuristic robot with the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis, the Automation and Robotics Research Institute at the University of Texas at Arlington and Dick's friend Paul Williams.

"We're very worried because it's been a few weeks now," said Prilliman. "We're pressing hard to find Phil."

Robotics wizard and lead designer David Hanson built the robot as a memorial to Dick, whose 1968 book Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? inspired the 1982 classic Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford.

Short stories by Dick, who died in 1982, served as inspiration for other hit films including the 1990 Total Recall, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the 2002 Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise.

link

Oh Good, my upstairs neighbor is a nutjob part 2, and ESVC stuff...

a coupla weeks ago he attempted to keep us from "slamming" our front door by actually jamming something into the lock. we got the landlord involved at this point, who didn't seem surprised, and sent a repairman out toot sweet. landlord musta told the upstairs neighbor to watch it, cuz its been pretty quiet. then yesterday, the neighbor was in the basement, apparently upset cuz he couldn't do laundry (we have seperate washing machines, but one tub that both drain into--if both washing machines run, the tub overflows). suddenly, the DSL goes out and the phone gets really fuzzy, and the neighbor bolts from the house and leaves until last night. Now, I can't prove it, but it seems clear to me that the guy yanked on a coupla phone cables, probably breaking or fraying some of them. I can't prove anything (hence no call to the cops) cuz the phone cables thru the basement are some sort of rat's nest due to a good 90 years or so of retrofitting old equipment. We got the landlord involved again, tho i haven't heard back on the result of that. fortuately we have line backer insurance w/ our phone service, so someone will be out today to work on it. But in the meantime Jen has to stay home today to let the workers in.

i am pissed.

on a lighter note, ESVC is back up and running. we've lost one member and added another--Grant Richter, the inventor of the Wiard synthesizer, and member of seminal space rock band F/i and the Midwest Experimental Music Ensemble (MEME). from the sound of practice yesterday, we really shoulda gotten this guy involved a lot sooner. I am quite excited about where this will all go.

here's a coupla Pre-Grant sound files, recorded live at the Flux Show in November. Good stuff, it was our best show to date! Unfortunately you kind of miss out on Jamal's and George's stunning video work that went with these, but it'll help you get the idea. it sure ain't rock n roll, tho.

Call to Prayer37MB, 14 minutes.

11-05c30MB, 13 minutes.

hope y'all have a fast connection...

oh good...my upstairs neighbor's a nutjob.

details later.

On a one way track and you're not coming back 'cause the killer's on the attack

ok, let me just say this: Good news, Sisters o' Mercy are playing in Chicago in March, I should really look into gettin tix to that. Bad news, Senor Eldritch is looking a little rough these days...

so, made it back from Texas and lived to tell the tale. which i will. maybe tomorrow. It was great to have the whole family together, and my sister and brother-in-law sure have a nice house, but wow, I'm sure not a big fan of the area they live in (exurb, as they say, of Dallas)--1/2 hr drive from Dallas to their house, and the freeway is completely lined the whole way on both sides by chain retail/restaurants. a little depressing that was.

but yeah, Jen took lots of great photos of the weird landscape around my sister's subdivision, as well as fun family fotos and home movies, etc. hopefully she'll post some of that stuff to the web so I can post some of it here. stay tuned.

Don't rain on my parade. Or I'll fuck you up.

Hope the two or three folks who read this had a nice New Years celebration. we sure did--got to see The Mistreaters (best i've seen them in years!) and Aluminum Knot Eye (fantastic, but they usually are), then hit a couple of nice, low key shindigs with old friends. not too bad.

I kinda wish I hadn't worked over my xmas break--i would have liked to get more stuff done around here, but i couldn't pass up getting paid for not much work--not too many people come to the helpdesk over break.

well, I'm skippin class tomorrow so Jen and i can jet to Texas for the weekend to visit my sister and bro-in-law. in the meantime, go check out these goofballs: Finntroll, I guess its a bunch of Finnish folks who sing songs about trolls. I guess they started this as a joke, then decided to run with it--its a type of Finnish folk music reminiscent of celtic folk and polka called humppa played by a death metal band. Sure, its a little goofy, but i dig it.