The Machine in the Garden: "The Unaware"

The Austin based darkwave goth group, The Machine in the Garden has uploaded some videos onto Youtube. Check back as they'll be adding more videos as time goes by. Notice that Summer Bowman Frace' has an uncanny resemblance to Stella Soleil. This video is from 2000 and their sound has changed a bit especially compared to their newest release Shadow Puppets which is slightly heavier. I heard them live a couple of months ago and the performance was outstanding. Check out the soundclips from their catalogue off of their website.

Visit:
The Machine in the Garden's Official Website

utterly irritated

Things were going better with work and then they took a nose dive. I try to do my best but after a while, when you're not appreciated, when you're accused of persuing things you weren't supposed to, when you're not allowed to grow etc. you start to not give a shit at all. I'm not happy with my apathy but it's really the only way I can cope. Yeah, good things are on the horizon supposedly, but I really wonder if I ought to even hang around to see.

Yep...I look like Josie

My mom says I look like Rachel Leigh Cook, so I wasn't suprised when she made it on here...but Beyonce? Hey, I'll take what I can get. I don't mind this script thinking that I look like that hot chick from Smallville either, but uh, yeah. I don't think I look like a lot of these people.

up late

I guess I'm feeling a little better now I skipped out on glassblowing because:
1) I'm depressed
2) I'm really tired
and the two of those combined could be deadly around molten glass and an open flame.

Unfortunately, I can't fall asleep. I did manage to finish, however, Adzuki Pod #5 which includes earworms that have been stuck in my head lately and experimental music. You can check that out here:
Adzuki Bean Stash Podcast

There's something I find very soothing about doing music tidbit research and talking into a cheap $10 microphone, fiddling with sound files on Audacity and laughing at my own voice. I also love wikipedia. I really do.

Speaking of experimental, there's a chance I might end up playing with the Austin Civic Wind Ensemble for their Halloween concert this year on theremin. I'm really excited althogh I haven't heard from maestro yet. Keep your fingers crossed!

Adzuki Bean Pod #5 is up!

Experimental music? eh? Earworms? Both, at the same time?

Indeed it's true. I figured the potential ill effects of both could cancel each other out thus providing the listener a nice, but strange listening experience. Head on over to my sister podcast site and check out the newest installation. I even belt out a few notes in this one:

Adzuki Bean Pod #5: E is for Earworms and Experimental Music

Enjoy!

is a doctorate worth one's life?

I wouldn't think so. Others would disagree. Another failed qualifying exam and a friend took his life. He was 26, a good bit younger than me.

I'm thinking of Shawn today--How he's still my best friend even though we're hundred of miles apart. I hope he does well on his qualifying exam that he's probably taking right now. Today is also his birthday. He turns 30.

don't buy that guitar!

I almost bid on this smashed and signed guitar from the last leg of the NIN tour, because I attended a buttload of concerts the past year and a half, thought it would be nice to give to charity, and heck it would look nice on the wall (and yes, it's legit. Check out the current section of nin.com). Granted, I have a bad habit of spending money on things I don't really need, and that money ought to go towards a new laptop, a concert flute or my roth IRA, so I left it up to my esteemed buddies to talk me out of bidding on this.

I think I mainly did this because I'm bored and because I know I can always count on entertaining commentary. For reference "Lemon Drop" is the name of my diamond ring and the "Red Room" is the sitting area in the front of my house.

Jeff:
When did Trent switch from the cheap-assed Dean EVO models (Want one? They're $299. I'd buy it and ask him to break it for you at the next Meet & Greet.) to the not-quite-as-cheap Epiphone Les Paul model?

I interjected that maybe he didn't want to smash a nice guitar and pointed out that Bono gives out hot chocolate to his fans, supposedly....

Maybe in the wake of the Malm stuff, Trent committed to an austerity plan. I think that also might have something to do with the musician's he used this time around. The other guys, Charlie, Danny and Robin, might have expected too much $ to do another tour. Also, on the Fragility tour, Trent used real Gibson Les Pauls - with custom paint jobs, no less.

But to be fair, he did keep ticket prices down this time. For what U2 charges for a ticket, I'd expect a steak dinner along with the hot chocolate.


J'Bro:
the only good guitar is the one you are able to play.
the epiphone SG i owned was junk. i have an epiphone acoustic, but that has no exlectronics on it, so there is no room fo rcatastrophuic failure, but for an electric? bleah. spend 10 dollars on a NIN bumper sticker, and put it on your guitar, that will create a sense of something being somewhat special, and it only cost 10 bucks.

Darlin Husband:
Isn't trent on your list of annoying people these days? Remember, everything's trent's fault, and he's apparently trying to prevent lemondrop from getting friends. Also, remember that NIN fans are freakin' crazy, and I bet the final bid for this will be much higher than the current $910.

For the record, he's on my list of people I like to poke fun of...big difference.

Sarah:
that would look awesome on your wall, but:

1. lemon drop would be sad that she lost out to a guitar.
2. you'd have to put it in the red room, which is kind of dark anyway so no one could see it. unless, of course, you got it its own display light, too.
3. think of all the cool shit you could buy with the $1,000 you're NOT going to spend on this guitar.
4. trent got ugly; i bet his signature has gone downhill, too.
5. your other guitar would be uber jealous and probably kick this one's ass, and the NIN guitar would surely lose since it's broken to begin with.

that is all. let me know what you decide. :)


Probably the best response...

Then there's Monica and Shawn who both gave similar replies. My brother also mentioned something similar

Monica:
Don't do it!!!! I think Lemon Drop deserves the money more. If it still worked, that would be different, but it's broken!!!

Shawn:
That guitar is in terrible condition! I don't think that even new strings could fix it. Why spend money on a guitar that can't even be played?????????????????!!!!!!!!!

Talk about punctuation enthusiasm from those two!!! The interesting thing is that I got similar comments from all who play guitar, so owning a broken one is blasphemy. I bet the final bid will be over $2000. I hope it goes to someone who attended the concert and not just some collector who is going to turn around and sell it for profit down the line. :(

On a related note

I wish the press would leave Perelman alone. He's been working on the conjecture for ages. It's not like he solved it overnight. I'm sure its been a long grueling process and yet enjoyable in many way for this recluse. Don't spoil it for him. Repeated phone calls to his home is not the way to coax him out his shell.

***
On a totally unrelated note, I caught site of this interivew snippet with Al Jourgensen and Mike Scaccia on Trent Reznor over at the NIN hotline:

Interviewer: What was it like being friends with Trent Reznor? (Nine Inch Nails)

Al Jourgensen: Let me put it this way... Trent bought a house right above Tim's [Timothy Leary] house, literally you could see his house from 100 yards up. And I finally talked Tim into having Trent over for one of them dinners [Leary's dinner parties]. After about two hours, Tim took me aside and told me, he goes, "That's the most miserable, depressed human being I've ever met," and he didn't go back there after that.

Mike Scaccia: That's pretty crazy, because we were pretty miserable back then.
(laughter)

A: We were outgoing miserable...
M: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
A: (makes wilting gesture) ...total miserable angst, I mean, I'd love to see like Trent and Morrissey play Russian Roulette and see which one of them shoots themself first...
(laughter)
M: That would be awesome.
A: That'd be awesome.
I: It's a win-win situation.
(laughter)
A: Yeah, exactly. (laughter)
***
Ouch. :(

Poincare' conjecture

I feel like I should say something meaningful since Grigory Perelman solved the Poincare Conjecture which states that any closed simply connected 3-dimensional manifold is homeomorphic to the standard 3-dimensional sphere.

Without going into homology, I'll try to explain in laymen's terms...Basically any 3-d bounded blob (ex. no feelers going off into infinity) living in 4-d can be collapsed into a sphere without ripping, tearing or ajoining. Yeah, that was a bad attempt. There's a reason why I don't teach anymore! The Clay Mathematics institute is much more eloquent than I.

You're probably going, oh come on, how complicated can a blobby thing be? Heh. I present to you the Alexander Horned Sphere:

This happens to be one of my favorite topological verities.
It's a fractal (a type of Cantor set to be exact), so as you zoom into those horny parts, you see more detail. This blob is homeomorphic to a sphere.

I think its interesting the conjecture has been proven for higher dimensions prior to Perelman's contribution for n=3. Humans are 3 dimensional creatures coexisting with time, in a 4 dimensional space. Perhaps it was because we live too close akin to the objects in question which is why n=3 alluded mathematicians for so long.

**
To the person who said bunnies are the same as spheres....That's not true! The digestive track runs from mouth to anus, so they are tori. Okay, I'm done ranting now.

CocoRosie: "Hairnet Paradise"

Mental note...check out CocoRosie in more detail.I discovered this while skimming through an old classmate's blog

Visit:
CocoRosie's Myspace
Official Website

Camille: Le Fil

I figured I'd take a break to gush about how much I love MP3 blogs...case in point, Short Attention Span Radio and The Face f Today who were the first to expose me to the French singerCamille. (This is not the same as the dance pop singer Camille from the US, although, she's not bad either)

If you know anything about me, you'll know that I love acapella music. Hence, upon SAS radio's suggestion, I purchased Le Fil and have been listening to it regularly. Interestingly, all the tracks have a drone in a B major pitch going through it and it parallels the album art with the one continuous string that goes from cover to cover. It's really hard to classify her sound---Bobby McFerrin comes to mind, but I think she's in a genre all of her own. Tim from theFace of Today has posted about her on numerous occasions and has links to live performance videos of this talented musician. It's really cool watching her record her voice and do multitracking in front of an audience.

Listen to:
"Janine I"
"Janine II"
"Janine III"

Visit:
Camille's Official Web Site
Buy Le Fil at Amazon

sigh...another dolphin

Which one is this, J-Bro? Seaweed or Weeseed?

going through old e-mail

I found these:
**eidt** I guess Tiffy is long gone...

Can't...escape...the dolphins:

so much going on yet not much intersting to say

Apparently a bunch of co-workers were stuck on campus until late at night--past 10pm or so! That'll probably be me in a couple of years. Yikes...

Had a nice dinner with Sarah last night at Mothers which not only has fantastic vegetarian food, but great smoothies, a beautiful solarium/garden, live music on weekends (often featuring Doc Grauzer) and a honest to God vintage Reznor heater. Now, my most favorite item is their chips and salsa that come gratis. Only problem is that consuming more than a teaspoon of that stuff gives you dragon breath that could cause a whole room of people to suffocate. I swear that salsa is 50% garlic and damn, it is GOOD. Rest assured I packed my toothbrush, toothpast, mouthwash and gum in my purse before dining.

Glass class was okay. I'm getting more used to the large industrial torch. I am, however, getting really tired of Sarah's doppleganger, Sarah, calling me a beginner or emphasizing that I'm a beginner. Shit, we learned bead making at the same time. I've sold stuff for the past 5 years, but she still goes "Oh, I know you need the practice..." or "this technicque can be difficult for beginners, like you..." I realize her skill set is better than mine, but the difference is that she does glasswork full time. I do this as a hobby. :( Grrr...so, in that aspect, she doesn't act like the Sarah I had dinner with. Other aspects though---damn, it's creepy. They look like each other and they share the same phrases. It's very convenient that they've got the same name. Hence accidentally calling one of them something like, oh I dunno, Colleen, wouldn't have happened.

I got a $50 gift card from my bro for my birthday. It's got Sesame Street characters on it.

out for a while

Hey guys (or rather all 4 of you who read this thing regularly)...turns out I am super busy at work and I haven't had a chance to upload any new music for your ears. I've also been way behind on my usual updates and such. Forgive me.

Till them, check out the sites in the right hand navigation bar. If that is too overwhelming, here are my faves:

*Contrast Podcast

If you haven't heard Fil sing an intro to the tune of "I Will Survive," that's just unforgiveable! He also provided the theme to the War and Peace podcast. Currently the theme is This one Goes Out To... Sorry, Shawn, I meant to dedicate one to you, since you're my most loyal listener, but I've been wicked busy. Anyway, go have a listen if you haven't done so already.

*DJ Steve Boy
GREAT dance and techno podcasts for working out, or typing as the case my be. There's no banter in this one.

*Short Attention Span Radio
Expect an ecclectic mix from your anonymous host. I ALWAYS find something new in his podcasts and he's also good with interesting tidbits and facts about the artists and songs.

*So the Wind Won't BLow it Away
This is a new one for me and quite enjoyable. You may remember ZB from the Parlez Vous Français? Contrast Podcast. He's also known for being able to pull opera librettos out of thin air.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks or so. Do expect Adzuki Bean Stash Podcast "E is for Earworms and Experimental" to come up soon.

Penn and Teller Bullshit Show

I don't watch TV much, hence, no cable at home. Thank God for the internet though. A friend on my LJ list (aka Rog...Mr. 3-hrs-away-from-a bachelor's-degree-but-just-got-way-too-burnt-out-to-finish-that-one-class)posted links to uploaded videos of Penn and Teller's Showtime series Bullshit. This show is like Myth Busters but a lot funnier and with a lot more cussing.

There are always two sides to every story, so Penn and Teller go and tell you the sides that no one wants to hear. Here are some favorites of mine (probably not safe for conservative ears and eyes):

Weight Loss Bullshit and How Envirnmental Groups are Bullshitting You

How Mahatma Ghandi and Mother Teresa were a bit unholy

How Recycling Generally Doesn't Work

How Biblical Literalism is Unfounded Utter Bullshit

The dialog and interviews are entertaining enough to listen to at work without watching the screen. Visuals definitely make it funnier though.

People get really worked up over these though. Grrr...it's just another viewpoint. I can say, I'm a spiritual person, but I wasn't offended at all. I did learn a few things---for instance genetically modified foods do get tested much more rigorously than other food strains. That Buns of Steel chick is really not attractive, etc. etc.

bluebonnets and more!

My friend Jocco just sent me vacation pics of his excursion from Istanbul to Paris. One of the photos was this pic of bluebonnets in Turkey!



It really is a bluebonnet day. :) Seriously, that wonderful needlepoint Sandy made me really cheers me up especially given the crappy morning. Joccos pics awe and inspire. He's the friend who did Trav and I'd wedding portraits. Here are some of my faves:


From a Turkish museum, I'm assuming.


Taken in Bulgaria


Turkey


Romania




Limestone silt deposit from an ancient spring atop a mountain in Turkey


This one cracked me up...


Especially after seeing this.

just reload the fucking page

I got a frantic e-mail from a co-worker today. I'm convinced she did it just to irritate me. Either that or its one of her bizaree forms of flirtation. I've told her counteless times I'm not working on this system, yet she continues to address the problems to me while CCing the person in charge. This system used to be her sytem, by the way. Today was by far the worse:

Cindy, My login isn't working.

That's it. No details on what exactly, how she got there, etc. etc. It's one of those days where my tolerance level is really low for people who do the whole "damsel in distress thing."

I logged in. My colleague logged in. No error. I told her to reload the page. No answer. My male college told her to reload the page...she gushes with gratitude. She's a fucking programmer. You'd think she's figure this out on her own. :(

Course, this is the same lady who responded with "Oh great, so she's going to help pathetic women who let themselves get beaten up by their husbands?" when I mentioned that my friend Sarah was going to grad school for Social Work.

eating a blueberry pie now

Yum Yum. I baked a blueberry pie Saturday evening at around midnight. You'd think I wouldn't want to eat anything after Monica's Meatfest party and for a long while I didn't. Mmmm, brisket. The sad thing was that the night before, My cousin, husband and I all went out to Hooters and gorged on hotwings, burgers and fried pickles. Hence, I was feeling a wee bit indigestion. Still, I was craving a blueberry pie and we had blueberries, so I made one completely from sratch. Now I'm eating it.

Spealing of blue, my friend Sandy made me a gorgeous needle point of bluebonnets. She's a needlepoint Goddess. Seriously. Hence, I'm very happy to have one of her pieces. :)

Going back to Monica...I wish all kids were like hers. Her kids are super creative, easy going, respectful of adults, but not afraid of them. I gave Monica a pendant I made and she gave it to her you youngerst daughter as a birthday gift. I received a cute handmade card from her at the party and thought that was so sweet. I arrived with two bracelets in hand for each of the kids and they truly seemed appreciative. Since it was a prototype design, some of the loops were wonky and they'd come running over asking me to fix it--never once complaining that it wasn't perfect or anything. Sweet girls.

Sunday I spent 8 hours working- Contract work from T's company. I'm all bug-eyed now but hey, it's extra spending cash.

Tim Brace: Music for Solo Guitar

Tim Brace is another person I work with who is a regularly performing musician. With a BFA and PHD in ethomusicology, it's no suprise that music is a large part of his life. He is an expert in Ancient Chinese Music and spends free time composing classical guitar pieces. He is also music director over at Hyde Park United Methodist Church.

In the past, Tim has taught the infamous History of Rock and Roll course at the University of Texas at Austin and was faculty with the High School for the Performing Visual Arts in Houston, TX. Music runs strong in his family. His son, Conor is currently a jazz performance major at UT and his daughter, Erin, plays flute.

Listen to:
"Rhaphsody for a Dancer"
"PRelude No. 2" (written for his son, Conor)

Visit:
Buy Tim Brace's CDs at CD Baby
Magnolia Arts

miscellaneous blathering

So Gene sent me a cutting diagram last night. "Cut this instead!" he almost demanded.

I have to chuckle of course. You know Daniel Franco on Project Runway Season 1 and 2? I swear it's something similar. Gene, like Daniel, is insane about perfection and detail. That's why the stones he cuts are meticulous and amazing. The stone I cut is slighly off and it is driving him batshit crazy. I don't blame him of course.

I'm working at home today. I'm so thankful I've got a set up that allows me to do so. The odd thing is that lots of times I'm actually more productive at home. There's no one to talk to (I've long since disabled my chat function) and I'm more comfortable so I'm able to code quicker. The GOOD coffee is at home and having a cute cat in your lap while you're working on code (or blogging as the came may be) is a nice way to spend the morning.

Speaking of cats, this is Hippo and I having a "moment." We're both napping. SHe's so relaxed that her arms are flayed open. She drools when she's purring which is gross and cute and the same time, but there's nothing like having a totally limp cat sleeping on your chest. It's like a living breathing stuffed animal. I think it's adorable.



I just got done making guacamole. That's the beauty of working at home. I can make guacamole in the kitchen downstairs while a program is running. At work, all I can do is make coffee or go the bathroom, or head on over to Sandy's office and bug her. BTW, it's Sandy's birthday today, so make sure to go tell her happy B-day.

Gem cutting musings

I've been conversing with Gene over at Precision Gem getting some help with my faceting issues. It all started with a smokey quarts that I spent hours and HOURS cutting and then recutting only to be disappointed at the end.



The middle part just comes out dark and lifeless. Turns out the cutting diagram I'm using is really old (1969) and as Gene puts it: Um, there have been some advances in diagrams over the years...
I think with each pass in conversation he's slowly getting more and more mortified of my faceting set up. Yes, I'm the 5th owner of a discontinued RayTech Shaw machine. Yes, I'm cutting stones out of an Ebay "Beginner's Goodie Bag." It's true that the motor is held together with duct tape and a hair band. INdeed, I'm preshaping the stones with a hammer and pick instead of a state of the art diamong saw. Oh, and my actual faceting table is a TV dinner tray...but hey, I only spent $700 for the entire set up, laps included versus thousand and thousand's of dollars.

Gene's only mildly mortified of my choice of faceting material, but hey, the Ebay goodie bag was a dollar. I've also been cutting crystal tips dug up out of dirt from Arkansas. Can you belive they call quarts "Arkansas Diamond?" Good grief!

He also directed me to software...yes software! To help me determine better cutting angles. I really feel like I'm in the dark ages now.

So, here's the conundrum---spend money on faceting rough to cut more gemstones or spend money on an upgraded torch to make prettier beads? As my dad (and various cousins) would be quick to point out, I could do neither and just save the money, but hell, what's the use of having money when you can't spend it. Eh? Aye?

quirky but cute: unmatched rounds

One is a fancy light yellow with an orange modifier. The other is a light yellow U-V range diamond. The center one is an off-white M color which faces up like an I. Diamonds are graded face down, so good cutting can actually make a stone look whiter than it actually is. Ya know, I think I'm keeping these as they'll make excellent educational stones.

Karsh Kale: Liberation

London born and NYC raised, Karsh Kale creates rich and atmospheric Indian-influenced electro-pop sounds on this album. His new album Broken English is out now and from the samples off of Six Degrees Records, I must say it's pretty darn cool. But since I have Liberation on hand at the moment and Broken English is in the mail, I figured I'd post about this CD. It's groovy music to listen to when you're working. Interestingly, so far the remix album of Realize called Redesign is my favorite album, but overall Kale produces solid works with intelligent programming.

Although the music definitely has South Asian elements to it, it's hard to describe in general. As one reviewer put it so eloquently:

And he's right: it's the Bhangra and Bollywood of Jackson Heights, the hip hop of Brooklyn and the South Bronx, the electronica of the Chelsea nightclubs, and the rock-n-roll of the Lower East Side

Listen to:
"Liberation"
"Epic"

Visit:
Karsh Kale's Official Website
Karsh Kale's Myspace
Buy Mp3s at Six Degrees Records

little turtle bead

Some asked me to make her a simplified "smooth" turtle. This is what I came up with:



I like how the teal glass reacted with the black causing the metal pigments to swirl.
The little round tail at the end came out really precious:

Dolphin Rings!

OMG. A new jeweler on the forum I visit has a new site up, so of course I was interested and then I saw them....dolphin engagement rings. I just can't escape the freaking dolphins:



One...



After another...



After another...



Everywhere!



So yeah, Johnny, you ought to go to SS Jewels to get your engagement ring for that lucky gal. Imagine, someone as nutzo about dolphins as you are.

I may have to get myself one because it is just so obnoxious. I wonder if these are resizeable. Does one have to chop off the dolphin's tail to fit a smaller finger?

In other news, a dog mauled Elvis Presley's teddy bear:
http://www.sploid.com/news/2006/08/dog_slaughters.php

light yellow rounds pair

If you ever need to find a nice "off colored" or unusual diamond, check out Mike Oshman over at Diamond Delights. He's a fellow Texan, very honest, knows his stuff and I've found him infinitely more helpful than most gem dealers on the net.

Anyhow, in case you haven't noticed, white diamonds and saturated yellows are very in. Diamonds actually pretty much come in all colors of the rainbow with Red being the most expensive. The soft yellows are some of the most affordable and to be honest, a shade that I think is very underappreciated.

Here's a lovely slightly mismatched pair I recently purchased:



Apparently these would look more matched in a yellow gold mounting. As ear studs it wouldn't be an issue, but I may end up using them as side stones in a ring. I think they're pretty anyway. They both in the U-V color range and roughly 1/4 carat each. Along side a soft white center I think this would make a nice antique looking trio. We'll see...

Another interesting point: Why is it so hard to find yellow rounds?
Well, unless the color is super saturated, the round brilliant cut tends to dilute the color a bit. That is because the round brilliant is a very brilliant cut--meaning it makes light bounce around a lot inside of the stone. Remember, soft light yellows are out of style right now, so you'd want this to look as saturated as a yellow as possibe and the way to do that is to cut it with something that has large factes in the pavillion so that light passes through and accentuates the yellowness.

Peaches...yummy...or not?

Peaches have sucked this year. No, I'm not talking about the sex-crazed singer. Although, she's okay (albeit bearded but that there's anything wrong with that). I'm sure she didn't have a dry season. Heh.

But seriously, I'm a peach freak. Hece, you can imagine my delight when I received not one but two jars of homemade peach jam from my buddy Sammi. The big deal though was that they were made from peached from last summer. Last summer we had a devine peach season. These were soft juicy fruits with pink flesh and a flowery fragrant aroma. THe meat would just fall off the pit as you bit into there. Up and down major highways you'd find vendors from Fredricksbug selling just off the tree items. Even the grocery stores had bounties of these wonderful Texas peaches.

Well, this summer, there have hardly been andy peaches worth mentioning. Yeah, in May there were a few and then it ended. THe issue: lack of rain. Sorta related is my beautiful fig tree. It officially died this week due to the lack of rain. We even watered it as regularly as we could, but the heatwave was too much.

The peaches I've seen at the super market have either been mealy or these pathetic shriveled up embassed nodules not worth selling. Ugh. I make a DAMN GOOD peach pie and I've only been able to make 1 all summer. You my secret? Mid way through baking, I pour heavy whipping cream into the pie through the ventilation slits so it gives it a nice creamy texture on the inside. Yummy Yumy.

I'm eating an apple right now. IT DOES NOT COMPARE!!!!
Whaaa!

And, that's my rant for the day.

A Perfect Circle: Mer De Noms

I'm definitely getting nostalgic here. This is one of my favorite albums of all time. As Voodoo Baby is a different incarnation of Moby, I think of A Perfect Circle as a different incarnation of Tool. This album possesses amazing lyrics and gorgeous harmonies which is why it is a favorite album among many.

Listen to:
"3 Libras"
"The Hollow"

Visit:
A Perfect Circle's Official Website
Wikipedia Article
Buy Mer De Noms at Amazon.com


(old picture from official website)

Parody Moment: What if God was on Myspace?

what if god was on myspace?

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Add to Blogger Blog

Thanks to Sheena for pointing this one in my directrion.

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what if god was on myspace?

what if god was on myspace?

View on Grouper.com

Add to Blogger Blog

If God was on myspace, I'd be really miffed that he's using Internet Explorer as his default browser. Very cute.

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Moby Voodoo Child -Baby Monkey

Got a party but only a single CD player?
Want a good dance album? Get this one. Its of course by the amazing Moby traipsing around as the reincarnated Voodoo Child. All the tracks flow beautifuly into each other and every song is a hypnotic electronic experience. This reminds me that I meant to get the follow up album End of Everything and never did. I need to go do that!

Random aside...I remember this one time when Moby was on the Conan O'Brian show and I believe Heidi Klum and Liam Nieson were on there. I can't remember exactly, but thing tall and big gorgeous people. In case you didn't know, Moby is a man of small physical stature and when he walked on Mr. and Mrs. Giant politely stood up to greet him. Conan O'Brian is freaking huge to, so the poor man was completely drawfed by the people sharing the stage. O'Brian had Heidi and Liam stand with Moby in the middle and instantly the taller individuals knew why. The leaned in as the camera cropped a tight shot. "You guys look like his parents!" he explained. It was cute.

Listen to:
"Synth"
"Strings"


Visit:
Moby's Site
Nice overview article from Global Trance
Buy album at Amazon.com

The Day Makers

(picture from the Daymakers)

There's something appealing about geek rock, especially if it's sung in Mandarin...by a bunch of nerdy white boys. Does it get any better than that?

Once again, oodle of thanks to Island of Sound for introducing me to another cool band. The sound is fresh, fun, and carefree. If you're into Weezer or Greenday, check these guys out.

Listen to:

"Patience"

Visit:
The Daymaker's Myspace
Profile on Island of Sound

theme of the moment: arms

Arms.

My arms hurt. Myleft one hurts more than my right one. It's like the crook of my arm mainly and I think it has to do with carpel tunnel or wrong positioning from typing. I dunno. I'm really busy these days at work and unfortunately, I have not been able to upload any of my favrorite CDs. Sniffle. Till then, deal with a theme of the moment (probably gonna be a reoccuring thing on here). Listen to:

"Arm" FAAACE (craptactular goodness :P)
"Arm"G2G

Contrast Podcast #18: Instrumental

Tim Young picked my theme of all instrumentals for Contrast Podcast #18. Yay! And of course, because he's a sneaky little puppy he twisted the rules a bit, and turned this innocuous theme into something more tantalizing...the contributors had to sing, YES SING, their freakin intros!

You can think of this as a collection of original sung works with musical interludes. Heh. The singing ain't bad either. You get to hear me whine about Trent's "fuck" placement and his overuse of the AAA rhyming scheme (actually, its AAAAA now that I listen to it again) in the song "Hand That Feeds." Anyhow, whatever your thoughts are on the theme, be sure to thank Tim for his hard work, thank the poor contributors for bearing their soul and feel free to leave me hate mail at:

Contrast Podcast #18: Instrumentals with Sung Intros