You hear that, Mr Andersen?

Noises, Hoff, Music

Phrases that I am resolved to insert in conversation, either written or spoken:

"Escape goat". "Blasé faire". "Thank you for randomly giving me $500."

Also -- I see that Penny Arcade's Gabe has realised that when teaching your children animal noises, there's no reason you should restrict yourself to real animals, when there are things like zombies and werewolves that they can be imitating. All I can say is -- the Grand Vizier says, "Bwah-hah-hah!"

***

When the BBC feels it needs to investigate whether or not The Hoff helped to end the cold war, something odd is going on with our culture.

***

If I ever redo my kitchen, this seems like the kind of gadget that I'd need -- a transparent toaster. Except I'd kinda prefer to toast more than one slice at a time, I think.

Oh, and on the "very cool visual effect" side of things, here's a way to make a black-and-white picture appear to have colour -- until you move your eyes, that is. Hunt around the site, there's some nifty image-related stuff there.

And there's the ever-nifty Tricks of the Trade web-site; where you can learn such terms as the "Sullivan nod" and the "praise sandwich".

***

In my ongoing effort to block out some of the terrible singing and inane chatter that goes on in my office, I've been listening to a lot of classic disco. While I don't think I was listening to much of it while it was going on, many of the tracks evoke various things -- some remind me of movies (Short Circuit for "More than a Woman") or TV (Barry White's "My First, My Last, My Everything"), others remind me of games that I've run. (People who were in the big Buffy game will hopefully remember "It's Raining Men" fondly, for example.)

I think that there's something swirling around in my head that relates to this, the fact that some people still remember some of the songs done for the big Vampire larp several years ago, the possibility of getting Musical in the 48 Hour Film Competition, the barbershop quartet that appeared in the movie that won our heat this year, and seeing how songs seem to be used in "The Mighty Boosh"... maybe I just want to write lots more catchy, insidious songs? :)

Oh, and I had a fairly nifty idea for Musical -- the "Behind the Music" retrospective of a made-up 90s band. After all, if we can easily and
automatically make mindless 90s synth-pop, why not take advantage of that?

***

The Tao is like a stack:
the data changes but not the structure.
the more you use it, the deeper it becomes;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.

Hold on to the root.

-- from the Tao te Chip

Dream, MegaHelmet, Yam

Dammit, a crashed browser meant that I lost at least a section of valuable musing on the human condition; more specifically, that slice of the human condition that inhabits my office.

All I can remember is that it had something to do with gnomic utterances, and pants.

And I might be wrong about the pants.

***

Had an odd, utopic dream, full of bizarre details. It seemed to be an alternate reality comic book -- I remember Superman leaving for Canada, because he was annoyed with the overly liberal policies of the US government (yeah, I think it puzzled me in my dream, too), and turning up later at his Antarctic base wearing orange and yellow, with a big policeman's mustache. There was some effect around the base that made people optimistic and non-agressive, and had been used by the world government as a place to reform supervillains... I remember some sort of enemy launching black slug-like things through the foam surrounding the base, which turned into the creatures from the Aliens movies, who started moderately angsting about their life-cycle, and stretching in the sun. The only other visual I can remember is large zeppelin in flames, with a baroque, heraldic swastika on the side.

I guess what I can take from this dream is that I shouldn't move to Canada, because it makes you grow a big moustache. :)

***

What's better that being annoying? Why, being annoying really loudly! And what better way to be annoying really loudly than by duct taping a megaphone to a motorcycle helmet? Especially if, as well as deriding the clothing and parentage of passers-by, you can play something really annoying and mindless out of the megaphone, like really derivative drum and bass from the nineties?

Or "the song that never ends".

I can imagine that it might be difficult to convince security guards to let you in with it at sports events, especially if it's something like a chess tournament. On the other hand, the guy made it specifically for playing softball, so he could trash-talk the opposition while batting; maybe it would be fine. ;)

***

The mighty Hoff has made a version of Secret Agent Man (or, as it's sometimes misheard, "Secret Asian Man"). Frankly, I much prefer the original Mel Torme version, from his somewhat bonkers album "Right Now"; I suppose the laughably awful rocket pack effects add something to the song, but I suspect it's in the same way that a nice Saturday night out can be "added to" by someone vomitting on your shoes.

***

Went to my friend Sokky's birthday on the weekend. One of the teachers there talked about an unfortunate shout-out that happened at a school production they went to -- the person was trying to thank the guys who'd done the lighting and sound work, but who they actually ended up thanking was "the boys up the rear".

Thus was our boy-band, "Boys Up The Rear," born. The fact that the acronym was BUTR was merely the icing on the cake. :) Ideas about our first hit single ("Rear Up"), covers we might do (D'Jour's "Backdoor Lover", as portrayed in Josie and the Pussycats) abounded, as well as more specific necessary elements, such as the soulful ballad where we'd all sit on really high stools, and the one guy who knew how to play an instrument would be allowed to be seen strumming a guitar (though of course, none of his playing would make it into the actual recording). We even had all the necessary members -- the stylish one, the soulful one, the rebellious one, the two brothers, and the one that left for a movie career just before they got a record deal -- and even had the band break-up all planned out.

Then there was the time when Sok got a bunch of us standing in the hallway to holler root vegetables at anyone who dared run "the gauntlet". It seemed to make sense at the time; after all, having someone yelling "yamyamyamyamyam!!" at you might be intimidating... if you were afraid of yams, or something. I'm not sure why it was necessary to intimidate those moving from one end of the house to the other in an ineffectual fashion, but when Sok calls, you do your duty. :)

Happy birthday for Monday, Sok! May you have many more fun and nonsensical days!

Da Vinci, Car, Brain Hurt

I think this review of the Da Vinci Code clearly states the reasons I thought that it wasn't that great a movie. Which is a pity -- I think it would be good if there were some good conspiracy films out there. Why can't we get a Conspiracy Theory or X-Files with Templars and Illuminati and stuff? Is it just that Black Hellicopters and Alien Abductions just more mainstream and part of popular culture than the Thule-Gesellschaft or the Golden Dawn society? Am I the only one hanging out for a good cinematic version of Foucalt's Pendulum? :)

***

So, I went to the panelbeaters yesterday to deal with the learner driver's little run-in with me. The good news? The replacement indicator will only cost $65, including the freight. The bad news? Repairing the dent and repainting will be about $180. I figured I may as well get the hubcaps repainted; so with the labour and stuff, it's going to be a bit more than $360, all up... hoorah, I guess.

And I don't have my car until it's done. Luckily, I got a ride home yesterday, and the bus came about five minutes after I arrived at the bus-stop this morning; long may this trend continue.

Oh well. At least I like my car. :)

***

I posted about the photo-documentary that someone from Weta did about a mainly Weta team on our forum. Or rather, I thought I did; and then it turned out that I'd just written a rather cryptic note, with no link.

I've fixed that, but, in case people missed it you can have a look at this site to get a feel for another team's approach -- the photographer has made a quicktime movie using the photos he took on the day, and sound he recorded at the time. Pretty nifty.

Also nifty, in a "my brain hurts" kind of way, is an applet that lets you play with a 4D Rubick's cube. And a different kind of brain hurting is provided, yet again, by what appears to be a Japanese gameshow set in a library, where such feats of endurance as "Bad Smell Air", "Hitted Hip" and the ultimate "Old Man Bites Tenderly" must be endured with just enough quiet sniggering to really annoy anyone who is trying to use the library. On the other hand, does anyone whose culture has Rodney Hide on Dancing With The Stars have any sort of high ground to judge from?

Now, if we could get Rodney Hide in front of a slapping machine... :)

Uno, L-Plate, Funeral

First up, a quick question to the room -- has anyone borrowed CDs from me? Specifically, I found the following list in my wallet:

• Best of Bootsy Collins
  
• Herbie Hancock: Headhunters and Jammin' with Herbie
  
• Kora: Volume

(Sok, don't worry, I remember what you've got of mine.)

I don't need them back immediately, but knowing where they are would be good. :)

***

You can now get Uno for the Xbox 360. And it's getting pretty good reviews. The world is a seriously strange place, Watson.

And it makes you think -- why didn't they just use the same engine to impliment a bunch of other childhood card games, like "Go Fish", or "Bastard", or "Pick Up 52"? :)

Time for some random links, methinks -- how about someone who's made a Thing costume out of rocks? Or how about a a strap-on flying wing jet-pack for Special Forces types? Or a bit of a diary from Francis Ford Coppola, though it seems to be mostly promoting his new movie, Youth Without Youth.

***

As I was coming back from lunch today, a learner driver had gone too far into an intersection, so they backed up... into my driver-side indicator. (sigh) It doesn't look too bad, but it's just another thing that has to be dealt with. What I found most weird was that I didn't think to hit my horn -- I was frantically searching for my reverse, instead. Still, worse things have happened in supermarket car-parks; there's just the orange plastic to replace, and a little scratching. I hope that they're not dicks about paying for the work, though.

Dammit, I just realised that I didn't write down their license plate, though I did get the name and phone number of the guy who was giving the lesson to the learner driver. Oh well, even if I end up paying for the replacement cover and stuff, it shouldn't be too much. Maybe I should get that annoying noise fixed, as well. And that missing window handle. Meh, if it's out of commission anyway, might as well get a bunch of stuff done.

***

Something weird that happened last week -- I came in late to work on Monday after the 48 Hour Film Competition, and found an email from an old friend (who ex-BBSers will remember as beerman) saying that his wife had just been told that she had 24 hours to live. The contrast was pretty jolting.

I had known Frances a little at secondary school, but I'd gotten to hang out with her a bit more when she married B. (I remember it being quite weird meeting some St Caths girls at their wedding, and one of them recalling something I'd said in passing seven or eight years ago. It was something nice, for what it's worth.) I hadn't realized that she was ill, but it fits that I wouldn't -- I can't imagine her letting herself be slowed down by anything much, and I'd seen very little of either of them in the last few years. She was someone who liked to tease people, but not in a mean way; and she liked to see people laughing. Which is presumably, as Morgue has noted elsewhere, why she chose to have her casket carried out to the tune of "My Ding-a-ling". It was a good service, and obvious how much she'd touched other people's lives.

Some things take a long time to happen, and creep up on you gradually; but I tend to forget how suddenly things can change, for better or worse.

Mosquito, Party Mode, Music

You may remember the Mosquito youth repellent? Well, there's an article reporting that kids have been using the noise as a ringtone, so poor teachers can't tell when students get calls/messages. (The article does ask why the students don't just set their phones to vibrate, but vibrate can actually be pretty loud.) Some people seem to be quite skeptical about whether most cell-phone speakers would be able to produce these tones; I can report that I could hear the noise through a good set of headphones, but not out of a Mac laptop's speakers. :)

Another thing some of those students might benefit from is the anti-flatulance chair pad, though I'd have to ask the teachers in the audience. Teachers?

And honestly, who doesn't need a snake-skin stapler? There's actually some interesting stuff there, but when people start feeling they need to order an Italian leather monogrammed blotter online, something odd is going on.

***

A crazy thing I've run across is this automated dorm room. Although, when I say crazy, I mean awesome. I mean, who doesn't need a big button that you can hit to switch the room into full-on party mode? I mean, like, in case of a party-emergency, or something?

And sticking with the tech/geekery theme for a moment, Creating Passionate Users seems like an interesting blog. I think it would be quite cool to be in the position to be developing a product like that, but I've certainly experienced some of the things they're talking about just as a programmer.

***

A lot of classical music is in the public domain (though finding good recordings pre-1955 is tricky -- the Naxos Historical line is good for this). But even if you know you like the piece of classic music that goes... you know... "Dee, dee, dee, dee, deedle-deedle, dee, dee, dee, dee, deedle-deedle, dee, deedle-dee, deedle-dee, deedle-dee", how are you going to translate that into looking for Greig's "Morning" from his Peer Gynt suite?

Well, one cool site that C turned up in the course of looking around for the 48 Hour Film Competition was Kick-ass Classical, which bills itself as "Word to your moms, we came to drop Brahms." It lists the top 100 classical pieces in popular culture that you and others are likely to recognise, and where you'll probably recognise it from -- advertising, computer games, movies or cartoons. One of the big advantages of something like this is that you know beforehand that the piece can work as background to something visual, since someone else has already used it in that way well enough to make the list. And handily, they list the date the composer died, so it's easy to tell who makes the copyright cut-off date. (Gershwin is a couple of years off, thanks to the twenty-year extension given to composers at the beginning of this year. Though I kinda doubt that the extra revenues he's getting will inspire him to create much more... him being dead for more than sixty years, and all. Okay, sorry, sorry, tangent.)

But anyone doing the 48 Hour Film Competition next year should seriously consider buying as much of Rhian Sheehan's output as they can (assuming that the LOOP set-up continues). His tracks seem uniquely suited to background movie music, and he's got both uplifting and subtly melancholy offerings. (And with the "Music for Nature Documentaries" remix album, you get some stuff that's suitable for both actively menacing scenes and fight scenes... in fact, we used one track for both in our offering.)

***

Two posts in two days?! Am I crazy?