so, dumbass move #2 this month was flashing my bios. i thought it would be a good idea, moving up to 64-bit. my recording machine has been unable to post since friday evening.
a stuck bios chip is not an irresolvable problem, in theory. these particular chips have something built into the firmware that checks the floppy drive. there's also a cd utility i've used before, but cannot locate right now. i'm hoping the floppy works.....
...but i've been having difficulty finding an operating system that will read a floppy drive. there's a known issue with xp (the workaround is to use server 2003, because home users shouldn't need floppies, apparently). my copy of 98 is broken, in general, and won't read it either. i've tried three specialized recovery linux live cds that won't mount...
so, i'm resorting to installing freedos. and then real dos, if that doesn't work.
worst case scenario, i'll have to go in with a parallel cable and reprogram it manually. so, there's a few more days lost....
i know the drive works and the discs are good, if for no other reason than that i just installed 98 with a boot floppy (even though the os won't read, and it won't read from funny windows 98 dos).
so, i either have two bad floppy cables, two bad floppy drives or one bad bios. i can't get the floppy to do anything at all on this backup motherboard.
the bios hasn't been flashed since 1999. i doubt it supports any method besides a floppy flash. ironically. nor do i suspect asus still has bioses for this thing around...
Friday, March 21, 2014
just to preemptively counter some textbooks that may be overly idealistic or flat-out out of date...
consider the following four combinations:
a) properly written kernel mode drivers written in an os with weak kernel mode security (xp, with most hardware combinations).
b) kernel mode drivers written for an os with weak kernel mode security being run in an os with strong kernel mode security, and that expects almost all drivers to run in user mode. (vista/7/8, with some hardware combinations)
c) badly written user-mode drivers written in an os with strong kernel mode security, and that expects almost all drivers to run in user mode. (vista/7/8, with some hardware combinations)
d) correctly written user-mode drivers written in an os with strong kernel mode security, and that expects almost all drivers to run in user mode. (vista/7/8, by design)
the reality will agree with the textbook in stating that a is faster than d, on the same hardware - meaning xp is faster by design, but less secure (that's the trade-off). again, windows 7 on faster hardware may seem faster than windows xp on slower hardware but that's an apples and oranges comparison that reduces to an actual comparison of the hardware.
but the situation i'm talking about is with either b or c, which are both going to be slow and buggy and which is still the reality with some hardware.
if you think back to '06, vista had a horrible reputation. this is the actual root of the problem. microsoft understood it perfectly well. it's support agents (one of whom was me) understood it perfectly well. the hardware companies understood it perfectly well. but part of my job was confusing people into blaming intel or nvidia instead of microsoft. which isn't to say that they didn't share the blame. but that was microsoft's official strategy - fuck the issue, lie to the customers. they saw it as a pr game.
i can't count the number of times where i nearly broke down and just leveled with the poor bastard on the other side of the line. but, given that everybody understood that the problem had no solution, my job was to ensure that the person walked away from the conversation blaming the person that made their board or chipset or video card, rather than the company that made an operating system that changed all the industry standards without proper documentation or sufficient warning.
again, though, it's eight years on, now. there's no excuse for it still being a problem.
so, that's actually something else to take away from this: if support agents can solve your problem, they will. if they can't, they will lie to you - and get promoted if they're really good at it.
going back to the usb test, i should point out that my pc actually has a faster processor, surprisingly, given that the chip is from 2005. my pc is a pentium D @ 2x3.6. the laptop is an i5 @ 2x2.4. the difference between ten minutes and 30 seconds is still incredible, though, and can't be explained purely by the processor speed. especially given what i know about the way the drivers work...
consider the following four combinations:
a) properly written kernel mode drivers written in an os with weak kernel mode security (xp, with most hardware combinations).
b) kernel mode drivers written for an os with weak kernel mode security being run in an os with strong kernel mode security, and that expects almost all drivers to run in user mode. (vista/7/8, with some hardware combinations)
c) badly written user-mode drivers written in an os with strong kernel mode security, and that expects almost all drivers to run in user mode. (vista/7/8, with some hardware combinations)
d) correctly written user-mode drivers written in an os with strong kernel mode security, and that expects almost all drivers to run in user mode. (vista/7/8, by design)
the reality will agree with the textbook in stating that a is faster than d, on the same hardware - meaning xp is faster by design, but less secure (that's the trade-off). again, windows 7 on faster hardware may seem faster than windows xp on slower hardware but that's an apples and oranges comparison that reduces to an actual comparison of the hardware.
but the situation i'm talking about is with either b or c, which are both going to be slow and buggy and which is still the reality with some hardware.
if you think back to '06, vista had a horrible reputation. this is the actual root of the problem. microsoft understood it perfectly well. it's support agents (one of whom was me) understood it perfectly well. the hardware companies understood it perfectly well. but part of my job was confusing people into blaming intel or nvidia instead of microsoft. which isn't to say that they didn't share the blame. but that was microsoft's official strategy - fuck the issue, lie to the customers. they saw it as a pr game.
i can't count the number of times where i nearly broke down and just leveled with the poor bastard on the other side of the line. but, given that everybody understood that the problem had no solution, my job was to ensure that the person walked away from the conversation blaming the person that made their board or chipset or video card, rather than the company that made an operating system that changed all the industry standards without proper documentation or sufficient warning.
again, though, it's eight years on, now. there's no excuse for it still being a problem.
so, that's actually something else to take away from this: if support agents can solve your problem, they will. if they can't, they will lie to you - and get promoted if they're really good at it.
going back to the usb test, i should point out that my pc actually has a faster processor, surprisingly, given that the chip is from 2005. my pc is a pentium D @ 2x3.6. the laptop is an i5 @ 2x2.4. the difference between ten minutes and 30 seconds is still incredible, though, and can't be explained purely by the processor speed. especially given what i know about the way the drivers work...
listen: i worked support for
microsoft. i'm telling you the story from the inside. from microsoft
training. from documents written by microsoft engineers. it might sound
incredible, but it's the actual, blunt truth.
i'm transferring files around right now, and this is a good example. it took almost ten minutes for me to transfer a few gb of files from my laptop (which is running a 64 bit windows 7, with a core i5 and 4 gb of ram - certainly better hardware specs on paper than my desktop) to a usb key. it took 30 seconds to transfer the same data from the same usb to my pc's hard drive, which is currently running an xp x64. if i were to do that on a fully patched vista, it would take ten hours.
ten hours!? yes. ten hours.
...because intel won't update the chipset to conform to the very different driver signing standards. the way windows handles drivers was a huge update from xp to vista.
i'm willing to accept that a lot of hardware manufacturers initially didn't understand how to rewrite their drivers for vista/7/etc. but, they did eventually figure it out. and there's really no excuse for not doing so, other than driving the hardware market.
it's a very widespread problem.
https://www.google.ca/#q=vista+slow+file+transfer&safe=off
all those answers are dead wrong. it's the change in driver framework.
(specifically, chipset drivers)
windows 98 is no longer useable for a number of reasons (for me it's mostly sata drivers), but it would be way faster than xp, too.
generally speaking, the older an operating system is, the faster it is (when compared on the same hardware). of course, it's going to have less functionality. it may be less safe to access the internet with, in theory if not in practice.
this may seem counter-intuitive, but it shouldn't. making something more complex makes it work slower. what doesn't make any sense at all is the idea that upgrading your os will make your machine run faster.
this is a brief explanation.
"If we're only using two isolation rings, it's a bit unclear where device drivers should go-- the code that allows us to use our video cards, keyboards, mice, printers, and so forth. Do these drivers run in Kernel mode, for maximum performance, or do they run in User mode, for maximum stability? In Windows, at least, the answer is it depends. Device drivers can run in either user or kernel mode. Most drivers are shunted to the User side of the fence these days, with the notable exception of video card drivers, which need bare-knuckle Kernel mode performance. But even that is changing; in Windows Vista, video drivers are segmented into User and Kernel sections. Perhaps that's why gamers complain that Vista performs about 10 percent slower in games. "
https://blog.codinghorror.com/understanding-user-and-kernel-mode/
this explains a bit about the actual problem, without getting into it. i don't really want to spend any more time looking around about this. it's something that nobody seems to want to be published. i wouldn't know this if it weren't for reading internal support memos that said DON'T TELL THE CUSTOMERS THIS all over them.
but, as i've stated, this is irreversible on some hardware, without getting the manufacturers to update their drivers. what's happening is that the drivers are running in kernel mode, when microsoft wants them to run in user mode. this is producing huge amounts of security checks (by design) that slow the fuck out of the file operations. what intel needs to do is rewrite their drivers to run in user mode, like microsoft wants them to do. but they'd rather blame it on vista and tell people they have to upgrade their hardware, as microsoft blames it on the hardware manufacturers (at least internally).
https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/hardware/drivers/wdf/user-mode-driver-framework-frequently-asked-questions
the result is unusable hardware, on any windows version beyond and including vista.
but, the design changes in how vista uses drivers make xp faster (by design) anyways.
you can think of it as a trade-off between speed and security. xp is all speed, weaker security. vista is all security. now as the hardware has caught up, it's evened out (in terms of perception). but xp remains inherently waaaaay faster.
i mean, this isn't entirely microsoft's fault. it's as much on intel and others (my problem is with intel, i don't know how much others have caught up. initially, nvidia was dragging their feet on this a whole lot.). but, what the hardware people were saying at the time was that microsoft didn't give them enough warning. their engineers had to go through a lengthy retraining process. it's apparently not the kind of change you can gloss over in a weekend. the retraining required was substantial.
how much of that is an excuse, i don't know. but there's a reason that microsoft is widely acknowledged as incompetent. and the whole driver framework switch from xp to vista really demonstrates it.
even so, there's no excuse for this still being an issue, 8 years later.
i'm transferring files around right now, and this is a good example. it took almost ten minutes for me to transfer a few gb of files from my laptop (which is running a 64 bit windows 7, with a core i5 and 4 gb of ram - certainly better hardware specs on paper than my desktop) to a usb key. it took 30 seconds to transfer the same data from the same usb to my pc's hard drive, which is currently running an xp x64. if i were to do that on a fully patched vista, it would take ten hours.
ten hours!? yes. ten hours.
...because intel won't update the chipset to conform to the very different driver signing standards. the way windows handles drivers was a huge update from xp to vista.
i'm willing to accept that a lot of hardware manufacturers initially didn't understand how to rewrite their drivers for vista/7/etc. but, they did eventually figure it out. and there's really no excuse for not doing so, other than driving the hardware market.
it's a very widespread problem.
https://www.google.ca/#q=vista+slow+file+transfer&safe=off
all those answers are dead wrong. it's the change in driver framework.
(specifically, chipset drivers)
windows 98 is no longer useable for a number of reasons (for me it's mostly sata drivers), but it would be way faster than xp, too.
generally speaking, the older an operating system is, the faster it is (when compared on the same hardware). of course, it's going to have less functionality. it may be less safe to access the internet with, in theory if not in practice.
this may seem counter-intuitive, but it shouldn't. making something more complex makes it work slower. what doesn't make any sense at all is the idea that upgrading your os will make your machine run faster.
this is a brief explanation.
"If we're only using two isolation rings, it's a bit unclear where device drivers should go-- the code that allows us to use our video cards, keyboards, mice, printers, and so forth. Do these drivers run in Kernel mode, for maximum performance, or do they run in User mode, for maximum stability? In Windows, at least, the answer is it depends. Device drivers can run in either user or kernel mode. Most drivers are shunted to the User side of the fence these days, with the notable exception of video card drivers, which need bare-knuckle Kernel mode performance. But even that is changing; in Windows Vista, video drivers are segmented into User and Kernel sections. Perhaps that's why gamers complain that Vista performs about 10 percent slower in games. "
https://blog.codinghorror.com/understanding-user-and-kernel-mode/
this explains a bit about the actual problem, without getting into it. i don't really want to spend any more time looking around about this. it's something that nobody seems to want to be published. i wouldn't know this if it weren't for reading internal support memos that said DON'T TELL THE CUSTOMERS THIS all over them.
but, as i've stated, this is irreversible on some hardware, without getting the manufacturers to update their drivers. what's happening is that the drivers are running in kernel mode, when microsoft wants them to run in user mode. this is producing huge amounts of security checks (by design) that slow the fuck out of the file operations. what intel needs to do is rewrite their drivers to run in user mode, like microsoft wants them to do. but they'd rather blame it on vista and tell people they have to upgrade their hardware, as microsoft blames it on the hardware manufacturers (at least internally).
https://msdn.microsoft.com/windows/hardware/drivers/wdf/user-mode-driver-framework-frequently-asked-questions
the result is unusable hardware, on any windows version beyond and including vista.
but, the design changes in how vista uses drivers make xp faster (by design) anyways.
you can think of it as a trade-off between speed and security. xp is all speed, weaker security. vista is all security. now as the hardware has caught up, it's evened out (in terms of perception). but xp remains inherently waaaaay faster.
i mean, this isn't entirely microsoft's fault. it's as much on intel and others (my problem is with intel, i don't know how much others have caught up. initially, nvidia was dragging their feet on this a whole lot.). but, what the hardware people were saying at the time was that microsoft didn't give them enough warning. their engineers had to go through a lengthy retraining process. it's apparently not the kind of change you can gloss over in a weekend. the retraining required was substantial.
how much of that is an excuse, i don't know. but there's a reason that microsoft is widely acknowledged as incompetent. and the whole driver framework switch from xp to vista really demonstrates it.
even so, there's no excuse for this still being an issue, 8 years later.
just a note that if you're still geek enough to be using xp (and i and others have very good reasons that will not change soon, if ever - i'm more likely to move to linux than a post-vista windows system, because they're really legitimately awful on a lot of levels) - support ends on april 8th. so, it's a good time to track down all the updates. if, for example, you've been relying on an sp2 disc and then running windows update whenever you reinstall, you won't be able to do that anymore.
somebody will no doubt do this and torrent it, but trusting them is another issue. better to do it yourself while you can.
there are hardware issues that jumped up in vista that never got solved. the only solution is to buy specific hardware. i mean, if you're running a pre-built system then you probably won't notice any of this. but, as deep and valid as the criticisms of apple are, you're better off with a mac than a dell or an hp....
there's a lot of fixes that don't work floating around. i actually worked support for vista and i will authoritatively tell you that microsoft's response is to blame it on the hardware.
yet, the same hardware works flawlessly with xp.
so, there's conspiracy theories floating around that probably have a lot of truth to them.
around '06, microsoft started loading it's operating systems up with meaningless services that are designed solely to require faster hardware. there's almost no functional use for any of this, except to coerce people into upgrading their systems. that much is really not debatable.
but you can turn that off. that's minor.
one of the bigger problems is with copy operations, and while it may be true that this is at it's core a problem with user-mode drivers (that is to say that the hardware people never made drivers that work properly with the security aspects of windows, post-vista), there's still this lingering question of whether the thing is by design.
what that means is that people with certain types of fairly modern hardware are stuck with xp, unless they want to upgrade central aspects of their system or deal with cripplingly bad file operations.
that's a very good reason to either stick with xp, or move to linux. microsoft isn't going to make an exception - they're going to blame it on the hardware manufacturers. and the hardware manufacturers are going to tell you to buy new hardware - and you'd better do the research to make sure the drivers work right.
for me, the precise issue is my board. but, i mean, it's a perfectly good asus with sata connectors that can handle up to 16 gb of ram. there's no good reason to upgrade this board. intel just won't fix the chipset drivers to work properly with the way windows does, post-vista.
but if i stick with xp, then i get full use of the board.
worse, the truth is that xp just performs better at core os functions for the simple reason that it's doing less things in the process. getting the drivers to work right will speed up file operations, but it will never be as fast as xp on the same hardware. that would defy basic logic; it would require doing more things in less time. nor does a home user need to care about the security functions that slow everything down...
so, again, it goes back to the conspiracy theory: were the security updates really necessary and were they really buckling to pressure to idiot-proof the os, or are they just driving the hardware market by literally introducing billions of empty cycles?
i'm hoping microsoft decides to do a final platform update or something that pulls everything together. that'll make life easier. but, i suspect that they won't. so...
april 8th.
somebody will no doubt do this and torrent it, but trusting them is another issue. better to do it yourself while you can.
there are hardware issues that jumped up in vista that never got solved. the only solution is to buy specific hardware. i mean, if you're running a pre-built system then you probably won't notice any of this. but, as deep and valid as the criticisms of apple are, you're better off with a mac than a dell or an hp....
there's a lot of fixes that don't work floating around. i actually worked support for vista and i will authoritatively tell you that microsoft's response is to blame it on the hardware.
yet, the same hardware works flawlessly with xp.
so, there's conspiracy theories floating around that probably have a lot of truth to them.
around '06, microsoft started loading it's operating systems up with meaningless services that are designed solely to require faster hardware. there's almost no functional use for any of this, except to coerce people into upgrading their systems. that much is really not debatable.
but you can turn that off. that's minor.
one of the bigger problems is with copy operations, and while it may be true that this is at it's core a problem with user-mode drivers (that is to say that the hardware people never made drivers that work properly with the security aspects of windows, post-vista), there's still this lingering question of whether the thing is by design.
what that means is that people with certain types of fairly modern hardware are stuck with xp, unless they want to upgrade central aspects of their system or deal with cripplingly bad file operations.
that's a very good reason to either stick with xp, or move to linux. microsoft isn't going to make an exception - they're going to blame it on the hardware manufacturers. and the hardware manufacturers are going to tell you to buy new hardware - and you'd better do the research to make sure the drivers work right.
for me, the precise issue is my board. but, i mean, it's a perfectly good asus with sata connectors that can handle up to 16 gb of ram. there's no good reason to upgrade this board. intel just won't fix the chipset drivers to work properly with the way windows does, post-vista.
but if i stick with xp, then i get full use of the board.
worse, the truth is that xp just performs better at core os functions for the simple reason that it's doing less things in the process. getting the drivers to work right will speed up file operations, but it will never be as fast as xp on the same hardware. that would defy basic logic; it would require doing more things in less time. nor does a home user need to care about the security functions that slow everything down...
so, again, it goes back to the conspiracy theory: were the security updates really necessary and were they really buckling to pressure to idiot-proof the os, or are they just driving the hardware market by literally introducing billions of empty cycles?
i'm hoping microsoft decides to do a final platform update or something that pulls everything together. that'll make life easier. but, i suspect that they won't. so...
april 8th.
i'm surprised that i was able to log into my school account, but i was. i was looking for a way to download 7, home premium due to the extra key i have. the links that are all over the internet are all corrupt. i've tried four times, and have given up.
they did, however, have a 64-bit xp, with key. well, that's the best option, really.
i should be able to reimage a 32-bit version based on an old compaq corporate image from about the year 2003. it's all patched up, and ready to be ripped apart.
so, i will come out of this with a 32/64 all-xp dual boot that i will plan to slowly transfer over to 64. first, i need to focus on replacing the dead hd. and i still need to know if i can get the script off.
getting a few more sticks of ram will help act as an incentive to the switch.
probably not today, but almost certainly tomorrow.
they did, however, have a 64-bit xp, with key. well, that's the best option, really.
i should be able to reimage a 32-bit version based on an old compaq corporate image from about the year 2003. it's all patched up, and ready to be ripped apart.
so, i will come out of this with a 32/64 all-xp dual boot that i will plan to slowly transfer over to 64. first, i need to focus on replacing the dead hd. and i still need to know if i can get the script off.
getting a few more sticks of ram will help act as an incentive to the switch.
probably not today, but almost certainly tomorrow.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
the new la dispute record is a little bit boring
well, we can't be young and full of energy for our whole lives. aging isn't preventable or reversible. the interesting part is how we adjust.
for the lyricist, it makes sense to move into more reflective, almost hip-hop type territory. yet, la dispute's strength (musically) has always been it's ability to cause a ruckus as the poetry climaxes. the notes didn't matter, it was all atmosphere. they couldn't be separated. as the lyricist softens, the band behind him simply isn't pulling off the shift to sounding like rem very well. the level of melodic introspection simply doesn't match the level of lyrical depth....
sometimes, age brings us closer to our friends as experiences solidify shared ideals and the depth of interests strengthen. other times, we outgrow our friends and move on. the future, of course, remains to be seen. yet, i can't help but think that the band would rather be rocking a little harder, and i'd definitely suggest that the lyricist could benefit from musicians that have a deeper sense of melody.
it's not ironic. it's universal. it's life.
for the lyricist, it makes sense to move into more reflective, almost hip-hop type territory. yet, la dispute's strength (musically) has always been it's ability to cause a ruckus as the poetry climaxes. the notes didn't matter, it was all atmosphere. they couldn't be separated. as the lyricist softens, the band behind him simply isn't pulling off the shift to sounding like rem very well. the level of melodic introspection simply doesn't match the level of lyrical depth....
sometimes, age brings us closer to our friends as experiences solidify shared ideals and the depth of interests strengthen. other times, we outgrow our friends and move on. the future, of course, remains to be seen. yet, i can't help but think that the band would rather be rocking a little harder, and i'd definitely suggest that the lyricist could benefit from musicians that have a deeper sense of melody.
it's not ironic. it's universal. it's life.
i just discovered presonus, though, which is
the newish project by some of the guys from cubase. no dongles. no
virtual dongles. that sounds like it's worth checking out.
i also want to check out reaper. the install is less than 10 mb. i'm a fan of light software...
...but in the end, it's going to be the same old. hopefully, i'm reinstalled by tomorrow.
i also want to check out reaper. the install is less than 10 mb. i'm a fan of light software...
...but in the end, it's going to be the same old. hopefully, i'm reinstalled by tomorrow.
bad iso.
ugh.
i won't do this a third time.
i'm going to end up mostly running 32 bit software. 32 bit software on a 64 bit os is a bad idea. i mean, it works, but it's pointless to upgrade if your key programs are 32 bit.
i was going to maintain a dual boot, anyways. but i'm thinking old xp - even broken - will still be dominant for the near future.
i built that machine - and this was many years ago now - to get up to 64 bit xp in time. expandable to 16 gb on the board was pretty advanced at the time, although i've never put in more than 4.
contrary to claims otherwise, moving to 64-bit from 32-bit with 4 gb of ram can get extra resources because 32-bit will inevitably ignore one of your sticks to fit the total (including the ram from your video card) under 4. it's not a max of 4 + bios + video + whatever else. it's 4. max. total. so, if i upgrade then i get another gb...
...but the reality is that setting the pagefile to 10 gb is just as good. the system may have to dump stuff to the drive here and there, but you never have to use more than 3 gb of ram all at the same time and if you did your system would crash because it couldn't.
i'm standing here all these years later and sort of laughing at myself. 64-bit is still a niche market. and i have to admit i don't see any real reason to upgrade, either. there's nothing i can think of that will work in 64 that doesn't in 32.
it's mostly the lack of evaluation software. there's lots of software i could buy. i can't afford to even think about that. so if i'm running everything in 32 anyways because it's all i can find then it's meaningless.
but it may be useful to have a non-broken system, from time to time.
yeah.
the problem with running 32 in 64 is that you're constantly converting it. what you're actually doing is running through a virtual machine. that's a net loss in speed (it may not be measurable, but it's a downgrade). considering the amount of drivers in use in sound production, that's bad news waiting to happen.
ugh.
i won't do this a third time.
i'm going to end up mostly running 32 bit software. 32 bit software on a 64 bit os is a bad idea. i mean, it works, but it's pointless to upgrade if your key programs are 32 bit.
i was going to maintain a dual boot, anyways. but i'm thinking old xp - even broken - will still be dominant for the near future.
i built that machine - and this was many years ago now - to get up to 64 bit xp in time. expandable to 16 gb on the board was pretty advanced at the time, although i've never put in more than 4.
contrary to claims otherwise, moving to 64-bit from 32-bit with 4 gb of ram can get extra resources because 32-bit will inevitably ignore one of your sticks to fit the total (including the ram from your video card) under 4. it's not a max of 4 + bios + video + whatever else. it's 4. max. total. so, if i upgrade then i get another gb...
...but the reality is that setting the pagefile to 10 gb is just as good. the system may have to dump stuff to the drive here and there, but you never have to use more than 3 gb of ram all at the same time and if you did your system would crash because it couldn't.
i'm standing here all these years later and sort of laughing at myself. 64-bit is still a niche market. and i have to admit i don't see any real reason to upgrade, either. there's nothing i can think of that will work in 64 that doesn't in 32.
it's mostly the lack of evaluation software. there's lots of software i could buy. i can't afford to even think about that. so if i'm running everything in 32 anyways because it's all i can find then it's meaningless.
but it may be useful to have a non-broken system, from time to time.
yeah.
the problem with running 32 in 64 is that you're constantly converting it. what you're actually doing is running through a virtual machine. that's a net loss in speed (it may not be measurable, but it's a downgrade). considering the amount of drivers in use in sound production, that's bad news waiting to happen.
i just realized i installed the wrong version of 7 on my laptop. it's a
home premium key on the back. i have a pro version i got from school,
that resulted from a wipe on the recovery console. i can't swap the keys
out without reinstalling, so i'm going to download home premium and try
that for my 64 bit escapade, instead.
it's what i should have done in the first place.
(i could call them, but it's not worth it. they never really fixed the copy issues in vista.)
a google search suggests it's still a problem with 7. well, i'll find out.
i highly doubt there are 32-bit linux drivers for my mixer, let alone 64-bit ones. it's not feasible.
it's what i should have done in the first place.
(i could call them, but it's not worth it. they never really fixed the copy issues in vista.)
a google search suggests it's still a problem with 7. well, i'll find out.
i highly doubt there are 32-bit linux drivers for my mixer, let alone 64-bit ones. it's not feasible.
currently reminding myself why vista is the wost operating system ever...
i mean, i can handle a little bit of performance degradation from an optimized xp to an out-of-the-box vista, at least for now. but my windows 98 computer (currently running xp) can transfer files faster. it's preposterously slow.
i don't have the interest in stripping it down the way i stripped down xp, but i'm going to try to vlite it before i essentially give up and stick with what is a half-broken xp. the cd install is the broken part. the scripts i lost in the hard drive crash were what fixed them...
....and then this no good, third rate os has the nerve to reject my perfectly valid product key. fuckers...
you are SO getting formatted, windows vista.
i actually worked vista support for a while, believe it or not. i wrote some of those kb articles. it was a fun job with good pay, even. canadian labour can't compete with labour in the philippines, though. and alas...
i mean, i can handle a little bit of performance degradation from an optimized xp to an out-of-the-box vista, at least for now. but my windows 98 computer (currently running xp) can transfer files faster. it's preposterously slow.
i don't have the interest in stripping it down the way i stripped down xp, but i'm going to try to vlite it before i essentially give up and stick with what is a half-broken xp. the cd install is the broken part. the scripts i lost in the hard drive crash were what fixed them...
....and then this no good, third rate os has the nerve to reject my perfectly valid product key. fuckers...
you are SO getting formatted, windows vista.
i actually worked vista support for a while, believe it or not. i wrote some of those kb articles. it was a fun job with good pay, even. canadian labour can't compete with labour in the philippines, though. and alas...
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
i happen to have one of those cords from an old phone. i may end up trying this, after i swap out the chips.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZBsf-5iiDE
i have a .10, though, not a .11. the bug that affects the .11s doesn't affect my model.
regardless, if i can't get it to read, trying to hack in through hyperterminal is a third thing i can try.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZBsf-5iiDE
i have a .10, though, not a .11. the bug that affects the .11s doesn't affect my model.
regardless, if i can't get it to read, trying to hack in through hyperterminal is a third thing i can try.
i'm in a back-up mood, obviously.
i've never really liked the idea of forcing people to pay for mp3s. i'd never pay for one, myself. nor is streaming the best option for traveling. but these drive type options weren't really available, yet, either, so i rationalized to myself that if you're going to listen to it when you're on the bus then you can bloody well pay me for it....
the technology is here, though, now, so i'm going to use it. it'll take some time to upload, but my first 23 releases (and my 26th) will be available here in mp3 by this time tomorrow. i'll keep this up-to-date as i continue forwards.
https://googledrive.com/host/0B5JfVE9XTZikMS1zek9ER0xSU1E/
i've never really liked the idea of forcing people to pay for mp3s. i'd never pay for one, myself. nor is streaming the best option for traveling. but these drive type options weren't really available, yet, either, so i rationalized to myself that if you're going to listen to it when you're on the bus then you can bloody well pay me for it....
the technology is here, though, now, so i'm going to use it. it'll take some time to upload, but my first 23 releases (and my 26th) will be available here in mp3 by this time tomorrow. i'll keep this up-to-date as i continue forwards.
https://googledrive.com/host/0B5JfVE9XTZikMS1zek9ER0xSU1E/
yeah. i think if i just download everything from bandcamp, and repeat
the process of categorizing all the cd-rs and dvd-rs in the box...
it's not worth the amount recovery is going to cost. sadly.
tools or bust. i'll find out in two weeks.
musically, what i've lost is xml files and transitional pieces. parts to build tracks up, but nothing completed.
for right now, i'd rather spend the cash on a good external backup drive.
it's not worth the amount recovery is going to cost. sadly.
tools or bust. i'll find out in two weeks.
musically, what i've lost is xml files and transitional pieces. parts to build tracks up, but nothing completed.
for right now, i'd rather spend the cash on a good external backup drive.
on second thought, data recovery is much more expensive than i thought it would be.
there are two further troubleshooting steps i can try at the beginning of april, when i can get the right tools, but i think they're both low probability. i've resigned myself to needing somebody to open the drive up. that could take years to save up for...
obviously, i can't leave myself in suspended animation for that long. so, i'm going to take the opportunity to upgrade as much software as i can.
in the end, i'll have to decide if it's worth it. am i happy with a vanilla vista or a vanilla xp? do i really need to recover a few dozen source files for the sake of having them? or is the iso i'm about to reconstruct "good enough"?
i could see the drive sitting in a box for the next ten years gathering dust.
i absolutely must try those fixes, though. and if they don't work, and i'm happy with the replacement, i might get experimental about it.
there are two further troubleshooting steps i can try at the beginning of april, when i can get the right tools, but i think they're both low probability. i've resigned myself to needing somebody to open the drive up. that could take years to save up for...
obviously, i can't leave myself in suspended animation for that long. so, i'm going to take the opportunity to upgrade as much software as i can.
in the end, i'll have to decide if it's worth it. am i happy with a vanilla vista or a vanilla xp? do i really need to recover a few dozen source files for the sake of having them? or is the iso i'm about to reconstruct "good enough"?
i could see the drive sitting in a box for the next ten years gathering dust.
i absolutely must try those fixes, though. and if they don't work, and i'm happy with the replacement, i might get experimental about it.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
of course, i don't have the right sized screwdriver.
...and i just spent my last $20 for the month on fruit and vegetables....
powerless until april. guess i'll grab a book...
well, i guess i can try the store tomorrow. maybe they'll even let me use a screwdriver.
there's no use in installing on the backup drive, because it's going to be wiped out as soon as i get the data recovered. by the time i can use the os, i'll be writing over it.
...and i just spent my last $20 for the month on fruit and vegetables....
powerless until april. guess i'll grab a book...
well, i guess i can try the store tomorrow. maybe they'll even let me use a screwdriver.
there's no use in installing on the backup drive, because it's going to be wiped out as soon as i get the data recovered. by the time i can use the os, i'll be writing over it.
i'm hoping it's this easy.
i'm going to stumble out to the local store tomorrow and see if they'll just plug it in for me to check.
i wasn't able to try it from an e-sata 'cause i don't actually have the right cable.
i mean, the data is there. i should be able to get it off. it seems like the power is broken. it's not whirring, it's just not reading.
i need it to bypass the bios somehow to determine if it's the power or not. if it's the power, i'm going to have to pay somebody to replace it...
the only other thing i can think of is that the self-test is failing, and that's why it's neither whirring nor being read by the bios. still reduces to paying somebody to swap it out.
i'm going to stumble out to the local store tomorrow and see if they'll just plug it in for me to check.
i wasn't able to try it from an e-sata 'cause i don't actually have the right cable.
i mean, the data is there. i should be able to get it off. it seems like the power is broken. it's not whirring, it's just not reading.
i need it to bypass the bios somehow to determine if it's the power or not. if it's the power, i'm going to have to pay somebody to replace it...
the only other thing i can think of is that the self-test is failing, and that's why it's neither whirring nor being read by the bios. still reduces to paying somebody to swap it out.
rap news 23
L00NGB00W
Gotta ask, are you guys affiliated with RT?
selvmordspilot
afaik they're based in australia. I'm afraid it's the other way around. RT has gotten their hands on some great journalists - that are worth featuring in the rap news. #powerfulabbymartin
deathtokoalas
they are recently, yes. check their facebook page.
L00NGB00W
I can see no evidence of this.
dangerouslytalented
They have some great journalists, and are not afraid to use them... But only if and when the facts are on the Kremlin's side. The problem is when the facts are not on the Kremlin's side, whoops journalism broke.
selvmordspilot
true, and it's still up to us to decide who to believe in these matters.
dangerouslytalented
... basically, if Russia has a vested interest in not telling the truth, then don't trust them.
deathtokoalas
all media has a motive, otherwise it wouldn't exist. i mean, it's not like rap news is void of bias, either, we just all like their biases. so, i dunno why people have this naive perception that some media is more trustworthy than other media. all media is full of lies; it would't exist if it wasn't. and the other response consequently gets it right. you have to be constantly skeptical....
dangerouslytalented
That completely depends on what the motives are, Take the Guardian for example, their business model relies on their integrity. If they sell that, then there is no more money. Ever.
L00NGB00W
Assuming that all media is lies borders on paranoia.
One must take the stories with a grain of salt, and realize there is bias.
The idea of the fifth estate is to report on the actions of those in power. With enough viewpoints, one can piece together the truth.
deathtokoalas
the guardian is one of the worst advocates of liberal imperialistic bullshit and general state apologism out there. their coverage of foreign conflicts often seems written by the british state department, if not by the cia. kind of like the new york times, actually, which markets itself as relying on integrity, but is basically state media. both cnn and fox claim to be "trusted" as well; generally, when "trust" is a part of your advertising campaigns, that's a flag not to trust you. to see how bad the guardian is, all you have to do is read the independent, who is a rare source in the western world. you can at least vaguely trust the general idea of what they're presenting. but, even they have certain lines that they need to be artistic in dancing around.
@L00NGB00W it's not paranoia, it's a type of hypothesis testing. the null hypothesis is that what they're telling me is bullshit. now, can enough evidence be generated to reject that null hypothesis?
i suppose scientists are just a bunch of schizophrenics, living in a delusional fantasy reality.
we need more scientific thinking, to increase the bar so to speak, not vague accusations of paranoia and more pandering to rupert murdoch.
L00NGB00W
There you go. Case in point.
I'm not pandering to Rupert Murdoch, he manipulates the news. <_<
Assuming everything is a conspiracy is not a null hypothesis. Even if it were... One true news article would debunk said hypothesis.
Weigh each story on an individual basis. And skeptically if it is merited.
Pretty sure I am the one thinking scientifically here.
deathtokoalas
you don't know what science is, clearly.
this is painful: "Assuming everything is a conspiracy is not a null hypothesis. Even if it were... One true news article would debunk said hypothesis."
and i'm just going to request that you stop, educate yourself and come back.
L00NGB00W
Ugh.
The truth is painful sometimes. ^_^
I will stop now. But I will not return.
It's not like I have anything to gain from this conversation, other than enlightening someone.
Good day to you. ;)
deathtokoalas
can somebody other than me explain what a null hypothesis is and why the statement that it can be contradicted with a single counter-example is hilariously misinformed?
L00NGB00W
Sure, I'll explain it to you with an example. ;)
Hypothesis: Squirrels are eating my strawberries.
Null Hypothesis: Squirrels are not eating my strawberries.
Experiment: Set up a camera to see what is eating my strawberries...
Result: squirrels.
Hence, the Null hypothesis is contradicted.
LOGIC
You're welcome. ;)
deathtokoalas
that's right. now, what happens when you apply that to the question of whether media coverage is accurate or not?
(note that i'm being generous for brevity, there's no use in getting picky about the language given that the discussion is circling around an idea)
this is all getting to the point that if you want to approach the question of media truth with a scientific perspective, you begin by assuming falsity and then generate evidence otherwise. that doesn't mean you should be calculating p-values to analyze the evening news and it doesn't mean you need to walk around with a tinfoil hat on, literally or figuratively. it's just a rule of thumb, in context. one could summarize it with the word skepticism.
...and to clear up that loose end (if it's not clear), suggesting that finding one "counter-example" (which in this case would be an honest newscast, and these do certainly exist) proves that all media is correct is one of those classical logical fallacies. i'm pretty stingy with my likes, but i'll +1 the first person that points it out.
L00NGB00W
Same. But your original statement was that 'all media is biased', Not whether 'all media is accurate'. They're rather different statements.
With the former, finding one contradiction invalidates the Null hypothesis.
With the latter, all media would have to be true to falsify the null. Which it isn't.
Perhaps I'm just being picky.
deathtokoalas
yeah, you very much misunderstood what i said. the statement "all media is full of lies" is not the same thing as "all media is solely lies". and if you could find me a media source that's never lied, i'd be interested in hearing what it is. further, you couldn't do a meaningful test on the question of "is all media solely lies?" because you're not dealing with a specific enough question. i mean, sure, a counter-example would demonstrate it false, but it's an absurd statement to begin with. hypothesis testing has to work in a more specific context than that. i thought that was obvious, but apparently not.
it's again a basic fallacy. x is in Y does not meant Y only consists of x.
what you could do, i suppose, is generate a data set of broadcasts from a single news source and then ask "does this specific news source lie?". but that's about as broad as the method allows for (and perhaps badly (but, with some sources, perhaps reasonably - it's a question) sets all reporters as equivalent), and is something different altogether.
i was working on the assumption of analyzing claims on a statement-by-statement basis by beginning with the perspective that, because all media is full of lies, skepticism is perpetually required.
i couldn't imagine anybody not realizing that.
dangerouslytalented
There are two classes: "trust but verify", and "these guys are full of horseshit, if I want to know about this story, I am going to go somewhere else for the primary source".
L00NGB00W
No I did not, but I'm tired of arguing with you.
"It's an absurd statement to begin with."
Yes. Precisely. Some reporting is honest and accurate, some isn't.
Good day.
deathtokoalas
well, it works out to the same thing in the end. you're presenting a categorization of required rigour, if anything. i think it's largely illusory, and reduces to your own biases. one person will put fox in a and democracy now in b, and the other will flip them around. in the end, you're doing your homework, either way. that's the important part.
personally, i think it's more worthwhile to figure out what the biases are so that they can be actively countered. this whole crimea thing has actually been useful, as it's brought some closet communists out (and hopelessly misguided ones, given that russia is currently the most right-wing of any major country, including the united states. one might even call them useful idiots.).
Gotta ask, are you guys affiliated with RT?
selvmordspilot
afaik they're based in australia. I'm afraid it's the other way around. RT has gotten their hands on some great journalists - that are worth featuring in the rap news. #powerfulabbymartin
deathtokoalas
they are recently, yes. check their facebook page.
L00NGB00W
I can see no evidence of this.
dangerouslytalented
They have some great journalists, and are not afraid to use them... But only if and when the facts are on the Kremlin's side. The problem is when the facts are not on the Kremlin's side, whoops journalism broke.
selvmordspilot
true, and it's still up to us to decide who to believe in these matters.
dangerouslytalented
... basically, if Russia has a vested interest in not telling the truth, then don't trust them.
deathtokoalas
all media has a motive, otherwise it wouldn't exist. i mean, it's not like rap news is void of bias, either, we just all like their biases. so, i dunno why people have this naive perception that some media is more trustworthy than other media. all media is full of lies; it would't exist if it wasn't. and the other response consequently gets it right. you have to be constantly skeptical....
dangerouslytalented
That completely depends on what the motives are, Take the Guardian for example, their business model relies on their integrity. If they sell that, then there is no more money. Ever.
L00NGB00W
Assuming that all media is lies borders on paranoia.
One must take the stories with a grain of salt, and realize there is bias.
The idea of the fifth estate is to report on the actions of those in power. With enough viewpoints, one can piece together the truth.
deathtokoalas
the guardian is one of the worst advocates of liberal imperialistic bullshit and general state apologism out there. their coverage of foreign conflicts often seems written by the british state department, if not by the cia. kind of like the new york times, actually, which markets itself as relying on integrity, but is basically state media. both cnn and fox claim to be "trusted" as well; generally, when "trust" is a part of your advertising campaigns, that's a flag not to trust you. to see how bad the guardian is, all you have to do is read the independent, who is a rare source in the western world. you can at least vaguely trust the general idea of what they're presenting. but, even they have certain lines that they need to be artistic in dancing around.
@L00NGB00W it's not paranoia, it's a type of hypothesis testing. the null hypothesis is that what they're telling me is bullshit. now, can enough evidence be generated to reject that null hypothesis?
i suppose scientists are just a bunch of schizophrenics, living in a delusional fantasy reality.
we need more scientific thinking, to increase the bar so to speak, not vague accusations of paranoia and more pandering to rupert murdoch.
L00NGB00W
There you go. Case in point.
I'm not pandering to Rupert Murdoch, he manipulates the news. <_<
Assuming everything is a conspiracy is not a null hypothesis. Even if it were... One true news article would debunk said hypothesis.
Weigh each story on an individual basis. And skeptically if it is merited.
Pretty sure I am the one thinking scientifically here.
deathtokoalas
you don't know what science is, clearly.
this is painful: "Assuming everything is a conspiracy is not a null hypothesis. Even if it were... One true news article would debunk said hypothesis."
and i'm just going to request that you stop, educate yourself and come back.
L00NGB00W
Ugh.
The truth is painful sometimes. ^_^
I will stop now. But I will not return.
It's not like I have anything to gain from this conversation, other than enlightening someone.
Good day to you. ;)
deathtokoalas
can somebody other than me explain what a null hypothesis is and why the statement that it can be contradicted with a single counter-example is hilariously misinformed?
L00NGB00W
Sure, I'll explain it to you with an example. ;)
Hypothesis: Squirrels are eating my strawberries.
Null Hypothesis: Squirrels are not eating my strawberries.
Experiment: Set up a camera to see what is eating my strawberries...
Result: squirrels.
Hence, the Null hypothesis is contradicted.
LOGIC
You're welcome. ;)
deathtokoalas
that's right. now, what happens when you apply that to the question of whether media coverage is accurate or not?
(note that i'm being generous for brevity, there's no use in getting picky about the language given that the discussion is circling around an idea)
this is all getting to the point that if you want to approach the question of media truth with a scientific perspective, you begin by assuming falsity and then generate evidence otherwise. that doesn't mean you should be calculating p-values to analyze the evening news and it doesn't mean you need to walk around with a tinfoil hat on, literally or figuratively. it's just a rule of thumb, in context. one could summarize it with the word skepticism.
...and to clear up that loose end (if it's not clear), suggesting that finding one "counter-example" (which in this case would be an honest newscast, and these do certainly exist) proves that all media is correct is one of those classical logical fallacies. i'm pretty stingy with my likes, but i'll +1 the first person that points it out.
L00NGB00W
Same. But your original statement was that 'all media is biased', Not whether 'all media is accurate'. They're rather different statements.
With the former, finding one contradiction invalidates the Null hypothesis.
With the latter, all media would have to be true to falsify the null. Which it isn't.
Perhaps I'm just being picky.
deathtokoalas
yeah, you very much misunderstood what i said. the statement "all media is full of lies" is not the same thing as "all media is solely lies". and if you could find me a media source that's never lied, i'd be interested in hearing what it is. further, you couldn't do a meaningful test on the question of "is all media solely lies?" because you're not dealing with a specific enough question. i mean, sure, a counter-example would demonstrate it false, but it's an absurd statement to begin with. hypothesis testing has to work in a more specific context than that. i thought that was obvious, but apparently not.
it's again a basic fallacy. x is in Y does not meant Y only consists of x.
what you could do, i suppose, is generate a data set of broadcasts from a single news source and then ask "does this specific news source lie?". but that's about as broad as the method allows for (and perhaps badly (but, with some sources, perhaps reasonably - it's a question) sets all reporters as equivalent), and is something different altogether.
i was working on the assumption of analyzing claims on a statement-by-statement basis by beginning with the perspective that, because all media is full of lies, skepticism is perpetually required.
i couldn't imagine anybody not realizing that.
dangerouslytalented
There are two classes: "trust but verify", and "these guys are full of horseshit, if I want to know about this story, I am going to go somewhere else for the primary source".
L00NGB00W
No I did not, but I'm tired of arguing with you.
"It's an absurd statement to begin with."
Yes. Precisely. Some reporting is honest and accurate, some isn't.
Good day.
deathtokoalas
well, it works out to the same thing in the end. you're presenting a categorization of required rigour, if anything. i think it's largely illusory, and reduces to your own biases. one person will put fox in a and democracy now in b, and the other will flip them around. in the end, you're doing your homework, either way. that's the important part.
personally, i think it's more worthwhile to figure out what the biases are so that they can be actively countered. this whole crimea thing has actually been useful, as it's brought some closet communists out (and hopelessly misguided ones, given that russia is currently the most right-wing of any major country, including the united states. one might even call them useful idiots.).
Monday, March 17, 2014
uploading symphony 7 to youtube
this was initially written for inclusion in a project
entitled 'the cynicide collaboration', which was created on the
initiative of jon and included myself on bass and sean on vocals. it was
supposed to be a straight ahead alternative rock song, which was the
style of that act, and you can hear the remnants of that within the song
structure. that project never got off of the ground, so the track was
moved to it's successor project: rabit iz wolf, which consisted of just
myself and sean. a 25+ minute version exists with sean on vocals, but we
eventually agreed that it was not a rabit iz wolf song but one of my
own projects with sean on vocals (rabit was moving towards a psychedelic
folk feel, while this track moves into industrial and noisy ambience).
rabit didn't break up so much as it faded away; after some time, i
decided that i wanted to replace the vocals, which were heavily modified
and came off as sort of awkward. they were replaced with samples, and
the track was turned into a dark, satirical attack on everything from
the mainstream media's approach to the 9/11 attacks to internet dating
sites and what would eventually turn into sites like facebook. in time, i
grew tired of explaining the message to people who completely
misinterpreted it and simply removed the samples, leaving a 25 minute
noise-rock catastrophe that sounds roughly something like a
collaboration between trent reznor, sonic youth and boredoms and that
i've labelled as my fourth symphony.
this was written in 2001, constructed/composed/recorded in roughly it's current form in 2002, remixed in 2003, reassembled in 2007 and remastered in 2009. i think i'm finally done with it...
that does, however, leave multiple existing versions of the track. they will all be dumped onto bandcamp in the near future. for now, there is only this one:
i'm also going to point out that the idea of a "trepanation nation" has been picked up recently by some metal bands. i'm not a fan of metal, and doubt i had much influence on their adoption of the concept. however, i did think it up *first* and will not take kindly to suggestions otherwise. it may be coincidence, but they have to eat that, not me. sorry. my primary influences at the time were as mentioned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=658axrUn-7w
this was written in 2001, constructed/composed/recorded in roughly it's current form in 2002, remixed in 2003, reassembled in 2007 and remastered in 2009. i think i'm finally done with it...
that does, however, leave multiple existing versions of the track. they will all be dumped onto bandcamp in the near future. for now, there is only this one:
i'm also going to point out that the idea of a "trepanation nation" has been picked up recently by some metal bands. i'm not a fan of metal, and doubt i had much influence on their adoption of the concept. however, i did think it up *first* and will not take kindly to suggestions otherwise. it may be coincidence, but they have to eat that, not me. sorry. my primary influences at the time were as mentioned.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=658axrUn-7w
uploading symphony 6 to youtube
this came out of a two-person psychedelic folk project i was working in over late 2001 and into mid 2002. we had brainstormed the idea of a piece that slowly built itself up, like a wave, and that had sporadic pieces of poetry interspersed as it did so. of the two of us, i was the musician, and he was the poet; i generally produced the music by myself. however, my vision of the track proved to be much larger than his, to the point that the two ideas could not be effectively reconciled given the deficit of technology available to us (i simply couldn't find a way to get enough resources to condense the track to under ten minutes). that left me with this seventy minute ambient piece that has mostly stayed hidden in my closet over the last twelve years.
this is very much process music. it's built on 36 distinct loops of identical length (just under 57 seconds) that assemble the collage up on a loop by loop basis, hitting it's full point only in the 35th loop. the 36th loop does not fit into any of the patterns that define the first 35, but is nonetheless the climax of the piece. this is followed by a disassembling process that is precisely the reverse of the assembling process.
as process music, this is mostly meant as background music. also, headphones help substantially.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQdW5_lKtUY
this is very much process music. it's built on 36 distinct loops of identical length (just under 57 seconds) that assemble the collage up on a loop by loop basis, hitting it's full point only in the 35th loop. the 36th loop does not fit into any of the patterns that define the first 35, but is nonetheless the climax of the piece. this is followed by a disassembling process that is precisely the reverse of the assembling process.
as process music, this is mostly meant as background music. also, headphones help substantially.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQdW5_lKtUY
i've stated before that i have the mind of a 70 year-old woman in the body of a 12 year-old girl. but i was sort of joking.
it's not that strange for people to skip their childhood. childhood is really a social construction in the first place. the truth is it's the parents that won't let go of the innocence; in reality, most of the world is working at ten and reproducing at fifteen. keeping young people juvenile throughout their teens and even into their twenties requires huge amounts of biological and psychological suppression. rather than saying "i skipped childhood", the better idea might be "i escaped the christian cult's attempt to stunt my development to uphold their warped perceptions of purity".
but, i don't expect white liberals to lose their fantasy reality any time soon.
so, skipping childhood is common and normal; it's the idea of childhood that is perverted. but, skipping adulthood is really bizarre.
i mean skipping adulthood as a phase of life, rather than having any cultural affinity with people twice my age. the entire set of goals just seemed pointless to me. property? what for? vehicles? i'd prefer something more ecological. job? status? you know you're going to die, right? what's the point? partner? i prefer my independence and i need to spend most of my time alone, anyways - it's impossible for me to maintain a relationship with the need for that much alone time. children? i'd rather be paraded through downtown by my entrails than become a slave to my offspring, thank you.
it was the goals of retirement that appealed to me directly from childhood: time to read, a space to grow a garden and maybe a pet (at this point, though, i think pets are as much enslavement as children).
i mean, we have some pretty bizarre ideas of what an adult is in our society. the definition of an adult in our society is identical to that of a slave. then, we associate adulthood with freedom. 'cause freedom and slavery are the same thing, here.
but to just skip the entire phase of existence - the dominant phase, the defining phase - is something i'm having a hard time understanding in myself, even as it is crystal clear to me that it is true.
it's not that strange for people to skip their childhood. childhood is really a social construction in the first place. the truth is it's the parents that won't let go of the innocence; in reality, most of the world is working at ten and reproducing at fifteen. keeping young people juvenile throughout their teens and even into their twenties requires huge amounts of biological and psychological suppression. rather than saying "i skipped childhood", the better idea might be "i escaped the christian cult's attempt to stunt my development to uphold their warped perceptions of purity".
but, i don't expect white liberals to lose their fantasy reality any time soon.
so, skipping childhood is common and normal; it's the idea of childhood that is perverted. but, skipping adulthood is really bizarre.
i mean skipping adulthood as a phase of life, rather than having any cultural affinity with people twice my age. the entire set of goals just seemed pointless to me. property? what for? vehicles? i'd prefer something more ecological. job? status? you know you're going to die, right? what's the point? partner? i prefer my independence and i need to spend most of my time alone, anyways - it's impossible for me to maintain a relationship with the need for that much alone time. children? i'd rather be paraded through downtown by my entrails than become a slave to my offspring, thank you.
it was the goals of retirement that appealed to me directly from childhood: time to read, a space to grow a garden and maybe a pet (at this point, though, i think pets are as much enslavement as children).
i mean, we have some pretty bizarre ideas of what an adult is in our society. the definition of an adult in our society is identical to that of a slave. then, we associate adulthood with freedom. 'cause freedom and slavery are the same thing, here.
but to just skip the entire phase of existence - the dominant phase, the defining phase - is something i'm having a hard time understanding in myself, even as it is crystal clear to me that it is true.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
click.
hope.
fail.
groan.
repeat.
i'm getting a rough directory structure, but almost all the actual data is garbled. that's useful in triggering my memory in reconstructing things, at least.
i've decided on the following plan:
1) finish trying to recover as much as i can.
2) back up everything else i might want to back up.
3) while i'm waiting to see if i can recover, upload some things that are already complete. that is, jump ahead.
4) make further decisions based on what i can recover.
so, there should be some new (old) tracks up in the next few days, after all.
hope.
fail.
groan.
repeat.
i'm getting a rough directory structure, but almost all the actual data is garbled. that's useful in triggering my memory in reconstructing things, at least.
i've decided on the following plan:
1) finish trying to recover as much as i can.
2) back up everything else i might want to back up.
3) while i'm waiting to see if i can recover, upload some things that are already complete. that is, jump ahead.
4) make further decisions based on what i can recover.
so, there should be some new (old) tracks up in the next few days, after all.
Saturday, March 15, 2014
i have these strange straight edge behavioural remnants that i've never really gotten over.
i won't take anything for headaches, ever. not aspirin, not acetaminophen, not ibuprofen and certainly not codeine. i'll get moderately intense migraines, too: blurred vision, vomiting.
i'll actually mostly just ignore it.
"j, you don't look so good".
"yeah, i'm having a migraine."
"you look like you need some help."
"nah."
"i really think..."
"i'm fine."
in truth, i'm in horrific pain, but it's the kind of pain you get used to. i mean, the only other way to deal with it is to go fall asleep somewhere dark, and that's not always an option.
i'm glad it's an option right now, though, because i'm still refusing myself aspirin.
i won't take anything for headaches, ever. not aspirin, not acetaminophen, not ibuprofen and certainly not codeine. i'll get moderately intense migraines, too: blurred vision, vomiting.
i'll actually mostly just ignore it.
"j, you don't look so good".
"yeah, i'm having a migraine."
"you look like you need some help."
"nah."
"i really think..."
"i'm fine."
in truth, i'm in horrific pain, but it's the kind of pain you get used to. i mean, the only other way to deal with it is to go fall asleep somewhere dark, and that's not always an option.
i'm glad it's an option right now, though, because i'm still refusing myself aspirin.
some bad news with my hard drive, if you follow the comments.
i'm kicking myself for not backing up when i had the opportunity. in fact, i was actually going to do it right at the very moment i discovered the last blue screen. just a few hours too late. ugh. *bashes head against wall*.
i've had a little time to think about it. there's an off chance that i may be able to recover parts or all of the install partition because i was moving a lot of files around from drive to drive. if i can do that, i can reinstall the machine, and i will.
if i can't, i'm not sure if i'm going to let it sit and hope i can recover the data by bringing it to a store, maybe read a bit instead, or if i'd rather upgrade to 64 bit vista (which is what i have sitting around). see, it's going to take probably close to a week to get it up and running. given that reality, waiting might be a better plan.
pretty depressed about it, though. that's pretty much everything i've done since i moved here - as well as the culmination of eight years worth of scripting - that is possibly just kablooey.
i'm kicking myself for not backing up when i had the opportunity. in fact, i was actually going to do it right at the very moment i discovered the last blue screen. just a few hours too late. ugh. *bashes head against wall*.
i've had a little time to think about it. there's an off chance that i may be able to recover parts or all of the install partition because i was moving a lot of files around from drive to drive. if i can do that, i can reinstall the machine, and i will.
if i can't, i'm not sure if i'm going to let it sit and hope i can recover the data by bringing it to a store, maybe read a bit instead, or if i'd rather upgrade to 64 bit vista (which is what i have sitting around). see, it's going to take probably close to a week to get it up and running. given that reality, waiting might be a better plan.
pretty depressed about it, though. that's pretty much everything i've done since i moved here - as well as the culmination of eight years worth of scripting - that is possibly just kablooey.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
i'm certainly not going to bother rescripting it. that took months. it's not worth it.
well, now that i'm forced to, i'm going to try and upgrade to 64 bit. all my scripts were for a 32 bit xp. some of the drivers have updated over the last several years, too, which was the other problem.
maybe it'll help offset the bloat.
scripted, that machine was super fast. it's only a 3.6 dual core, but it's way faster than this brand new five core hp laptop bogged down by windows 7. i was proud of that...
and, as mentioned, it was supposed to be modular. as depressed as i am right now, i'm really mad at myself for not backing it up yesterday afternoon. i would merely be annoyed right now, had i done that.
*sigh*.
in my defense, it wouldn't have been easy to back this stuff up. the script partition was 40 gb of software, the temp partition was 20 gb of iso files and avis.
further, most of my script partition is backed up in the storage drive, so i haven't lost much actual software. it's the script i lost, but i suspect i may have something close to it somewhere. i couldn't have backed up that much data onto a disc. and the reason it isn't imaged onto a series of ten or fifteen dvds is that i liked the flexibility of a script. who wants to go through 20 dvds every month?
...and the temp drive was just that. it was sitting there awaiting back-up to an external hd, once i got one big enough to hold all my music files. i was going to put that drive away somewhere.
further, everything that was on the temp drive is backed up across a dozen dvds - *except* the videos (some of which are on this laptop) and the remastered or modified files, which are all up at bandcamp. i can redo this, minus a handful of minor differences that if lost are lost. but, dammit...
well, now that i'm forced to, i'm going to try and upgrade to 64 bit. all my scripts were for a 32 bit xp. some of the drivers have updated over the last several years, too, which was the other problem.
maybe it'll help offset the bloat.
scripted, that machine was super fast. it's only a 3.6 dual core, but it's way faster than this brand new five core hp laptop bogged down by windows 7. i was proud of that...
and, as mentioned, it was supposed to be modular. as depressed as i am right now, i'm really mad at myself for not backing it up yesterday afternoon. i would merely be annoyed right now, had i done that.
*sigh*.
in my defense, it wouldn't have been easy to back this stuff up. the script partition was 40 gb of software, the temp partition was 20 gb of iso files and avis.
further, most of my script partition is backed up in the storage drive, so i haven't lost much actual software. it's the script i lost, but i suspect i may have something close to it somewhere. i couldn't have backed up that much data onto a disc. and the reason it isn't imaged onto a series of ten or fifteen dvds is that i liked the flexibility of a script. who wants to go through 20 dvds every month?
...and the temp drive was just that. it was sitting there awaiting back-up to an external hd, once i got one big enough to hold all my music files. i was going to put that drive away somewhere.
further, everything that was on the temp drive is backed up across a dozen dvds - *except* the videos (some of which are on this laptop) and the remastered or modified files, which are all up at bandcamp. i can redo this, minus a handful of minor differences that if lost are lost. but, dammit...
no. that drive's dead.
but i'm going to have to let it sit until april, anyways. maybe somebody at a data recovery shop will be able to get what i want out of it.
or maybe that's long enough to let it think it's back at the factory. that's ultimately what i think happened to the magically reworking laptop.
until then, i'm going to have to just keep going. i have one more trick to try - maybe it'll read through an external sata in. if not, i'm going to wait until i see if i can recover the data before i start downloading gigs of wave files from bandcamp.
but i'm going to have to let it sit until april, anyways. maybe somebody at a data recovery shop will be able to get what i want out of it.
or maybe that's long enough to let it think it's back at the factory. that's ultimately what i think happened to the magically reworking laptop.
until then, i'm going to have to just keep going. i have one more trick to try - maybe it'll read through an external sata in. if not, i'm going to wait until i see if i can recover the data before i start downloading gigs of wave files from bandcamp.
here's some hope: windows knows there's a disc plugged in. it says it's "unknown", but it at least knows it's there. that's more than the bios can say. so, i'm going to throw on a temp install and see if it reads it...
i had a problem with my laptop's hard drive last month that in the end turned out to be a corrupted mbr. regarding the laptop, it was minor in the end cause....just reformat and that's that. but i cannot format this drive under any circumstance. and i even don't care about the hardware. it's almost ten years old. i don't think 250 gb drives are even on the market anymore.
i had a problem with my laptop's hard drive last month that in the end turned out to be a corrupted mbr. regarding the laptop, it was minor in the end cause....just reformat and that's that. but i cannot format this drive under any circumstance. and i even don't care about the hardware. it's almost ten years old. i don't think 250 gb drives are even on the market anymore.
it's doing something very strange that is both worrying me and giving me some hope. it's only reading the empty drive if the failing one is not plugged in. i mean at a bios stage. i've reset the cmos and it's not helping.
so i'm going to start swapping cords around. i don't see why plugging in the failing hard drive should stop me from reading a functional one.
if it's a board problem, that's a bigger issue. but it might mean i can get the info off. which is what's important. i can replace a dead drive relatively easily. i can't replace some of what's on it without a great deal of effort.
so i'm going to start swapping cords around. i don't see why plugging in the failing hard drive should stop me from reading a functional one.
if it's a board problem, that's a bigger issue. but it might mean i can get the info off. which is what's important. i can replace a dead drive relatively easily. i can't replace some of what's on it without a great deal of effort.
i spoke too soon. the drive is not reading at all. i should have taken the data off while i had the chance.
the c: partition is designed to be throwaway. there are two smaller partitions that are not. one is an install partition with reinstall scripts. the other is a temporary partition that currently holds all of my temporary recording material.
i think i can reconstruct the last one, although it will be a lot of work. that's the most important, by far. i can't reinstall the machine as it is without the second, but i can get around that.
it could conceivably cost me a month. so i'm hoping i can get the data off somehow.
lesson learned: a chkdsk may stop a hard drive from whirring, but it doesn't mean it's fixed it. and i should have worried about it.
grargh.
so, i'm going quiet here *again* for the foreseeable future. *sigh*.
the c: partition is designed to be throwaway. there are two smaller partitions that are not. one is an install partition with reinstall scripts. the other is a temporary partition that currently holds all of my temporary recording material.
i think i can reconstruct the last one, although it will be a lot of work. that's the most important, by far. i can't reinstall the machine as it is without the second, but i can get around that.
it could conceivably cost me a month. so i'm hoping i can get the data off somehow.
lesson learned: a chkdsk may stop a hard drive from whirring, but it doesn't mean it's fixed it. and i should have worried about it.
grargh.
so, i'm going quiet here *again* for the foreseeable future. *sigh*.
that was a scare. hard drive started whirring on me....
it would have mostly been an annoyance. i built the pc to be modular. 1 tb total memory, over four 250 gb hard drives. rather than use something like raid, i've just left one empty. if a drive begins to die, and this hasn't happened yet, the plan is just to copy it over to the empty drive, unplug it and replace it. worst case, i might have to reinstall, but the process is automated.
as it is, a chkdsk stopped the whir and i'm not going to worry myself about it. but i blew the morning on that...
it would have mostly been an annoyance. i built the pc to be modular. 1 tb total memory, over four 250 gb hard drives. rather than use something like raid, i've just left one empty. if a drive begins to die, and this hasn't happened yet, the plan is just to copy it over to the empty drive, unplug it and replace it. worst case, i might have to reinstall, but the process is automated.
as it is, a chkdsk stopped the whir and i'm not going to worry myself about it. but i blew the morning on that...
well, i got the stuff printed on monday, then spent 6 hours walking on tuesday to finish up most necessary spring shopping, did spring cleaning (and much sleeping) on wednesday in the midst of a horrific blizzard and should get a start on the track today, after i do my taxes, duck student loan repayments for another six months and fill out some other necessary paperwork.
don't get me wrong. i appreciate the six hundred some dollars i'm getting back from rent. it's almost a month of rent. in theory, that's substantial.
but, if the government thinks it's doing me or the economy a favour by dividing it by twelve and giving me $50/month for the year, it's really sadly mistaken. what i'd like to do is spend the money on furniture. bookshelves and tables, specifically. at $50 a month, it's going to take all year to do something i'd rather do quickly. it's going to mean i'm going to have to save the money up over the course of a few months and probably go shopping every two months or so with roughly $100.
....except that it's a virtual certainty that i'm not going to do that. instead, i'm going to waste it on nothing of any importance, and mostly on items that are not taxable due to repressive laws.
i'm well aware that the idea is to prevent low income people from wasting it on drugs, or beer and popcorn, but whomever thought that up has obviously never been low income or done drugs, or drank beer and ate popcorn. there's not much chance i'm going to spend $650 all at once. that would be pretty much smoking myself stupid. however, there's a pretty good chance i'm going to pitter away what is more or less smoke money, at $50/month. the way to stop me from pissing it away is to give it to me all at once so i can spend it; the way to have me waste it is to give it to me in monthly installments that aren't enough to buy anything with.
as policy, it's just not very intelligently thought through.
i'm actually considering not claiming the energy credit, so the refund is under $360 and it just comes in in one chunk.
now, that's this year, when i just moved into a new place.
next year, $650 might buy me some gear if it comes in at once. if i played video games (i don't) it might have bought a new system, rather than a new game for an old one every month.
some people could use it to pay down credit card debts. $50/month just keeps them on the interest paying hamster wheel. useless.
...all to try and combat the imaginary problem of people blowing their tax returns on beer by budgeting them monthly beer money instead....
the other options are both more economically useful and more functionally useful.
of course if i was a real economist, i'd say something about investing it somewhere. which is probably true of a small number of people. you'd think that would be what they'd want.
but what i'm irked about is the idea that giving me a small amount will help me spend it more responsibly, because i'm too irresponsible to spend a lump sum. i'll even concede that i'm irresponsible, but they've got the whole thing backwards.
at least give me the choice how to adjust to my inherent irresponsibility, rather than trying to enforce a model of fiscal responsibility on me that is alien to what i know my nature is.
that sort of forced fiscal planning always fails.
but, if the government thinks it's doing me or the economy a favour by dividing it by twelve and giving me $50/month for the year, it's really sadly mistaken. what i'd like to do is spend the money on furniture. bookshelves and tables, specifically. at $50 a month, it's going to take all year to do something i'd rather do quickly. it's going to mean i'm going to have to save the money up over the course of a few months and probably go shopping every two months or so with roughly $100.
....except that it's a virtual certainty that i'm not going to do that. instead, i'm going to waste it on nothing of any importance, and mostly on items that are not taxable due to repressive laws.
i'm well aware that the idea is to prevent low income people from wasting it on drugs, or beer and popcorn, but whomever thought that up has obviously never been low income or done drugs, or drank beer and ate popcorn. there's not much chance i'm going to spend $650 all at once. that would be pretty much smoking myself stupid. however, there's a pretty good chance i'm going to pitter away what is more or less smoke money, at $50/month. the way to stop me from pissing it away is to give it to me all at once so i can spend it; the way to have me waste it is to give it to me in monthly installments that aren't enough to buy anything with.
as policy, it's just not very intelligently thought through.
i'm actually considering not claiming the energy credit, so the refund is under $360 and it just comes in in one chunk.
now, that's this year, when i just moved into a new place.
next year, $650 might buy me some gear if it comes in at once. if i played video games (i don't) it might have bought a new system, rather than a new game for an old one every month.
some people could use it to pay down credit card debts. $50/month just keeps them on the interest paying hamster wheel. useless.
...all to try and combat the imaginary problem of people blowing their tax returns on beer by budgeting them monthly beer money instead....
the other options are both more economically useful and more functionally useful.
of course if i was a real economist, i'd say something about investing it somewhere. which is probably true of a small number of people. you'd think that would be what they'd want.
but what i'm irked about is the idea that giving me a small amount will help me spend it more responsibly, because i'm too irresponsible to spend a lump sum. i'll even concede that i'm irresponsible, but they've got the whole thing backwards.
at least give me the choice how to adjust to my inherent irresponsibility, rather than trying to enforce a model of fiscal responsibility on me that is alien to what i know my nature is.
that sort of forced fiscal planning always fails.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
you ever helped a bug get from a to b, or maybe moved it out of the sink because you're doing the dishes (but didn't want to kill it because it's a beneficial insect) by coercing it on to a spoon and then carrying the spoon across to a crack in the floor?
might that insect think it just had an experience with god, or perhaps was abducted by an air monster?
might that insect think it just had an experience with god, or perhaps was abducted by an air monster?
those shoes were actually split right down the sole, both feet. if somebody told me that a nefarious shoe vandal broke in overnight and used a machete to slice right through the bottom, i'd agree it was a plausible explanation of the state the shoes are in, if a little less credulous an explanation regarding the path of them getting there.
i hadn't checked the bottom until now. well, i could see holes on the front, so i didn't have to get that far to come to the conclusion that the shoes have holes. the rubber is worn through around the places the sole is cut, creating what is almost a "sinkhole" kind of effect.
just literally worn out.
....meaning i'd need more than epoxy or shoe goo to fix these things. i'd need plastic and rubber. and a 3-d printer might be useful. really, it would cost less in both labour and currency to replace them. they're dead.
so, they are now drying in the sink, until i can get them to a proper disposal centre along with a bunch of electronics and other things i've put aside. they were a pair of gravis skate shoes that lasted close to five years, which is not bad at all considering how much walking i do.
nothing to be done about that.
you should be able to see the slice through the material.
i'm actually surprised i couldn't feel this, except for the wet.
i hadn't checked the bottom until now. well, i could see holes on the front, so i didn't have to get that far to come to the conclusion that the shoes have holes. the rubber is worn through around the places the sole is cut, creating what is almost a "sinkhole" kind of effect.
just literally worn out.
....meaning i'd need more than epoxy or shoe goo to fix these things. i'd need plastic and rubber. and a 3-d printer might be useful. really, it would cost less in both labour and currency to replace them. they're dead.
so, they are now drying in the sink, until i can get them to a proper disposal centre along with a bunch of electronics and other things i've put aside. they were a pair of gravis skate shoes that lasted close to five years, which is not bad at all considering how much walking i do.
nothing to be done about that.
you should be able to see the slice through the material.
i'm actually surprised i couldn't feel this, except for the wet.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
6 hour walk.
dead feet. tender calves.
...but a few tasks completed.
for a small city, it is about as scattered as possible. i want to say it's badly planned, and it is, especially the lack of sidewalks, but it's more like it's planned as a giant suburb of detroit rather than a city of it's own.
so, the necessity of fixing my bike is quite apparent.
one of the things i needed to get was some water resistant spray for some shoes. there's plenty of options, but they're all at least an hour walk one way or the other. how can that be? i'm not sure, but i'm going to take a guess....
see, if i walk down the street that comprises the business district closest to me, it's pretty sketchy. there are some successful businesses, and some very old ones. but a lot of the storefronts are either boarded up or for rent.
could these have previously been somewhere to get shoe spray? it's a reasonable deduction, i think.
for twice the price that it's sold at walmart.
so, i'm going to hypothesize that windsor is in that middle phase where the big box stores have decimated local businesses and they haven't moved into the core yet.
i have to think that there will eventually be a mall built downtown. right now, it's just strip malls a km or two in either direction and a half dead city in the core.
which is why the rent is cheap.
which is why i'm here...
with the spray specifically, i think there's a few places around here i could try and i'd guess at least one would stock it. it's an example of limited actual applicability. i wouldn't have gone as far as i did just for that, and probably wouldn't have actually had to. any kind of electronics would be a better example.
dead feet. tender calves.
...but a few tasks completed.
for a small city, it is about as scattered as possible. i want to say it's badly planned, and it is, especially the lack of sidewalks, but it's more like it's planned as a giant suburb of detroit rather than a city of it's own.
so, the necessity of fixing my bike is quite apparent.
one of the things i needed to get was some water resistant spray for some shoes. there's plenty of options, but they're all at least an hour walk one way or the other. how can that be? i'm not sure, but i'm going to take a guess....
see, if i walk down the street that comprises the business district closest to me, it's pretty sketchy. there are some successful businesses, and some very old ones. but a lot of the storefronts are either boarded up or for rent.
could these have previously been somewhere to get shoe spray? it's a reasonable deduction, i think.
for twice the price that it's sold at walmart.
so, i'm going to hypothesize that windsor is in that middle phase where the big box stores have decimated local businesses and they haven't moved into the core yet.
i have to think that there will eventually be a mall built downtown. right now, it's just strip malls a km or two in either direction and a half dead city in the core.
which is why the rent is cheap.
which is why i'm here...
with the spray specifically, i think there's a few places around here i could try and i'd guess at least one would stock it. it's an example of limited actual applicability. i wouldn't have gone as far as i did just for that, and probably wouldn't have actually had to. any kind of electronics would be a better example.
Monday, March 10, 2014
freakishly small feet strike again.
a few months ago, i bought a pair of little girl's rainboots because they fit and they were only $6. not sized.
my shoes are demoed to the point that walking on moist ground produces wet socks, so i took a walk around. i'll get some goo later and save them for emergency; i just wanted to see if i could get something cheap, as that's easier. it turns out i'm a children's size 6, and just about any pair of adult shoes is literally not made in my size.
seriously. i spent an hour in the adult section looking for something small enough, before i walked over to the kid's aisle...
i actually can't remember the last time i bought a pair of sneakers. for years, i've been inheriting shoes from my sister, who has a habit of ending up with shoes that are too small, somehow. i don't ask questions, i just take the shoes. but it means i'm not sizing my feet. the ones she gives me are usually a tad big, but i deal with it.
well, now i know. and there's an upside to it, as kids shoes seem to be cheaper...
the ones i picked up were in a weird store a few blocks down that is something like a cross between a dollar store and a kmart. everything in the place is cheap. they actually had a two-for-one sale, which is the only reason i bothered. even if they are gone at the end of the year, two pairs of shoes for $15 is something i can deal with in the short run.
i think i'll make 'em last longer, though. i've been known to wear $10 shoes for three or four years - until they develop holes, basically.
with stuff like shoes, i'm actually convinced it all more or less comes off the same assembly line. $10 walmart shoes and $150 nike shoes are made by the same children in asia, they just have different labels stamped on them. i don't see any reason to pay more than the least amount possible for it.
it's less that the inexpensive shoes aren't cheap and more that the expensive ones are just as cheap and preposterously priced.
the handful of counter-examples seem to mostly be skateboarding shoes, which are built differently because there's a higher wear level. i have tended to gravitate towards them for that reason.
it actually seems to be the salt that finally ate through a part of the pair i just replaced. i'm thinking if i clean them up, then patch them with the rest of the epoxy i have left that should extend their life. but i needed something with better grip, anyways.
for me, a big part of "urban living" is walking everywhere. this isn't currently the best city for that lifestyle, which just puts extra stress on the shoes. when you're regularly walking five or more km, it doesn't matter what the label on your shoes is - they're going to fall apart. so, you'd might as well try and strengthen them.
i think with the salted through ones, the epoxy will actually make them stronger.
a few months ago, i bought a pair of little girl's rainboots because they fit and they were only $6. not sized.
my shoes are demoed to the point that walking on moist ground produces wet socks, so i took a walk around. i'll get some goo later and save them for emergency; i just wanted to see if i could get something cheap, as that's easier. it turns out i'm a children's size 6, and just about any pair of adult shoes is literally not made in my size.
seriously. i spent an hour in the adult section looking for something small enough, before i walked over to the kid's aisle...
i actually can't remember the last time i bought a pair of sneakers. for years, i've been inheriting shoes from my sister, who has a habit of ending up with shoes that are too small, somehow. i don't ask questions, i just take the shoes. but it means i'm not sizing my feet. the ones she gives me are usually a tad big, but i deal with it.
well, now i know. and there's an upside to it, as kids shoes seem to be cheaper...
the ones i picked up were in a weird store a few blocks down that is something like a cross between a dollar store and a kmart. everything in the place is cheap. they actually had a two-for-one sale, which is the only reason i bothered. even if they are gone at the end of the year, two pairs of shoes for $15 is something i can deal with in the short run.
i think i'll make 'em last longer, though. i've been known to wear $10 shoes for three or four years - until they develop holes, basically.
with stuff like shoes, i'm actually convinced it all more or less comes off the same assembly line. $10 walmart shoes and $150 nike shoes are made by the same children in asia, they just have different labels stamped on them. i don't see any reason to pay more than the least amount possible for it.
it's less that the inexpensive shoes aren't cheap and more that the expensive ones are just as cheap and preposterously priced.
the handful of counter-examples seem to mostly be skateboarding shoes, which are built differently because there's a higher wear level. i have tended to gravitate towards them for that reason.
it actually seems to be the salt that finally ate through a part of the pair i just replaced. i'm thinking if i clean them up, then patch them with the rest of the epoxy i have left that should extend their life. but i needed something with better grip, anyways.
for me, a big part of "urban living" is walking everywhere. this isn't currently the best city for that lifestyle, which just puts extra stress on the shoes. when you're regularly walking five or more km, it doesn't matter what the label on your shoes is - they're going to fall apart. so, you'd might as well try and strengthen them.
i think with the salted through ones, the epoxy will actually make them stronger.
Sunday, March 9, 2014
see, this is what i mean. if you analyze this part, it's pretty simple. just two arpeggiated chords. but it somehow got saved in this fucking mess that's almost illegible.
that, by the way, is unregistered win 9x software. save your binaries, kids.
i should probably go looking for a freeware replacement, it's just that the format on nwc is really unique and awesomely simple.
i'm not sure one really exists...
so, that's 18 1-3 page files to print at the library tomorrow. and then i'll be on to recording the parts.
something i'm remembering is that a lot of the tracks got split into bass/treble clefs as a part of the process that made them illegible. so there's actually less parts that that. i'll leave some split, recombine others. easier if i just print all possible combinations and figure it out after.
something else i'm going to need to do is figure out just how bad my acoustic is. it got warped on a cross country trip ten years ago and sounds atrocious. may have to use an acoustic simulator. or even look for something cheap on kijiji.
hopefully it's at least playable.
i should probably go looking for a freeware replacement, it's just that the format on nwc is really unique and awesomely simple.
i'm not sure one really exists...
so, that's 18 1-3 page files to print at the library tomorrow. and then i'll be on to recording the parts.
something i'm remembering is that a lot of the tracks got split into bass/treble clefs as a part of the process that made them illegible. so there's actually less parts that that. i'll leave some split, recombine others. easier if i just print all possible combinations and figure it out after.
something else i'm going to need to do is figure out just how bad my acoustic is. it got warped on a cross country trip ten years ago and sounds atrocious. may have to use an acoustic simulator. or even look for something cheap on kijiji.
hopefully it's at least playable.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
uploading footage of an occupy fundraiser from last year to youtube
shredding a little at an occupy ottawa fundraiser, in the summer of 2012. this is the most stripped down version possible of the second and third movements of symphony #9. which is an "industrial grunge opera".
recorded first movement of the piece:
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/proverbs
full version of fundraiser:
https://vimeo.com/45641874
the most important things i learned from occupy are:
1) people that share a dissatisfaction with the world as it is do not necessarily form a shared vision of how they'd like to see the world.
2) capitalist indoctrination is far deeper than many anti-capitalists consciously realize.
3) a tendency to throw temper tantrums is not necessarily something people grow out of.
4) at the end of the day, the revolution can only ever be in the mode of production.
5) hippies don't like challenging music
but, despite the substantial challenges ahead of all of us, it's important that we continue to take the time to speak out against fucking bullshit.
recorded first movement of the piece:
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/album/proverbs
full version of fundraiser:
https://vimeo.com/45641874
the most important things i learned from occupy are:
1) people that share a dissatisfaction with the world as it is do not necessarily form a shared vision of how they'd like to see the world.
2) capitalist indoctrination is far deeper than many anti-capitalists consciously realize.
3) a tendency to throw temper tantrums is not necessarily something people grow out of.
4) at the end of the day, the revolution can only ever be in the mode of production.
5) hippies don't like challenging music
but, despite the substantial challenges ahead of all of us, it's important that we continue to take the time to speak out against fucking bullshit.
i'm just remembering the precise reason i didn't do this before.
i don't have any formatting! i lost the nwc file, leaving an unwieldy midi file that sounds 'right' on playback but is an annoyance to read. it's a linear scroll. and it's not even barred right. it starts with an artificial slur an eighth off the one and runs forward horrifically....
tactics...
i think if i can get each staff out to a pdf file and take it down to the library to print it, i can mark it up by hand. so, that's tomorrow's goal.
grargh. well, i need to do this. and once i get going it'll be more fun.
i don't have any formatting! i lost the nwc file, leaving an unwieldy midi file that sounds 'right' on playback but is an annoyance to read. it's a linear scroll. and it's not even barred right. it starts with an artificial slur an eighth off the one and runs forward horrifically....
tactics...
i think if i can get each staff out to a pdf file and take it down to the library to print it, i can mark it up by hand. so, that's tomorrow's goal.
grargh. well, i need to do this. and once i get going it'll be more fun.
stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides (vst mix) (original upload)
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 6, 2014. corrected on mar 7, 2014.
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
Thursday, March 6, 2014
yeah, i'm fixing some panning issues i previously missed altogether and going to just double that last guitar to get some more definition.
on the one hand, i want to get the backing tracks right because i'm going to export it to wave when i build the guitar parts up. i don't want to deal with trying to get the equipment to play back midi and audio at the same time with decent latency. the external mixer i bought was designed for audio, and can handle a heavy load of it at low latency, but isn't responding well to a stack of 30 vst instruments running sequences. if it was a different project and i cared more, i'd dump the load off to external hardware. i have an extra head (for an electronic kit) that can function as a drum machine. but i know it'll just be easier *and more stable* if i bounce the midi into one audio track and build fresh from it. that means i want to get it right. i mean, i can always go back and redo it but....
on the other hand, i don't really care a lot about what the guitars in this version sound like. it's more of an experiment for me, for future reference, to see what i can actually do with the technology nowadays.
'cause the reality for years was that you could get pretty good pianos and flutes and violins out of synths but there was simply no way to get a guitar to sound good at all except to play it through an amp. then there were amp simulators. and now they've got giant databases of samples that you can hook the sequencer right into and that sound relatively good.
the acoustic sound is better than it used to be, but still not so good. i'm getting the impression, though, that plugging a sampled paul into guitar rig and triggering it with a sequencer has the potential to provide some otherwise unattainable sounds, simply by the nature of what a staff of music is vs what a fretboard is. where the possibilities get really fun is mixing that approach with live playing...
so, i got what i wanted out of that. but this track needs live playing and that's what i'm more interested in.
on the one hand, i want to get the backing tracks right because i'm going to export it to wave when i build the guitar parts up. i don't want to deal with trying to get the equipment to play back midi and audio at the same time with decent latency. the external mixer i bought was designed for audio, and can handle a heavy load of it at low latency, but isn't responding well to a stack of 30 vst instruments running sequences. if it was a different project and i cared more, i'd dump the load off to external hardware. i have an extra head (for an electronic kit) that can function as a drum machine. but i know it'll just be easier *and more stable* if i bounce the midi into one audio track and build fresh from it. that means i want to get it right. i mean, i can always go back and redo it but....
on the other hand, i don't really care a lot about what the guitars in this version sound like. it's more of an experiment for me, for future reference, to see what i can actually do with the technology nowadays.
'cause the reality for years was that you could get pretty good pianos and flutes and violins out of synths but there was simply no way to get a guitar to sound good at all except to play it through an amp. then there were amp simulators. and now they've got giant databases of samples that you can hook the sequencer right into and that sound relatively good.
the acoustic sound is better than it used to be, but still not so good. i'm getting the impression, though, that plugging a sampled paul into guitar rig and triggering it with a sequencer has the potential to provide some otherwise unattainable sounds, simply by the nature of what a staff of music is vs what a fretboard is. where the possibilities get really fun is mixing that approach with live playing...
so, i got what i wanted out of that. but this track needs live playing and that's what i'm more interested in.
uploading a tentative vst version of stuck in the middle of an alley closing in on all sides
i'll probably revisit this, but i'm uploading it as is for now.
in addition to being the core of what will be the finished track, it's interesting to point out just how good computer music can sound nowadays. excluding the introduction, i didn't play a single note in this song. the guitars are all played through midi-based vst instruments and put into digital amp models and digital effects emulators. it's really rather remarkable how far the technology has come....
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 6, 2014.
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
in addition to being the core of what will be the finished track, it's interesting to point out just how good computer music can sound nowadays. excluding the introduction, i didn't play a single note in this song. the guitars are all played through midi-based vst instruments and put into digital amp models and digital effects emulators. it's really rather remarkable how far the technology has come....
written in early 2001. initially rendered mar 6, 2014.
http://jasonparent.bandcamp.com/track/vst-mix
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
spoke too soon. the drums sounded good, but the latency got really bad with more tracks...
i have a dozen drivers to try. i'm going to hope that the problem is that they're windows 7 drivers. they advertise these things as xp/7, but there's a big difference. a few tracks, it would sound fine, but do anything complicated...
so i think i need to find a middle point.
i have a dozen drivers to try. i'm going to hope that the problem is that they're windows 7 drivers. they advertise these things as xp/7, but there's a big difference. a few tracks, it would sound fine, but do anything complicated...
so i think i need to find a middle point.
fuck you, cubase.
changing your soundcard out doesn't mean deleting all the tracks that are attached to the previous soundcard. and, no, i didn't think to back it up or check that all the tracks were there before i saved it. honestly. what the fuck?
that's a lot of work that just disappeared. not happy about it.
i was in the process of building the track back up from scratch, anyways. i didn't lose any notes. and i'm not sure what i would have kept and what i would have replaced. it's just sound font info.
but, damn it, that reference was nice to have.
ugh.
need cigarettes.
at the least the vst instruments are still there. but, now i need to write out thirty vst settings by hand before i start again...
this track is actually straining the card. i mean, that's a lot of vst instruments running all at once, which is why i switched the card from the m-audio to the alesis in the first place.
grargh. a lost day, nothing worse.
it's all the guitar tracks that are just killing it. they each need their own instrument. it should be less of a problem once i get the guitars played out manually.
changing your soundcard out doesn't mean deleting all the tracks that are attached to the previous soundcard. and, no, i didn't think to back it up or check that all the tracks were there before i saved it. honestly. what the fuck?
that's a lot of work that just disappeared. not happy about it.
i was in the process of building the track back up from scratch, anyways. i didn't lose any notes. and i'm not sure what i would have kept and what i would have replaced. it's just sound font info.
but, damn it, that reference was nice to have.
ugh.
need cigarettes.
at the least the vst instruments are still there. but, now i need to write out thirty vst settings by hand before i start again...
this track is actually straining the card. i mean, that's a lot of vst instruments running all at once, which is why i switched the card from the m-audio to the alesis in the first place.
grargh. a lost day, nothing worse.
it's all the guitar tracks that are just killing it. they each need their own instrument. it should be less of a problem once i get the guitars played out manually.
i'm closing off my second-phase playlist as existing between my zeroth and second symphony.
phase three was a short serious music phase, whereas phase four was a psychedelic folk project that got a little out of hand. to be properly contemporary, i'd have to label it as 'freak-folk' (although i had no idea such a thing existed at the time). four should up quick but three needs some love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65VadHnXN4&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbtYmywctLw8KaXgXG3A2ZOF
actually, that's premature - there's two further tracks to add, that i'm working on right now.
headstart on the serious phase (all overlap right now):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ-2_duUjaw&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbuMnSLyxGUzsdB_vip3GPbH
it looks like the phases are going to be roughly 3-5 hour chunks. the number of tracks and track lengths are going to vary substantially, but that's going to remain roughly constant. there's also going to consistently be some overlap. that's a time length that allows an idea to be fully developed over a few "albums".
phase five is the trivial group phase, which ran from about '03 to about '06. after that, there's actually not much that i've completed. the proverbs project i started in '06 is only about a quarter finished.
and that's a long time, actually. eight years. yikes.
getting there...
i'm really hoping there's not another eight year black hole, but life's a funny thing.
phase three was a short serious music phase, whereas phase four was a psychedelic folk project that got a little out of hand. to be properly contemporary, i'd have to label it as 'freak-folk' (although i had no idea such a thing existed at the time). four should up quick but three needs some love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C65VadHnXN4&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbtYmywctLw8KaXgXG3A2ZOF
actually, that's premature - there's two further tracks to add, that i'm working on right now.
headstart on the serious phase (all overlap right now):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ-2_duUjaw&list=PL3JSjmqp0cbuMnSLyxGUzsdB_vip3GPbH
it looks like the phases are going to be roughly 3-5 hour chunks. the number of tracks and track lengths are going to vary substantially, but that's going to remain roughly constant. there's also going to consistently be some overlap. that's a time length that allows an idea to be fully developed over a few "albums".
phase five is the trivial group phase, which ran from about '03 to about '06. after that, there's actually not much that i've completed. the proverbs project i started in '06 is only about a quarter finished.
and that's a long time, actually. eight years. yikes.
getting there...
i'm really hoping there's not another eight year black hole, but life's a funny thing.
Monday, March 3, 2014
uploading symphony 5 to youtube
i skipped ahead one ep to get this up. this is the ep i'll be finishing after i finish the ep i'm finishing. but this is the completed version...
===========
the core of this was written in my parent's basement in the spring of 2001. planning on going to a rave that weekend, i had previously purchased a large amount of drugs; i was, however, forced to stay in due to having a calculus test that sunday (the rave was out of town). well, my parents were gone for the weekend, most of my friends were out of town and i had a massive stash of drugs...
it is quite literally a symphony of psilocybin induced madness, written directly into an ancient, hacked score-writing program while i was tripping.
in the spring semester of 2006, i took a course in electronic music design that had a recorded component and pulled the score off of my hard drive with the intent of finally recording it properly. all guitars were played live, while the sequenced sections were played on better equipment than i had available at home. the ambient sections at the beginning and end of the track were also written in 2006.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXD4R9R0UNI
===========
the core of this was written in my parent's basement in the spring of 2001. planning on going to a rave that weekend, i had previously purchased a large amount of drugs; i was, however, forced to stay in due to having a calculus test that sunday (the rave was out of town). well, my parents were gone for the weekend, most of my friends were out of town and i had a massive stash of drugs...
it is quite literally a symphony of psilocybin induced madness, written directly into an ancient, hacked score-writing program while i was tripping.
in the spring semester of 2006, i took a course in electronic music design that had a recorded component and pulled the score off of my hard drive with the intent of finally recording it properly. all guitars were played live, while the sequenced sections were played on better equipment than i had available at home. the ambient sections at the beginning and end of the track were also written in 2006.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXD4R9R0UNI
re-uploading inrisampled to avoid the false copyright claim
re-upped this to get around it. assholes...
======
this is a collage of a bunch of primitive sample art experimentation i did in the late 90s, using the ridiculous piece of software they called the windows sound recorder on win 9x machines, along with cool edit as a tone generator. os tools and shareware available to a 16 year-old. in hindsight, i think it's a sort of bizarre masterpiece.
i had to cut off a few seconds of the bambi-like symphonic introduction because a parasitic bourgeois entity known as 'adrev' wished to put an ad on the video. it's true that the piece is composed of samples, but they weren't able to identify the sample they were claiming. rather, i think their claim was bullshit, but they wouldn't budge with it.
this is my art, not anybody else's. fuck those guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeRFfBTqlEQ
======
this is a collage of a bunch of primitive sample art experimentation i did in the late 90s, using the ridiculous piece of software they called the windows sound recorder on win 9x machines, along with cool edit as a tone generator. os tools and shareware available to a 16 year-old. in hindsight, i think it's a sort of bizarre masterpiece.
i had to cut off a few seconds of the bambi-like symphonic introduction because a parasitic bourgeois entity known as 'adrev' wished to put an ad on the video. it's true that the piece is composed of samples, but they weren't able to identify the sample they were claiming. rather, i think their claim was bullshit, but they wouldn't budge with it.
this is my art, not anybody else's. fuck those guys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeRFfBTqlEQ
Sunday, March 2, 2014
two coats of epoxy. one to bond, one to fill cracks. seems to have been successful. but i'm letting it sit a few more days because i basically give up if it doesn't hold.
hugely messy, too. going to need to sand it....
what happened was a little piece of plastic broke off the headband on my phones. they're modular. meaning the ear muff parts hook into an adjustable roller type idea. it's the roller that snapped a piece off.
the phones work and everything. really, if my head wasn't absurdly small..
...but, as i have the cranial circumference of an eight year old, i have to adjust it to it's tightest setting, which means the phones are continually falling off.
i'll test it in the morning. when it's back together, i'm going to spend a good month solely on the sound.
hugely messy, too. going to need to sand it....
what happened was a little piece of plastic broke off the headband on my phones. they're modular. meaning the ear muff parts hook into an adjustable roller type idea. it's the roller that snapped a piece off.
the phones work and everything. really, if my head wasn't absurdly small..
...but, as i have the cranial circumference of an eight year old, i have to adjust it to it's tightest setting, which means the phones are continually falling off.
i'll test it in the morning. when it's back together, i'm going to spend a good month solely on the sound.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
deathtokoalas
it's funny how many things jump out immediately when listening to this.
- my generation
- smoke on the water
- born to be wild
somebody else could probably list a dozen more. aleph document...
Bernhardt Glock
are you related to pete townshend? the similarities are overwhelming :-)
deathtokoalas
i'm a little hungover in the shot...
"a young pete townshend" is one of a handful of rock stars that people suggested i looked a little like when i was a lot younger, but it's actually something i haven't heard in a really long time. like, since i was about 14.
since then, it's been other rock stars, but i'm not giving you any ideas.
it's funny how many things jump out immediately when listening to this.
- my generation
- smoke on the water
- born to be wild
somebody else could probably list a dozen more. aleph document...
Bernhardt Glock
are you related to pete townshend? the similarities are overwhelming :-)
deathtokoalas
i'm a little hungover in the shot...
"a young pete townshend" is one of a handful of rock stars that people suggested i looked a little like when i was a lot younger, but it's actually something i haven't heard in a really long time. like, since i was about 14.
since then, it's been other rock stars, but i'm not giving you any ideas.
Friday, February 28, 2014
the last rap news (22) was especially awesome
the copernicus section is something else.
second heliocentric revolution, indeed.
too many fools, though.
second heliocentric revolution, indeed.
too many fools, though.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
(most of february from the music page was deleted in some kind of ram-freeze that took the whole computer down with firefox. there is active code of some sort
on facebook that causes word documents to seize up and crash when pasted
into them. largely preliminary discussion of “stuck”, which is sad mostly due to the beginning exploratory discussion of vstis. realguitar & reallpc & bandstand were downloaded on feb 12, 2014. something else that happened was that the brace on my sennheisers snapped.)
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
immediate reaction to the new st vincent record
deathtokoalas
i'm not really willing to point any fingers at david byrne. my perception of what was going on there was that byrne essentially hired her to write songs for him. she seemed to be the dominant artist in the arrangement. by far. it's sort of annoying that byrne's inflated sense of importance got a refill from this.
rather, it seems like she's been listening to a lot of tuneyards and is trying to integrate more of an idm/electronic sound into her style. it's a good idea on paper. certainly, radiohead could have delved a lot deeper into the warp records catalog than they actually did. but what i'm getting on the first few listens is that it's come with a trade-off in a lesser amount of attention paid to the arrangements. well, sometimes we just want to clear our heads.
there's some goodness, no doubt. but it sounds like a transition album to me.
Anon Woll
Except she has said before it was a 50/50 process when it came to the songwriting. He came up with the big band idea and they went from there.
deathtokoalas
well, conceptually, maybe, but i think that's being extremely generous insofar as the idea of songwriting is concerned. i really don't think that david byrne has the slightest idea how to write those kinds of horn parts. insofar as what she's saying is true, that sounds like byrne vaguely describing an idea and annie actually writing it out - which is a process that used to be called "commissioning a composer".
something else that crossed my mind repeatedly was "wow. annie clark is really a big upgrade over adrian belew.". and i'm actually a substantial belew fan.
the point is simply that this "hanging around with david byrne too much" stuff is really backwards. and maybe even a little sexist.
Anon Woll
I think that you got my words twisted. He proposed the idea of making the record with a horn section and touring with it and she went "that sounds fun, let's do it", then they both composed and wrote lyrics on the album, like a near 50/50 split.
I am not totally defending David Byrne or anything or gonna be part of the "WOW pffft look what she picked up from him" crowd because this actually reminded me a bit of "Marrow" more than a "Love This Giant" song, with that kind of constant staccato and almost march-y kind of feel in all of the non-chorus parts. I just am saying he deserves slightly more credit than "dude who hired St. Vincent to write songs for him". She is her own artist and has been developing her stage and studio craft for years and years now. And yeah, it is backwards and most likely sexist. Sucks but whatever. Looks like she may be the most successful with this record so haters can eat it.
BubbaZen10
I think David could handle those horn parts. And while i'm actually impressed with her playing, putting her on a par with Adrian Belew? REALLY? Maybe i haven't seen enough of her playing, but that sure seems like a stretch. I really am liking it a lot though. Been a while since some new(er) music grabbed my attention like this.
And btw, wtf did koalas ever do to you??!! ;)
William Sanders
I'm mostly sure that talk of a Byrne influence stems from her change in appearance, an added vibe of eccentricity that includes her use of choreographed dancing/movements during her live show. Byrne implemented the dancing on the Love This Giant tour and she liked the added dynamic, so she's doing it on her own now. That seems like influence to me.
As for the notion of sexism, you're forgetting the stark contrast in legendary status between the two songwriter/performers. Byrne has been a legend longer than Annie has been playing guitar. You can "think" whatever you'd like about who came up with what arrangements, or you can "think" Byrne's not capable of creating those kinds of horn parts, but since you don't actually know any of this, you come off as less than intelligent.
deathtokoalas
her appearance hasn't changed at all, and you're not doing a very good job at comprehending what i wrote. the obvious truth is that david byrne is not a musician in any sense, let alone the kind of trained musician that clearly wrote those parts. he blatantly has absolutely no idea whatsoever how to sing in key, let alone how to write those kinds of horn parts. in a situation where you have a very capable and educated person on one side and what is basically a lucky opportunistic hack on the other it's not difficult to figure who is doing all of the actual labour.
again, if you'd try a little harder to understand the dynamics involved, you'd realize that byrne has no claim to "legendary status" at all. what he's done throughout his career is piggy back on other people's ideas. the idea that there's some kind of hierarchical difference is precisely the sexist bullshit that i'm calling out: she's a musician and he isn't. you're only claiming otherwise due to a perceived gender misbalance. so, it would do you some good to try and understand the situation properly in terms of balances of power and media interpretation before you start accusing other people of deficits of intelligence.
the foolish thing to think in this situation is that byrne was anything other than the lucky recipient of an eccentric woman fawning over somebody she had a crush on in her teenage years. so, i'll state it in easier to understand terms for you: the idea that byrne is a legend and st. vincent is not is precisely the sexist bullshit that needs to be called out. rather, annie clark is one of the most talented and interesting musicians of our era, and david byrne is a has been that was never more than an overrated hack that took credit for other people's ideas when he was something to begin with.
is that easier for you to understand?
BubbaZen10
Longer than she's been playing guitar?? Hell man, how old is that gal? Try longer than she's been alive! ;)
The "people turn your tv on and throw it out the window" part definitely reminds me a bit of "Burnin' Down the House." (that descending part is similar) She's working with the guy, and is probably a fan of his music, so i'm sure there's an influence there, but i definitely hear a lot of other influences coming from her that maybe people don't pick up on. I really see and hear some Cabaret Voltaire in both the video and some of the sounds.
deathtokoalas
yeah.
i think annie's a huge nin fan, personally.
to put it another way, if we were talking about an eno/byrne collaboration, or a byrne/belew collaboration, it would be all about how byrne was hanging out while they did all the work. but when it's a young, attractive woman? it's his superior legendary essence that's managed to rub off a little on the lucky gal.
and that's bullshit.
William Sanders
I stopped reading after "her appearance hasn't changed at all".
I did catch a little of your ramble not far from where I type. Annie Clark will be a legend, she's as talented or more so than Byrne, but she's still young and working towards it. There's a difference, unlike yourself I'm not hellbent on making this an issue of sexism. I won't be supplying the false sense of vindication for you today. Take care.
deathtokoalas
too many words for you, william? not used to reading that much at the same time?
there's no need to get your boxers all unironed about it, either. it's just the way the world works.
BubbaZen10
Man, let me make this clear; i can see a few influences from Byrne's old days, but since i just recently got into this gal and this band, i have looked at other videos on here, and i personally think that, musically, Annie wipes the floor with David Byrne. This is one talented person. (but David IS a better musician than you are giving him credit for here, most certainly)
For real man, NIN definitely in there! I hear a lot of different things coming from her. She's sharp, and has obviously absorbed a lot, like a good musician would. I get how some fans on here are baggin' on this song, and i get why. It's never fun when a band you love goes a little pop or mainsteam to attract new people (like me) but this is just a good damn song, period.
Now, about her being better than Adrian Belew? BULLSHIT!! I saw him with King Crimson in the 80's. She's good. VERY good. She is not at that level yet! ;)
Btw, The Cabs are who Trent ripped off!!!!!! ;)
I think you'll appreciate this song. Look up Sensoria by Cabaret Voltaire. You'll hear it a little i think. She does a backing vocal line that reminds me of that song.
That is the REAL shit man. Where a lot that you probably like came from. Music-wise, and video-wise. That video was in the MomA. Groundbreaking stuff.
deathtokoalas
trent took a bit from cabaret voltaire in his earliest incarnation, as well as a lot from ministry, bits from coil and foetus and neubauten and a substantial amount from bowie - and he's trying to look like ogre from skinny puppy. i had my industrial phase in the mid to late 90s. and you can hear a bit of that in her sequencing.
but the bit that reznor added himself was this sort of quirkiness. well, it was expanded on in some of the remixes as well. i can really hear that in her writing at points, especially her guitar playing, and it's very much his idiosyncrasy. i guess there's a continuity there in belew.
i mean, we all have influences. i don't deny that byrne probably was one on annie. she's definitely electro-pop in the broad sense that runs from lundgren through to bowie, byrne, anderson, reznor and beyond. it's just the way the argument is being thrown out that is difficult to stomach.
rather, i hope byrne is able to take something away from his time working with annie.
BubbaZen10
Oh, i have no doubt she has reinvigorated him!
The fact you knew who the Cabs were gets you many internet points!
William Sanders
You're too emotionally biased in your assessments, that's why you say so many absurd things. I have no time for that.
BubbaZen10
Absurd things said are like, MY FAVORITE THINGS!!
I have no time for the too serious shit myself.
I have time koala killer, or whatever the fuck your name is, but make it quick, i have an appointment at 3. TICK TOCK!
deathtokoalas
that was the perfectly sexist remark, william. i'm sort of proud of you, actually.
William Sanders
Of course it was, everything is to you.
BubbaZen10
Ok, how much more will you put into this? How far will you push a feminist?
She's made valid points. Anyone who says this chick is riding on Byrne's coattails needs to look into her more. This is one very talented person, and Koalahater might be right that it's actually HIM riding HER coattails at this point.
deathtokoalas
i missed a couple of posts.
i actually think her playing is really underrated. i don't want to do this "on par with" thing. i'm going to state though that i'm an abstract guitarist myself (i have some stuff up on my page if you'd like to click through), and it's a big part of my interest in st. vincent's work. she has progressive streaks, but she's more in a post-punk tradition, and that generally means toning done the excesses. but she did go to berkeley, and her instrument was guitar, and it does come out fairly clearly. she runs off her riffs in a kind of effortless, not flashy way, though - which is definitely not "belewish". she's kind of more of a blues/metal guitarist by instinct. i know that sounds bizarre initially, but if you deconstruct it carefully it comes out pretty clearly. that's more in the sabbath or maiden side of things.
in a broad sense, though, her effects heavy approach has it's origins in the belew and fripp school of guitar. it sounds to me like it's been through a few steps on the way there. there's one specific thing she does often that is very belew and it's this kind of glissando trick through heavy distortion. it's leaning towards the kind of effects belew is known for. and, it comes out in a stylistic sense as well: belew was the guitarist on a lot of the music that preceded this and sounds similar to it: bowie, talking heads, laurie anderson, nine inch nails. and, yeah, a bit of crimson, too. when we're talking about byrne specifically? it's a comparison that's hard to ignore, given how much belew added to byrne's work.
it does sort of intersect with the sexism, though. it's still a little unsettling to see an attractive woman play like annie does. as much as i might like carrie brownstein, and as many heads as pj harvey may have turned, that level of playing wasn't really there. in the end, i think normalizing female shredding is something that's going to be a part of her legacy. there's a clip from a few years ago where she runs off the riffs to surgeon that's worth watching and demonstrates what i'm getting at. as much as it's distracting from the music, and as much as she's clearly trying to avoid that, i'm not aware of any kind of precedent.
i lost my own train of thought, though. by "upgrade", i meant in terms of general musicality and depth of musical knowledge. there's no use in comparing them directly and ranking one higher than the other. there's a similarity in the way they approach the instrument, but they're pretty different in terms of writing.
part of me does kind of want to hear her do a really flashy guitar record, though.
William Sanders
I thought I was done, people keep bringing me back in. Saying Clark is riding Byrne's coattails is absurd, just as saying Byrne basically hired Clark as the songwriter for their collaboration is absurd, or insinuating that Byrne can't create melodies with horns based on nothing more than a gut-induced hunch is absurd. We can celebrate both artists without shitting on one of them, koalas should give it a try.
deathtokoalas
byrne was involved with some interesting records in the 80s, but he doesn't deserve a lot of credit for them - as bowie doesn't deserve much credit for the second half of low (he wasn't even in the recording studio when it was created) and neither mccartney nor lennon can really honestly take credit for george martin's work. it would be time consuming to develop this argument here, but people that are familiar with the other works of eno, belew, harrison and weymouth can hear where the genius really originated
augusts1
You should brush up on Byrne's discography. He composed the score for Twyla Tharp's ballet 'The Catherine Wheel' in '81 & a classical instrumental album called 'The Forest' in '91(both of which I own). He also collaborated w/Ryuichi Sakamoto for the amazing soundtrack to Bertolucci's The Last Emperor in '87. And those 3 are just the tip of the iceberg for his creations apart from his regular albums. He's done plenty of other film work too.
So your assertion that Byrne is a hack & using Clark for his own sexist gain since he has no talent of his own holds no water. at. all. Btw, check his Wiki page to find more of his work referenced there. And I'm a recent convert to Clark mainly because of her involvement w/Byrne.
deathtokoalas
again, if you look at the credits on those records, and you listen to the other work by the artists that did most of the work, it's easy to hear that byrne was not responsible for very much of the interesting components. guitar, vocals & the odd simplistic fill on another instrument. the rest of it is handled by the production teams, which (like bowie) he had a bit of an ear for.
well, and the gigolo dancing. byrne is EXCELLENT at gigolo dancing...
LicoriceLain
Or maybe they simply have very similar musical sensibilities...
grubbymanz
idk i think she is really influenced by byrne and could not say who really arranged what. if you listen to an album like feelings like maybe wicked little doll, and some of the other more synth funky things there is nothing on their collab album that couldn't have been on that album, before she was even putting out music. Also her neurotic pop thing, i bet she was really influenced by byrne and t heads and would not be so quick to consider arrangements on their joint album to be hers based on her recent output,when her style is informed so much by the person she was collaborating with.
i'm not really willing to point any fingers at david byrne. my perception of what was going on there was that byrne essentially hired her to write songs for him. she seemed to be the dominant artist in the arrangement. by far. it's sort of annoying that byrne's inflated sense of importance got a refill from this.
rather, it seems like she's been listening to a lot of tuneyards and is trying to integrate more of an idm/electronic sound into her style. it's a good idea on paper. certainly, radiohead could have delved a lot deeper into the warp records catalog than they actually did. but what i'm getting on the first few listens is that it's come with a trade-off in a lesser amount of attention paid to the arrangements. well, sometimes we just want to clear our heads.
there's some goodness, no doubt. but it sounds like a transition album to me.
Anon Woll
Except she has said before it was a 50/50 process when it came to the songwriting. He came up with the big band idea and they went from there.
deathtokoalas
well, conceptually, maybe, but i think that's being extremely generous insofar as the idea of songwriting is concerned. i really don't think that david byrne has the slightest idea how to write those kinds of horn parts. insofar as what she's saying is true, that sounds like byrne vaguely describing an idea and annie actually writing it out - which is a process that used to be called "commissioning a composer".
something else that crossed my mind repeatedly was "wow. annie clark is really a big upgrade over adrian belew.". and i'm actually a substantial belew fan.
the point is simply that this "hanging around with david byrne too much" stuff is really backwards. and maybe even a little sexist.
Anon Woll
I think that you got my words twisted. He proposed the idea of making the record with a horn section and touring with it and she went "that sounds fun, let's do it", then they both composed and wrote lyrics on the album, like a near 50/50 split.
I am not totally defending David Byrne or anything or gonna be part of the "WOW pffft look what she picked up from him" crowd because this actually reminded me a bit of "Marrow" more than a "Love This Giant" song, with that kind of constant staccato and almost march-y kind of feel in all of the non-chorus parts. I just am saying he deserves slightly more credit than "dude who hired St. Vincent to write songs for him". She is her own artist and has been developing her stage and studio craft for years and years now. And yeah, it is backwards and most likely sexist. Sucks but whatever. Looks like she may be the most successful with this record so haters can eat it.
BubbaZen10
I think David could handle those horn parts. And while i'm actually impressed with her playing, putting her on a par with Adrian Belew? REALLY? Maybe i haven't seen enough of her playing, but that sure seems like a stretch. I really am liking it a lot though. Been a while since some new(er) music grabbed my attention like this.
And btw, wtf did koalas ever do to you??!! ;)
William Sanders
I'm mostly sure that talk of a Byrne influence stems from her change in appearance, an added vibe of eccentricity that includes her use of choreographed dancing/movements during her live show. Byrne implemented the dancing on the Love This Giant tour and she liked the added dynamic, so she's doing it on her own now. That seems like influence to me.
As for the notion of sexism, you're forgetting the stark contrast in legendary status between the two songwriter/performers. Byrne has been a legend longer than Annie has been playing guitar. You can "think" whatever you'd like about who came up with what arrangements, or you can "think" Byrne's not capable of creating those kinds of horn parts, but since you don't actually know any of this, you come off as less than intelligent.
deathtokoalas
her appearance hasn't changed at all, and you're not doing a very good job at comprehending what i wrote. the obvious truth is that david byrne is not a musician in any sense, let alone the kind of trained musician that clearly wrote those parts. he blatantly has absolutely no idea whatsoever how to sing in key, let alone how to write those kinds of horn parts. in a situation where you have a very capable and educated person on one side and what is basically a lucky opportunistic hack on the other it's not difficult to figure who is doing all of the actual labour.
again, if you'd try a little harder to understand the dynamics involved, you'd realize that byrne has no claim to "legendary status" at all. what he's done throughout his career is piggy back on other people's ideas. the idea that there's some kind of hierarchical difference is precisely the sexist bullshit that i'm calling out: she's a musician and he isn't. you're only claiming otherwise due to a perceived gender misbalance. so, it would do you some good to try and understand the situation properly in terms of balances of power and media interpretation before you start accusing other people of deficits of intelligence.
the foolish thing to think in this situation is that byrne was anything other than the lucky recipient of an eccentric woman fawning over somebody she had a crush on in her teenage years. so, i'll state it in easier to understand terms for you: the idea that byrne is a legend and st. vincent is not is precisely the sexist bullshit that needs to be called out. rather, annie clark is one of the most talented and interesting musicians of our era, and david byrne is a has been that was never more than an overrated hack that took credit for other people's ideas when he was something to begin with.
is that easier for you to understand?
BubbaZen10
Longer than she's been playing guitar?? Hell man, how old is that gal? Try longer than she's been alive! ;)
The "people turn your tv on and throw it out the window" part definitely reminds me a bit of "Burnin' Down the House." (that descending part is similar) She's working with the guy, and is probably a fan of his music, so i'm sure there's an influence there, but i definitely hear a lot of other influences coming from her that maybe people don't pick up on. I really see and hear some Cabaret Voltaire in both the video and some of the sounds.
yeah.
i think annie's a huge nin fan, personally.
to put it another way, if we were talking about an eno/byrne collaboration, or a byrne/belew collaboration, it would be all about how byrne was hanging out while they did all the work. but when it's a young, attractive woman? it's his superior legendary essence that's managed to rub off a little on the lucky gal.
and that's bullshit.
William Sanders
I stopped reading after "her appearance hasn't changed at all".
I did catch a little of your ramble not far from where I type. Annie Clark will be a legend, she's as talented or more so than Byrne, but she's still young and working towards it. There's a difference, unlike yourself I'm not hellbent on making this an issue of sexism. I won't be supplying the false sense of vindication for you today. Take care.
deathtokoalas
too many words for you, william? not used to reading that much at the same time?
there's no need to get your boxers all unironed about it, either. it's just the way the world works.
BubbaZen10
Man, let me make this clear; i can see a few influences from Byrne's old days, but since i just recently got into this gal and this band, i have looked at other videos on here, and i personally think that, musically, Annie wipes the floor with David Byrne. This is one talented person. (but David IS a better musician than you are giving him credit for here, most certainly)
For real man, NIN definitely in there! I hear a lot of different things coming from her. She's sharp, and has obviously absorbed a lot, like a good musician would. I get how some fans on here are baggin' on this song, and i get why. It's never fun when a band you love goes a little pop or mainsteam to attract new people (like me) but this is just a good damn song, period.
Now, about her being better than Adrian Belew? BULLSHIT!! I saw him with King Crimson in the 80's. She's good. VERY good. She is not at that level yet! ;)
Btw, The Cabs are who Trent ripped off!!!!!! ;)
I think you'll appreciate this song. Look up Sensoria by Cabaret Voltaire. You'll hear it a little i think. She does a backing vocal line that reminds me of that song.
That is the REAL shit man. Where a lot that you probably like came from. Music-wise, and video-wise. That video was in the MomA. Groundbreaking stuff.
deathtokoalas
trent took a bit from cabaret voltaire in his earliest incarnation, as well as a lot from ministry, bits from coil and foetus and neubauten and a substantial amount from bowie - and he's trying to look like ogre from skinny puppy. i had my industrial phase in the mid to late 90s. and you can hear a bit of that in her sequencing.
but the bit that reznor added himself was this sort of quirkiness. well, it was expanded on in some of the remixes as well. i can really hear that in her writing at points, especially her guitar playing, and it's very much his idiosyncrasy. i guess there's a continuity there in belew.
i mean, we all have influences. i don't deny that byrne probably was one on annie. she's definitely electro-pop in the broad sense that runs from lundgren through to bowie, byrne, anderson, reznor and beyond. it's just the way the argument is being thrown out that is difficult to stomach.
rather, i hope byrne is able to take something away from his time working with annie.
BubbaZen10
Oh, i have no doubt she has reinvigorated him!
The fact you knew who the Cabs were gets you many internet points!
William Sanders
You're too emotionally biased in your assessments, that's why you say so many absurd things. I have no time for that.
BubbaZen10
Absurd things said are like, MY FAVORITE THINGS!!
I have no time for the too serious shit myself.
I have time koala killer, or whatever the fuck your name is, but make it quick, i have an appointment at 3. TICK TOCK!
deathtokoalas
that was the perfectly sexist remark, william. i'm sort of proud of you, actually.
William Sanders
Of course it was, everything is to you.
BubbaZen10
Ok, how much more will you put into this? How far will you push a feminist?
She's made valid points. Anyone who says this chick is riding on Byrne's coattails needs to look into her more. This is one very talented person, and Koalahater might be right that it's actually HIM riding HER coattails at this point.
deathtokoalas
i missed a couple of posts.
i actually think her playing is really underrated. i don't want to do this "on par with" thing. i'm going to state though that i'm an abstract guitarist myself (i have some stuff up on my page if you'd like to click through), and it's a big part of my interest in st. vincent's work. she has progressive streaks, but she's more in a post-punk tradition, and that generally means toning done the excesses. but she did go to berkeley, and her instrument was guitar, and it does come out fairly clearly. she runs off her riffs in a kind of effortless, not flashy way, though - which is definitely not "belewish". she's kind of more of a blues/metal guitarist by instinct. i know that sounds bizarre initially, but if you deconstruct it carefully it comes out pretty clearly. that's more in the sabbath or maiden side of things.
in a broad sense, though, her effects heavy approach has it's origins in the belew and fripp school of guitar. it sounds to me like it's been through a few steps on the way there. there's one specific thing she does often that is very belew and it's this kind of glissando trick through heavy distortion. it's leaning towards the kind of effects belew is known for. and, it comes out in a stylistic sense as well: belew was the guitarist on a lot of the music that preceded this and sounds similar to it: bowie, talking heads, laurie anderson, nine inch nails. and, yeah, a bit of crimson, too. when we're talking about byrne specifically? it's a comparison that's hard to ignore, given how much belew added to byrne's work.
it does sort of intersect with the sexism, though. it's still a little unsettling to see an attractive woman play like annie does. as much as i might like carrie brownstein, and as many heads as pj harvey may have turned, that level of playing wasn't really there. in the end, i think normalizing female shredding is something that's going to be a part of her legacy. there's a clip from a few years ago where she runs off the riffs to surgeon that's worth watching and demonstrates what i'm getting at. as much as it's distracting from the music, and as much as she's clearly trying to avoid that, i'm not aware of any kind of precedent.
i lost my own train of thought, though. by "upgrade", i meant in terms of general musicality and depth of musical knowledge. there's no use in comparing them directly and ranking one higher than the other. there's a similarity in the way they approach the instrument, but they're pretty different in terms of writing.
part of me does kind of want to hear her do a really flashy guitar record, though.
William Sanders
I thought I was done, people keep bringing me back in. Saying Clark is riding Byrne's coattails is absurd, just as saying Byrne basically hired Clark as the songwriter for their collaboration is absurd, or insinuating that Byrne can't create melodies with horns based on nothing more than a gut-induced hunch is absurd. We can celebrate both artists without shitting on one of them, koalas should give it a try.
deathtokoalas
byrne was involved with some interesting records in the 80s, but he doesn't deserve a lot of credit for them - as bowie doesn't deserve much credit for the second half of low (he wasn't even in the recording studio when it was created) and neither mccartney nor lennon can really honestly take credit for george martin's work. it would be time consuming to develop this argument here, but people that are familiar with the other works of eno, belew, harrison and weymouth can hear where the genius really originated
augusts1
You should brush up on Byrne's discography. He composed the score for Twyla Tharp's ballet 'The Catherine Wheel' in '81 & a classical instrumental album called 'The Forest' in '91(both of which I own). He also collaborated w/Ryuichi Sakamoto for the amazing soundtrack to Bertolucci's The Last Emperor in '87. And those 3 are just the tip of the iceberg for his creations apart from his regular albums. He's done plenty of other film work too.
So your assertion that Byrne is a hack & using Clark for his own sexist gain since he has no talent of his own holds no water. at. all. Btw, check his Wiki page to find more of his work referenced there. And I'm a recent convert to Clark mainly because of her involvement w/Byrne.
deathtokoalas
again, if you look at the credits on those records, and you listen to the other work by the artists that did most of the work, it's easy to hear that byrne was not responsible for very much of the interesting components. guitar, vocals & the odd simplistic fill on another instrument. the rest of it is handled by the production teams, which (like bowie) he had a bit of an ear for.
well, and the gigolo dancing. byrne is EXCELLENT at gigolo dancing...
LicoriceLain
Or maybe they simply have very similar musical sensibilities...
grubbymanz
idk i think she is really influenced by byrne and could not say who really arranged what. if you listen to an album like feelings like maybe wicked little doll, and some of the other more synth funky things there is nothing on their collab album that couldn't have been on that album, before she was even putting out music. Also her neurotic pop thing, i bet she was really influenced by byrne and t heads and would not be so quick to consider arrangements on their joint album to be hers based on her recent output,when her style is informed so much by the person she was collaborating with.
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