Hey, you're always asking me where I find stuff...
Friday, July 30, 2004
No more straight lines
Words fail me. This thing looks like it was just made for a hostage scenario in a skyscraper. I don't normally do one-line links, but you really need to check this out - a gun that shoots around corners!
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Demented Moles Update
Just quickly, we're now in our seventh season. Still in Division 3 though. Our opponents from the Grand Final appear to have been promoted to Division 2. Two rounds into the new season and we are 1-1. We won this week against the Rangers 5-2. I scored two goals, so I'm quite proud of myself at the moment, but I must admit to thinking during the game that I could be on target for a hat-trick, which probably jinxed me from actually managing it.
Team Changes: the Commodore is about to head off to London, and won't be back for at least two years. Will the Moles still be around then? Unlikely. I imagine this is the start of the slow disintegration of the team. Dan has also said he won't be playing this season, and I imagine once Spreadsheet Pete manages to make the baby he and his wife so desperately want he won't have much time for futsal either...
Team Changes: the Commodore is about to head off to London, and won't be back for at least two years. Will the Moles still be around then? Unlikely. I imagine this is the start of the slow disintegration of the team. Dan has also said he won't be playing this season, and I imagine once Spreadsheet Pete manages to make the baby he and his wife so desperately want he won't have much time for futsal either...
Many-to-many
Some time ago I was doing a course in Applied Information Systems. One of the parts I really enjoyed was database design. SQL, entity relationships, and data normalisation all make a kind of useful sense to me, rather than the voodoo that seems to power languages like VB or Python.
I just bumped into a nice description of the basics of database design, which reminded me of how my lecturer back then made a point of saying "you must always resolve the many-to-many relationship: don't ask me why, just do it." He never did tell us why, but he drummed into us the technique for doing it. And it came in handy later on (apart from the usual database design reasons). I went to a job interview, and during the interview the interviewer drew a many-to-many relationship on a piece of paper and asked "is this a good way to store data?" I said "No", and then drew the extra list entity that you need to resolve the relationship. That diagram got me through to the next round of interviews. Didn't end up actually getting me the job though. And that's probably because I find languages like VB and Python are some kind of voodoo.
I just bumped into a nice description of the basics of database design, which reminded me of how my lecturer back then made a point of saying "you must always resolve the many-to-many relationship: don't ask me why, just do it." He never did tell us why, but he drummed into us the technique for doing it. And it came in handy later on (apart from the usual database design reasons). I went to a job interview, and during the interview the interviewer drew a many-to-many relationship on a piece of paper and asked "is this a good way to store data?" I said "No", and then drew the extra list entity that you need to resolve the relationship. That diagram got me through to the next round of interviews. Didn't end up actually getting me the job though. And that's probably because I find languages like VB and Python are some kind of voodoo.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Parkspliced
In the spirit of "London Booted", a bunch of people have taken to Blur's "Parklife" album with a pair of scissors, mashing up or remixing every song on the album. Haven't listened to any of it yet, but I know what I'll be doing at home tonight now.
Download it here.
Download it here.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Demented Moles Grand Final Update
Well, judging from the photo below...
...you'd think we won. But we didn't. That's the runners-up photo. Moles 2, Charlatons X 6. I'm up the back, not looking so happy. Here's an action shot from the final of me taking a free kick:
Unfortunately we were just a bit flat and never quite got going. In the second half we pegged the lead back by two goals to 4-2 with about 7 minutes left to play, but then a couple more goals by the opposition killed us off. Oh well, it's a funny old game football...
...you'd think we won. But we didn't. That's the runners-up photo. Moles 2, Charlatons X 6. I'm up the back, not looking so happy. Here's an action shot from the final of me taking a free kick:
Unfortunately we were just a bit flat and never quite got going. In the second half we pegged the lead back by two goals to 4-2 with about 7 minutes left to play, but then a couple more goals by the opposition killed us off. Oh well, it's a funny old game football...
Thursday, July 08, 2004
Losing the War
Finally, if you've got a few minutes up your sleeve, read the story of how this guy tried to complete a photography assignment and ended up in a face-off with eight law enforcement officers.
In/On Time
So now I've had a chance to watch the entire DJ Shadow concert DVD. First up - it's great. It was filmed in London - he has three screens behind him onto which are projected a lot of visual effects, montages, and lighting effects. And he stands behind a row of machines - he's got two Pioneer CD turntables (you can manipulate the CD like a record), two Technics 1200 turntables, and an MPC sampler. Basically the entire DVD is Shadow moving from machine to machine, while the visuals play out behind him.
But it's not boring - actually it's quite engaging. Because the whole time you're wondering "what the fuck is he doing?". (Aside - I think he missed a trick here - he should have taken some time to explain to the audience how he was using each machine. Everyone understands the skill involved in playing a guitar or a violin - you can see the fingers move on the fretboard and you hear the sound. But someone stabbing a finger at an unfamiliar piece of equipment that may or may not be making a sound?)
Halfway through there's a little off-stage section where Shadow wanders around getting ready for the show, and he drops the clue as what he is doing up there on stage. He's sorting through his record case, making sure that they're in order and none of the paper stickers that mark where the breaks are have dropped off. He explains that he doesn't have time to sort through records on stage, because "90% of the cues" are so close together there's no spare time.
So that's what he's doing up there - he's cueing sound. For someone like Shadow, all the production work he does in the studio, layering samples on samples, is very hard to replicate on stage. So what's the alternative? Well he could just have a CD player, stick the CD in it, press play and walk off, leaving the crowd to watch a CD player work its way through 60 minutes of music. But that's no fun for anybody.
So what Shadow does is he remixes his work - he plays his own CD's and records, and adds other pieces of his songs to create something familiar but new, just like any DJ does any night in any club. As he makes his way across the stage, placing a record on a turntable, playing a CD, punching out a sample on the MPC, he's cueing up the sounds and then letting them go when the it's Time. Scratching is just cueing very fast - the record plays through and you decide whether to pull it back or push it forward and how fast.
So of course he has to be on time - the song won't stop for him - he can improvise a bit - but basically he has to have everything cued up and ready to go so that when it's time to drop a new sound into the mix there's no stuff ups.
Anyway, that's enough - it's a great concert and I'm still kicking myself I didn't go see him when he was here.
But it's not boring - actually it's quite engaging. Because the whole time you're wondering "what the fuck is he doing?". (Aside - I think he missed a trick here - he should have taken some time to explain to the audience how he was using each machine. Everyone understands the skill involved in playing a guitar or a violin - you can see the fingers move on the fretboard and you hear the sound. But someone stabbing a finger at an unfamiliar piece of equipment that may or may not be making a sound?)
Halfway through there's a little off-stage section where Shadow wanders around getting ready for the show, and he drops the clue as what he is doing up there on stage. He's sorting through his record case, making sure that they're in order and none of the paper stickers that mark where the breaks are have dropped off. He explains that he doesn't have time to sort through records on stage, because "90% of the cues" are so close together there's no spare time.
So that's what he's doing up there - he's cueing sound. For someone like Shadow, all the production work he does in the studio, layering samples on samples, is very hard to replicate on stage. So what's the alternative? Well he could just have a CD player, stick the CD in it, press play and walk off, leaving the crowd to watch a CD player work its way through 60 minutes of music. But that's no fun for anybody.
So what Shadow does is he remixes his work - he plays his own CD's and records, and adds other pieces of his songs to create something familiar but new, just like any DJ does any night in any club. As he makes his way across the stage, placing a record on a turntable, playing a CD, punching out a sample on the MPC, he's cueing up the sounds and then letting them go when the it's Time. Scratching is just cueing very fast - the record plays through and you decide whether to pull it back or push it forward and how fast.
So of course he has to be on time - the song won't stop for him - he can improvise a bit - but basically he has to have everything cued up and ready to go so that when it's time to drop a new sound into the mix there's no stuff ups.
Anyway, that's enough - it's a great concert and I'm still kicking myself I didn't go see him when he was here.
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
DJ Shadow - "In Tune and On Time"
Just got my hands on this DVD/CD - haven't had a chance to watch the DVD yet but I've listened to the CD. It's a recording of one of his concerts in England. It's pretty good, but then again, I like DJ Shadow, so of course I like it.
I have one quibble - if you call it "In Tune and On Time", you'd better be sure everything is. But on one track - "Blood on the Motorway" - he drops a few samples that aren't in the same key as everything else he's playing.
OK, quibble over. Back to the CD...
I have one quibble - if you call it "In Tune and On Time", you'd better be sure everything is. But on one track - "Blood on the Motorway" - he drops a few samples that aren't in the same key as everything else he's playing.
OK, quibble over. Back to the CD...
Demented Moles Update
Yeeeaaaraaaaahhgghhhga! We won! Moles 4, British Knights 2. After the low of early June, we've turned it all around in the late stages of the season and are now playing in the Grand Final next week.
The other team didn't know what hit them - we never let them have uncontested possession. They couldn't get their runs up the court happening, and when we had the ball we moved it around well, looking for the opening. Two goals from open play, and two goals from set pieces.
Stay tuned for next week - we'll be playing the Albert Park Rangers, who have won almost all their games and have scored three times as many goals as they've conceded.
The other team didn't know what hit them - we never let them have uncontested possession. They couldn't get their runs up the court happening, and when we had the ball we moved it around well, looking for the opening. Two goals from open play, and two goals from set pieces.
Stay tuned for next week - we'll be playing the Albert Park Rangers, who have won almost all their games and have scored three times as many goals as they've conceded.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Rojor Update
Rojor! Strikes again! A couple of months ago I wrote about a person named Rojor, who had been writing their tag above the door in the lifts where I work.
I speculated that Rojor is probably a tall bicycle courier (because they would need to be tall to reach above the door to write), they would be likely to carry a texta, and they would be using the lifts on a semi-regular basis.
Well now I have heard of another location where Rojor has been tagging up - in the old BHP-Billiton building on the corner of Bourke and King Sts. His tag has been seen in the lifts used by lawyers from Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Still haven't managed to take a photo of it though.
Anyway, if you work in a tall building in the Melbourne CBD, keep an eye out for Rojor. If you see it - let me know via the comments form below.
I speculated that Rojor is probably a tall bicycle courier (because they would need to be tall to reach above the door to write), they would be likely to carry a texta, and they would be using the lifts on a semi-regular basis.
Well now I have heard of another location where Rojor has been tagging up - in the old BHP-Billiton building on the corner of Bourke and King Sts. His tag has been seen in the lifts used by lawyers from Corrs Chambers Westgarth.
Still haven't managed to take a photo of it though.
Anyway, if you work in a tall building in the Melbourne CBD, keep an eye out for Rojor. If you see it - let me know via the comments form below.
Rickenbacker
Last Friday I had the pleasure of playing one of these - a Rickenbacker 330 guitar. It was midnight blue, very light, a fast low action and it sounded like 60's rock n' roll. It was without a doubt the nicest electric guitar I've ever played. Unfortunately they sell for $3000 new, so there's no way I'll ever own one. Rickenbackers were made famous by the Beatles - John Lennon and George Harrison both played them at various times, as well as the Byrds and Tom Petty. Oh yes - and Rick James played a Rickenbacker bass guitar on his great great song "Superfreak". If you want to check out the entire range of Rickenbacker guitars, including their lap steels, I recommend this site.
Monday, July 05, 2004
Sorrento Scorecard
Slabs: 10
Fish caught: 0 (cancelled due to weather)
Nuns exposing themselves in public: 1 (the Harbourmaster)
Football games: 1 (Sorrento Sharks 80, Bonbeach Sharks 77)
Hours of sleep: 2.5
Premises evicted from: 2
Doors broken: 1
Cabs booked: 9
Cabs taken: 3
I really can't go into anymore detail.
Fish caught: 0 (cancelled due to weather)
Nuns exposing themselves in public: 1 (the Harbourmaster)
Football games: 1 (Sorrento Sharks 80, Bonbeach Sharks 77)
Hours of sleep: 2.5
Premises evicted from: 2
Doors broken: 1
Cabs booked: 9
Cabs taken: 3
I really can't go into anymore detail.
Friday, July 02, 2004
Sorrento Buck's Weekend Craziness
This year has been jam-packed with engagement parties, weddings, and buck's parties.
And this weekend We're Doing It All Again! The Harbourmaster (famous for asking me to help him move a boat)is getting married in a week, and we are all heading down to Sorrento for a Buck's Weekend. This time around the Commodore is organising the weekend, so bad craziness is certain to take place. I can only hope I survive (I almost didn't last time - drinking and swimming in heavy surf don't mix).
When did the Buck's Night become the Buck's Weekend? One night of excess I can stand, but three days?
However, I am looking forward to going fishing...
Anyway, more later. I fully intend to document what can safely be documented.
And this weekend We're Doing It All Again! The Harbourmaster (famous for asking me to help him move a boat)is getting married in a week, and we are all heading down to Sorrento for a Buck's Weekend. This time around the Commodore is organising the weekend, so bad craziness is certain to take place. I can only hope I survive (I almost didn't last time - drinking and swimming in heavy surf don't mix).
When did the Buck's Night become the Buck's Weekend? One night of excess I can stand, but three days?
However, I am looking forward to going fishing...
Anyway, more later. I fully intend to document what can safely be documented.
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