Cephalopod Gaming

Some of the work I contracted out on one of my games came in, and it's grand. I promised myself I wouldn't make anything public until I was farther along, so no links for all 2 of you who ever read this, but commissioning music turned out to be a great route.

Now I just have to start prototyping. This feels like a big, decent step. I specified the what I wanted and how I wanted it and looked for a talented guy, and he delivered exactly what I was looking for with as much creativity as I'd hoped.

Now if I could only get and remain motivated on my other projects too.

Also, they moved my office again. The light's better, the quiet is better. I hope to spend as short a time here as possible.

Gloriously Out of Tune

Watching "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" for the umpteenth time with my cousin, I was struck yet again by the amazing out-of-tune guitar bit when Tuco discovers the cemetery, and the wedding of that cyclical little guitar line and the swirling, out of focus imagery of hundreds of grave markers blurring past the running guy. An amazing sequence, and the slackness of the strings and the clear out-of-tuneness really made the scene stick out, especially as the piano comes in with the same line as if to tigthen both the focus and frustration of Tuco in his task. All of those Leone westerns are scored like operas and get better and better on repeated viewings.

The other morning on the PATH, I watched a young gentleman dressed to the
nines fall asleep and drool a thin thread of saliva onto his maroon
tie. Viscous and suspended, it shook with the train and created
intricate patterns of spittle on the front of his tie. When he
awoke, he noticed the puddle of drool, which he tried to wipe up
without realizing that the strand of spit was still attached to his
mouth.

I also saw a fully grown man wearing, and using, those wheel-sneakers kids like to roll around on.

At this weekend's Wired NEXT festival, some guy was showing off high-heeled shoes with electronics and an LCD monitor in the heel. We overheard this exchange:
Kind of Ugly Girl with grating nasal voice: Hey, those are great. You should contract PONY about marketing those.
Nervous exhibitor: Well, we're already in talks with Nike.
Girl: I'm sure they wouldn't mind
exhibitor: Well, they're competitors. I mean they sell sneakers too
Girl: Ohhhh, you thought I meant Pony the shoe company! No, P.O.N.Y. Prostitutes of New York! Let me give you my friend's card. I know I'm not supposed to, but here!
exhibitor (uncomfortable): Oh, thanks.

Ornette Coleman's new album is superb.

Dewey Redman

So the man with the biggest tenor sax sound in all of jazzdom has now died. I feel horrible that I didn't even know about it. Listening to Tarik now, the man was bigger than life.

From an obit:
``Technique is OK,'' he once said, ``but if you got the technique and I got a good sound, I'll beat you every time. You can play a thousand notes, and I can play one note and wipe you out.''
---------

Unfortunate. Rest In Peace. The voice that came through your sax was like some unstoppable force from deep deep shared human memory, it snagged a place right in your backbone and held you paralyzed.

Threats my daughter has made

1. I'm just going to leave and go live in a different place!

2. I'm going to kick and kick and kick and kick!

3. You put your arms in the air and throw those big fat balls on to the ground!

4. I'm going to turn you into a cupcake.

5. I'm going to slam you like a door!

6. I'm going to roll over you and make you a flat sandwich!

7. I'm going to put buttons all over you and make you as a jacket!

Cold drinks

Today I purchased a burger and fries from the local deli along with two sodas.

The cashier put the two drinks into a different bag than the burger and fries so they would stay cold. This was enough to make my day.

The people on the corner giving away free Mentos were just icing on the cake.

Noon Chill and Brazilian Skronk

My love of Arto Lindsay's "Noon Chill" album is still a little bewildering to me. In some ways he's everything I hate about pop and indie music. Coy, fragile, a little too clever for his own good. Strong Brazilian influence and electronics for Christ's sake; I mean this guy's albums after this one are on "Righteous Babe" records. Appalling. But something about the atmosphere and feel and that nutty guitar tone he manages on several tracks make up for these weaknesses and turn them into strengths.

The title track, "Whirlwind" and "Gods Are Weak" are as good as anything I can think of. In some ways it feels like a throwback to the slightly off-kilter stuff from the mid-eighties, but with a weird edge and vulnerability you never felt from those guys. I hadn't listened to this one in about 2 years (really not that long a time) but now I've listened to the thing through 3 times today. I think it's the clever use of percussion. Unlike a man named Simon's repulsive use of unusual percussions and rhythms, these are integrated deeply into the song structures instead of accessorizing otherwise-normal tunes. It lends a sense of authenticity and power that elevates the otherwise offensive elements to some kind of great art.

Of course now I'm starting to crave Bola Sete's awesome guitar work and I have to stop myself from visiting the CD store on the way home. Surely I can find something that slakes that thirst in my existing collection, right?

To put a cap on all this

I would feel remiss if I didn't update with a few tidbits from the old man's last days. He was 91, incidentally, and the funeral was on the 26th.

Apparently one of the women, a chaplain maybe, attending him in his last days was marveling over his many years as a farmer, at which time he puffed up to full stature and responded "Well, I prefer to be known as an agriculturist."

He was also asking everyone who came into his room if they had it all to do over, what would they do differently.

When the question was turned on him by a couple of people, here were his two responses:
"Well, I think I would have eaten less chocolate."

"I would have gotten married 5 years sooner so I could have enjoyed more of the peak sexual years."