Simple Harmonic Motion

http://moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/

"The Museum of Modern Art's "Design and the Elastic Mind" showcases works and objects created by designers in response to changes in society and culture. The focus is on the relationship between design and science, with over 300 featured projects. The website itself is an amazing work, with related projects tied together through an impressive interface. Browse categories such as "Harvesting the Internet" and "3D Printing" in this unique online experience." (via)

This is essentially a featured exhibit at a MoMA (museum of modern art) compressed into a website.  It took me a while to get used to the layout, but I found that it can most easily be navigated by maximizing your browser window, and shutting down all other applications, especially if Firefox is your browser (it's been taking 100K+ of ram for me lately).  Also, a white scroll bar that appears to the right of the window that allows you to scroll up and down the page to look at the other exhibits.  Arrows on the left and right of the page appear to scroll side to side.

If you're completely at a loss as what is going on with this page, here's my take: each art "piece" is summed up in short paragraphs, lined up under category headings (Origami, Tagging, Future Mores, etc.).  Click on the paragraph and a little picture pops up framed in a circle with other words jutting out from the circle.  Ignore the words for now, and click on the circle.  A presentation of the piece will pop up.  When you're done viewing the piece, click on the "Return" option on the lower left to go back to the main listing.

As to the meaning of the words jutting out of the previews and above the "Return" option, I imagine that they are an implementation of "tagging," if you're familiar with the term with photos.  These exhibits tend to have things in common with other exhibits, but the relationships can't be shown in the traditional "family tree" style of categorization, so the somewhat arbitrary "tagging" style is implemented to link you from exhibit to exhibit, depending on whether you like the "interface" aspect or "nano" aspect or whatever aspect of that exhibit.

I know that this all seems like too much work to put in for a website, but these pieces alone should pique your interest:

http://moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/84/

http://moma.org/exhibitions/2008/elasticmind/#/27/

click on the "video" option next to "photo" near the top of the images for maximum mind-blowage.

There's no better way for me to work my problems out than to get another perspective.  I am a perfectionist.  I easily get mired in perfecting every menial task, often losing sight of the bigger picture, resulting in a mental state akin to finding one's way around a foggy London street.

Loop!Station - Surrounded

Loop!Station

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This weekend, on the balcony at the Red Devil Lounge, the fog in my mind mind lifted and everything came back into focus.  Like always, it was music that brought on this clarity.

Some friends from the east coast came through San Francisco, and I'd invited them to the bar to see the headlining band, Loop!Station.  This duo's technical expertise in both their instruments and the looping technology is a wonder to behold in real time.  Though each song starts out with one cello and one voice, they utilize effects pedals to record and loop parts over each other, resulting in powerful symphonic overtures or catchy almost-pop songs.

As the group played my favorite song of theirs (embedded here for your listening pleasure), a couple began dancing in the empty space behind the crowd.  They careened around people getting drinks at the bar and/or looking for the restroom, weaving their impromptu mostly-tango partly-salsa stylings together into a loosely knit shawl.  And true, their technique was just as awkward as that analogy, but hell, I still thought it was beautiful.

After the dance and song was over, the man asked the woman for her number.  It reminded me of Swingers.

When I tell my friends that I live in Stockton, I'm not surprised by their furrowed brows and sympathetic eyes.  After all, it seems like every other Cops show is shot in Stockton.

Well today, after about 5 years of working here, we finally got hit with some of this crime that the news tells us happens here all the time.  Sure, this very cafe I'm sitting at has had purse snatchings and heated exchanges outside, but I felt that this was a fair exchange for free internet and access to hookahs.

Victim Of The Crime

Phoenix

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So my dad and I go in to Togo's to get a sandwich.  They were very good sandwiches.  We were looking forward to using the energy gleaned from this fine meal and quiet time to put back to work on the facility we own.

We get back into the truck, and I hear something rattling.  I step on the gas, and it sounded like a Harley Davidson motorcycle.  We check under the car, and sure enough, a large, expensive part is completely missing.  No twisted metal indicative of it falling out.  Tell-tale signs of Dremel tool on the rubber bracings.

My father took this particularly hard.  He's the kind of guy who watches Fox News and warns me that I could get killed every time I go downtown.  Which, may in fact be true, but that's beside the point.  The point is that his one and only media outlet makes its money by scaring its viewers into believing that everyone is an enemy, and/or will try to steal your shit whenever they can.  Case in point: that video of some guy trying to steal the microphone of a reporter who was reporting on the release of the iPhone (why the hell didn't he take the iPhone?!).

So, thank you Fox News, for taking my father, my invincible bulwark against fear -- he learned to swim in an overflowing river in a monsoon in the backwoods of the Philippines on the back of a caribow (or die) for chrissakes -- and turning him into a shut-in, afraid to walk the streets of this town.

I should knock on some wood.

There's this saying, from The Maxx, that goes something like "a liberal is a conservative who hasn't been mugged yet."

I hope this table is made out of wood.

I woke up again with a song in my head, and this is it.  I have a morning ritual that involves stretching, making myself breakfast, and reading news online.  Some days, sitting in my listening room with a song can be more relaxing and energizing than stretching or a hearty breakfast.

Nothing and Nowhere

Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton

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I first saw Emily Haines play at Cafe du Nord last year.  The show was great!  They played their songs in time with a movie projected behind them.  The movie was actually clips of a director's work, chosen to accompany each song.  Each song began with its title projected on the screen, and made for an interesting blend of mellow music and old-timey silent film.

This album was my soundtrack for the whole of last year.  While my recent playlists have been more up tempo and lighter in subject matter, some days nothing can get my spirits up than an awkward dirgy little number from this album.

I'm in charge of blogging our tour.

Check it out at the blog on Randit's myspace:

http://myspace.com/randit

Update:

Randit at Buffalo Records

Full Tour album here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/randitbandit/RanditSummerTour2007

The tour went well.  Fillmore and Ventura have wonderful music scenes.  Our show on Saturday was billed with the Art Walk, a thrice-yearly art phenomenon in which businesses in the downtown cultural district showcase local artists and musicians. 

One artist in particular caught my eye.  In a small art gallery beneath Zooey's cafe, a small three-panel piece captured my attention.  I wish I had my camera, 'cause all I can muster is a description:  all the panels had a sunset backdrop, and the figures in each were all silhouettes.  The first panel on the left had a trapeze swinging freely, as if someone had just jumped from it.  The second panel had a man in a suit flying to the right with arms outstretched toward the third panel, where a woman in an evening dress, hanging by another trapeze, had her arms outstretched to catch the man.

I just searched around for the information on the guy's name, but I couldn't find it.  Rest assured that if I do find it, I'll post his name and hopefully his website here.

I also found out about a harpist named Xocoyotzin Moraza who plays in a group with a drummer.  You can check out their myspace page here, but unfortunately they don't have a lot of their songs up.

"What the hell, Dayv?"  you might ask.  "You don't blog for months and now you're plugging yourself playing live shows?"

Yes.  Yes I am.

Things are busy.  I've once again thrown myself into a lot of projects, some of which I won't write about until they're out because I'm a firm believer of jinxing things I set out to do by talking about them.

So I'm playing with a guy whose stage name is Randit.

You can check out his myspace here.

You can listen to one of his songs below:

Randit - Wolf With a Shield

Randit

I do this sometimes.

Not as much as I'd like, though.

why haven't i been updating?

family emergency.

back later.