my walk to work this morning was interesting. i saw a poster advertising some weight loss program. all but one of the contact info slips was taken. then i was thinking pretty hard about my art (passive versus active — more on this later) when i saw something dark and wet in the grass. it was a dead cat. i thought about how cats hate water and how it made the scene that much more real. i took a picture of it with my cameraphone.

went for a drive today (shen-hao on the seat next to me). i was up near pinole in the middle of nowhere when i saw this couch on the side of the street.

this is a polaroid from my shots. the print is a little soft, but the color came out pretty well. i should rent a quickload holder and try fujistuff!

this weekend has been a blast of hot synth-pop and game sound music.

the concert was at 421 taylor, which looked to be a residence with no indication that it was a music venue. we got there early and it looked pretty scary. we came back after a good walk and was greeted at the door. turns out the doorman was one of the band members! the venue was four flights of stairs up from a scary neighborhood. it was wood, brick, projectors, a stage, and a small bar (by small i mean about three feet long).

first act was david microwave. he worked on game audio at yamaha. not to downplay his performance, but i liked the other two acts better. david’s music is good, it felt personal and real. it was the first one-man-show music i’ve never heard live. and it was good.

second act was the incredible 8bit weapon, who compose music on hacked commodores, gameboys, and a real drum set. they gave an energetic performance. it’s a shame they’re so new and limited in distribution — i need to own all their music.

the reason we went there was for freezepop (shown above). they had a big following there and played most of the songs the audience requested. before then went on stage, ryan and i ran into liz (the lead singer) near the bar. we struck up a conversation with her. it was cool to talk to the musicians. i would have bought a drink for her — i offered — but she had a drink ticket from the venue manager.

they put on a good set, and we bought all four of their discs (liz signed one for us). and i’ve been listening to them all weekend.

man, what an awesome show.

half an hour passed, the silence broke only by the rustle of paper. then forbin leaned back, filled his pipe and lit it, still staring at the papers before him. between puffs of smoke he spoke.

“well, there’s nothing very difficult about building this.”

“that is good.” the voice was deep, rich, the accent english, and instantly recognizable. it was not inhuman in the way the old artificial voices had been, but it lacked warmth, emotion. forbin, knowing the voice better than anyone else, had confessed to cleo that it reminded him of a high court judge giving sentence. it was a firm voice, unshaked by whatever it said. the punitive destruction of a city, or the announcement of some new and profound scientfic truth — both rare events — came in the same level tones. also, forbin knew that simultaneously other, similar voices could be talking in a dozen different tongues on as many subjects, advising, instructing, ordering. this was the voice of colossus.

the fall of colossus, by d.f.jones

tonight i stumbled upon a new [to me] 5.1 disc, seal / best | 1991-2001. i love seal. and i love 5.1 digital music. and i’m still in love with my home audio system. it brings music to a whole new level. my heart sings.