My Bloody Valentine. More like My Bloody Eardrums

Wow, that makes me sound old!

My wife & I just got back from the concert in Seattle at Wamu Theater, and I've never been to a louder concert. Not Scorpions in the 80s, not Joe Satrianai, not Zappa plays Zappa. My Bloody Valentine. What. The. Fawk.

Some of the security were using ear protection that is usually only seen in an airport or shooting range. They were handing out earplugs free at this venue (good for them!) Their ear plugs, however, paled in comparison to the Lazer Lite ones we brought.

I wore them the whole time and my ears are still ringing, over an hour later.

Concert quirks that I noticed:
When the first band came on, every time a certain bass note was played, my skull rattled. We moved *closer* to the stage & off to the left side. The resonance was gone! As the audience hadn't filled in yet, I decided to meander through the auditorium, mapping out all the skull shattering resonation points. The loudest ones were in the middle, with minor ones spreading out from there. I think it was where the speaker sound overlapped. It was bad!

Why does it take so long for the band to come out once the sound check is over? Every show I've ever been to is like this!

They pointed the strobes (I counted over 20) right at the audience. I never could really see the band. After a while, I just closed my eyes, and enjoyed the patterns inside my eyelids from the strobe effect. Too bad they never had it go fast enough or last long enough for a good effect.

Most of the visuals that I could see reminded me of failed animation projects I did in college, in 1992.

This show was similar to the art show I put on in college, where the entire show was only viewable from one glass window. Our mutual goal: See how much the audience was willing to put up with to enjoy our art.

As curmudgeony as this sounds, I actually had a really good time! But I think they enjoy assaulting the audience. with an over load of light & sound. Serves us right for still listening to 80s music ;)

Why I'm addicted to email

I figured it out: The reason I'm addicted to email is that my brain expects the rules of normal conversation to apply. They don't. Unlike a face to face conversation, I don't necessarily get a response quickly. All the while, my brain is pinging my consciousness to find out what the response is so I can reply to that, or act on the new information. Multiply this by the number of email threads I'm keeping up with on a day to day basis at work and at home, and you'll see why I never feel settled or content. There's always hope that if I check my mail, I'll get that final response on the final thread, and all will be well. Even if I am up to date, it's hard to know this for certain, so the sense of incompleteness lingers in my psyche.

I think a study of people who are addicted to email and chatting should look into how those people normally communicate. Are the folks who can chat for hours with old friends the worst when it comes to this? Maybe I just need to learn to be complete with incompleteness in my life.

So, what do you think of that? I'm waiting for your reply :)

1 GB vs. Commodore 64's memory

In the 6th grade I got a Commodore 64 from my parents. The best decision they made, ever. It taught me that video games, are really, really fun. That, and it put the seed in the back of my mind that maybe someday I could actually make games for a living.

Many of the games I played on my trusty C64 had incredible depth. (here's a third C64 link)

The original Sid Meier's Pirates and Defender of the Crown come to mind, as well as Jumpman & Jumpman Junior.

Looking at my keychain flash drive the other day, I decided to make an image visually comparing 64K to 1 gig. It's an 1024 by 1024 image (not including the outline), with each pixel representing 1 KB. the little 8x8 brown spot (inspired by the color of the C64's case) in the upper left represents the C64's memory (click to enlarge).

Enjoy:

Dr. Who Title Sequence Complete Set

One thing I absolutely love about the internet is being able to think about an idea, check to see if anyone has already done it.

I came up with the idea of "3D Minesweeper" a long time ago. A quick Google search turns up quite a few results, some of which were very close to my idea (and all are not as nearly as fun as I thought they would be)

Yesterday, I wanted to see the title video sequence for every doctor along with the different logos used over the years. A quick search on YouTube yields multiple results:

This one looks to be the most complete:

For just the different songs, check this link out (It is missing the end credits song from the fifth doctor, which has a wonderful explosion sound... oh well)

For a bunch of Logos, go here (I got the one from the fifth doctor here):

I Love Marmite!

There once was a gaping hole in my culinary life. It has now been filled. With Marmite. For those who haven't tried it, it can be best described as "Salty spreadable vegetable bouillon" What's not to love? Except for the bitter aftertaste, if you eat it on its own or don't spread it thinly enough.

This is what your tastebuds think they are going to experience after eating about a pound of poutine. But the poutine never quite delivers, does it?

I've had this stuff on toast (it goes great with almond butter on top), on burritos, and today, even on top of pizza. That was a bit much. That's like taking weapons grade plutonium & saying "Hey, let's mix in a little Led Zeppelin." Not safe. For your eardrums or the remaining living members of the band.

If you haven't tried it yet, go get some now.

Now then, anyone in Seattle have a good line on where I could try some vegemite?

Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net