Comment Spam the other other other white meat

Spam sucks. Email spam, canned spam, and I'm starting to loathe comment spam. Why, why why? Well, thanks to another blogger
I've sisnce installed a plugin to squash the idgits. I recently installed Peter Keung's anti-spam plugin. It uses word verification. So far so good. At least until somone creates some crazy-ass way of spoofing them. I created all my words based on cartoon characters. I haven't seen any comment spam since I installed it. Highly recommended. Thanks, Peter.

I don’t like curry anyway

Well, It's been awhile since I last blogged. (Is that a verb?). Much has happened. As I checked the date of my last post it was approximately over a month ago. Way too long. I really shouldn't make both my readers wait that long for an update/musing. The big news is my job was outsourced. I guess they have 3 or 4 underpaid, over zealous minions doing the bidding of the big corporate machine I used to work for. Am I bitter? Nah. I had been looking for another challenge for awhile. The "bangladeshing" of my position just motivated me to take a more active role in my job search.

The good news is I have a new job. I'm working as a contract Flash Developer for a small Atlanta based multi media company. It's a nice change of pace where you can be walked around in 15 minutes and meet everyone at the company. They eat a lot of cake at the new company. I think 5 people have had birthdays since I started 2 weeks ago. Free sodas too. Now all is left is beer on Fridays and mandatory Quake 3 breaks and the good ole days of millions of dollars in stock options and weeks of sleepless nights are back! I remeber when you could walk into a venture capitalist's office with "I'm going to sell (insert item, service, sex here) online" written on a cocktail napkin and walk out with a check for half the gross national product of Bhutan. Those were the days.

I Passed Gas on I-75 South. Sort of…

Well, I really didn't pass gas. I passed a billboard that simply stated "I pooted." I laughed out loud. Right in the middle of a Grand National song playing on XM Radio. Whoda thunk that a simple billboard could take the edge off a commute? I need to get me a camera phone. I would have posted a pic here for those of you in disbelief. If you google it you can find some pics.

Was this a frustrated sign designer's last day at work? Like they are saying "On my last day I'm gonna stick it to the man. I'm gonna design a big ass 'I pooted' billboard. It'll be funny. People all over the nation will laugh and blog about my rapier wit. Bwahahahah." Or maybe it was a well thought out ad by a tired ad exec's 12 year old son for baked beans. Picture the scenario: It's 2AM the night before a presentation is due and the ad exec has been through more failed slogans than he has fingers and toes when his son who is giddy from the lack of sleep due to a marathon chat session on myspace comes out cackling at himself and says "I pooted." Ding ding ding!!! Well, I had to find out.

Upon arriving to work I immediatley logged in and did a little "crack" research. It appears that billboard is part of an ad campaign by the Cartoon Network. Other billboards in other cities with the same crimson background and white letters read "I'm a Hot Toe Picker" and "Clowns Hate Tangelos". They appear to be from the cartoons "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" and "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" from the Cartoon Network.

I was disappointed it wasn't a disgruntled designer wreaking havoc with a national ad campaign.

Thanks, Cartoon Network for a delightful "gufaw" on the way into work.

Musical Tedium part II

Well, I've finally figured out how to control Tracktion with my UC33e. It makes mixing a track much easier. As I said in my previous post, I'm re-mixing my track "Reflections". I've got the track re-built and I'm now in the mixing phase. Since there are only nine tracks in this tune I'm able to mix most of it without having to change patches on the UC33e. I only mapped the volume faders and pan knobs. It really takes the drudgery out of mixing with a mouse. I plan on using it with VST instruments and everything.

Tracktion doesn't support the UC33e natively so I had to set it up as a generic controller. A lot of people copmplain about this saying that is the reason why they won't buy Tracktion. I have no problem. Like with everything else in Tracktion, it's stupid easy to set the controller up. It shows up as a USB audio device. You simply choose it then a screen pops up and you choose a parameter to control then move a fader, turn a knob or push a button. Done!

Rebuilding + Remixing = Musical Tedium

I spent a good part of yesterday's time in the studio rebuilding and remixing my track "Reflections". You may be wondering why. Well, I had a hard drive crash on me a few months ago. I was able to recover most of the data. The files that got corrupted were the .wav files from my Cubase project. I'm not sure why those particular files got cratered. I assume it was because of their size. I was planning on just getting the stereo .wav file ready for the new CD but I don't seem to have it. In fact, I don't think I ever made one. I just saved it straight to .mp3 or .wma. Fortunatley, I was able to also salvage the MIDI data from the track. So I've imported the MIDI data and all the loops into a new project in Tracktion.

I am now reconstructing the tune track by track trying to get everything laid out the way it was originally. I am missing about a minute or so of some improvisational audio. That's okay though. I was thinking about re-doing that section anyway. I was also thinking of re-recording some of the pads in Atmosphere but haven't stumbled across anything that sounds as goos as the patch I used on my Triton. So I still have some work to do. You can still get the original over at www.idtheory.com. It's also getting some plays over at www.di.fm on their chillout channel.

Damn George Lucas

I'm not buying it again. No. I refuse. According to an article on comingsoon.net, soon you will be able to buy the original unaltered Star Wars trilogy on DVD. Enough! I'm sending out a cease and desist letter to Lucasfilm. I can't justify spending my hard earned credits on more Star Wars movies. I've already purchased the original Star Wars movie 4 times. 3 for the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Let's see... there was the original CBS Fox release, then the Trilogy box set in letter box, then the Trilogy box set with the new and improved added material and finally (what appears to be only the penultimate) The Trilogy on DVD. Now another version is coming out? Say it ain't so, George.

But wait... Could this be the grand apology for the three lackluster prequels? The big "I'm sorry Jar Jar was lame. Still, listen closely, I AIN'T BUYING IT!! If I get it as a gift... well, okay. It'll be added to the collection. I might even watch it once or ten times. I just hope George can take pity on us poor souls and stop milking every last Kroner out of our pockets. Sheesh.

The Art of the Mix Tape

I guess I never really thought about making a mix tape as an art until a few days ago. In my mind, a mix tape was just a few songs that you liked and would listen to for your own pleasure. But I now see how a mix tape can transcend mere "listening to music for pleasure" and just background noise to have on a long trip.

My wife asked me to help her create a mix tape. Well, make a mix CD. I thought she would pull a few songs she kinda liked (usually Broadway and big band music) and throw them on a CD for her drive to here current work site. Instead what I witnessed was a personal musical journey that went beyond "these are songs I know I like." She insisted that she likes rock music more than I think she does. She was extremely thoughtful and weighed each song against the others. Now there were a few songs she insisted on like Kelly Clarkson's "Walk Away" and "Since You Been Gone". Then she would add on "Church" by Lyle Lovett with the comment "you just gotta have that!" Another interesting song choice was "Box Set" by the Barenaked Ladies. That song basically lays out everything the songwriter is about and that is exactly what she did before we got married. She sat me down and told me everything that was wrong with her. She then asked "Do you still want to marry me?" Well, Duh. Of course I married her. I bought the whole "Box Set".

My wife then proceeded to sit at my computer and add other songs carefully weighing it's "Rockin' ness". She would pick something and the conversation would go like this:

Her: What's that Shania Twain song I like?
Me: That's country.
Her: I know, but it rocks.
Me: Well, it was produced by Mutt Lange.
Her: Who?
Me: Mutt Lange. He produced Def Leppard's Pyromania album.
Her: Do I like them?
Me: I don't know. I though you were going to make a disk of show tunes.

So we proceeded to add "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" and "That Don't Impress Me Much" by Shania Twain. She always made it a point to listen to a couple of minutes of each song before it was added the "mix tape". I was impressed with some of the songs she did pick out like Meatloaf's "Paradise by the Dashboard Light". Apparently a boyfriend of hers in college gave her a recording of "Bat Out of Hell" that she wore out. She even liked some of the songs I picked out like Jamiroquai's "Virtual Insanity" and the Art of Noise/Tom Jones "Kiss" remake.

So after about an hour or so, we burned the "mix tape" and she listened to it on her drive. I suggested she might want to get an mp3 player. I told her she could put 10+ hours of music on it. She asked "When have I ever listened to 10 hours of music?" Apparently it's not about "how much music" but "this is the music I put the thought into."

I guess it's all in the art of the mix tape.