==pla|\|ing lakes==

Saturday, October 19, 2002

A list of the "25 most influential ambient albums" by the folks who produce the Echoes show

I see Steve Roach and Robert Rich were among the judges, which is fine. But this is an idiosyncratic list, as GraceNoteX on NerveNet mentioned. I would put Discreet Music ahead of Airports, at least for myself. And I think I got No Pussyfooting even before DM.

Plus something or other by Satie would be essential, I would think.

But of course this could go on forever...

10:57 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

"There are very practical ways in which people can empower themselves, and there is nothing irrational in seeking such aids"

New NYC store sporting the latest in anti-terror wear

The guy in the picture just looks so hapless.

Do I need to say it?



1:46 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Friday, October 18, 2002

Lost World sighting

Bird with apparent 14-foot wingspan sighted in Alaska

2:36 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Engaging interview with Paul Schrader, director of the new Bob Crane biopic Auto Focus

Of the 9 films mentioned as his best in later years, Affliction was the only one that worked even partially for me. Though as the article says, he has at least been holding to a vision of sorts, unlike many others. And the short and sweet David Thomson piece on it sure makes Auto Focus sound worth a look.

2:27 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Dull tip

Benzocaine drop "revolutionizes condoms"

1:55 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Thursday, October 17, 2002

Nick Tosches' In the Hand of Dante sounds intriguing

I've heard good things about him, and his Dean Martin bio has been praised to high heaven, but I've never gotten around to it. One of those authors, well, you're either on his wavelength and love him or else he's a talented but self-important bore. Or so it seems.

10:29 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

On Travis Hugh Culley's The Immortal Class: Bike Messengers and the Cult of Human Power

Even in the motion-blurred realities of rolling endlessly between towering Chicago office buildings, the author squints hard to make impassioned observations about that world of glass giants, flustered receptionists, parking garages and traffic jams. He's not just scanning the cityscape for the travesties of the corporate world and the cultural and environmental toxicity of "car culture." Culley's also looking for "instances of incredible beauty, stories of human struggle, great ideas and religious highs."

10:12 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tech columnist annalee newitz "will not blog" but likes LiveJournal

I checked out LJ when blogger started acting up back in the day (last summer), along with several other blogging sites, but nothing worked for me. I ended up here when my brother decided to try his hand at the idea.

I like the idea of LJ, but since blogging is my main creative outlet (so to speak) and I'm pretty reclusive on- and offline, it wasn't for me. But if you're looking for the community experience, it seems to be their forté.

10:04 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Wednesday, October 16, 2002

bOINGbOING suggested Dismuke for streaming audio of music from the 20s and 30s and I checked it out the other day -- very nice, well-programmed with excellent quality sound for the age of the music

Can't get into their site right now, though I seem to be in one of those pockets of void right now -- my call-managing software is offline too.

Here's the link to the 365.com station page. There's realAudio at the home page too, though I couldn't get it to work the one time I tried.

9:52 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Nice bunch of free mp3s on label pages listed on Alex's watchlist

K, Ryko, darla, kranky, Matador, mille plateaux . . .

And this blog got listed on there somehow too . . .

Update:
At least some of these are samples I realized later.

2nd update:
Labels were updating too often, so Alex sent this link instead:

Thanks Alex!

2:04 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Tuesday, October 15, 2002

Copyfight

Weak intellectual copyright laws seem to be a key to the success of developing economies -- like say, the US in the 19th century. . .

The global debate over intellectual property rights - patents, copyrights and trademarks - is focused mainly on forward-looking industries such as computer software, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. But Americans can look back to the 19th-century experience in book publishing, for example, to understand the developing world's viewpoint.

Back then, U.S. law offered copyright protection - but only to its own citizens and residents. The works of English authors were copied with abandon and sold cheaply to an American public hungry for books.

This so irritated Dickens - whose "A Christmas Carol" sold for 6 cents a copy in America, considerably less than in England - that he toured the United States in 1842, urging the adoption of international copyright protection in the long-term interest of American authors and publishers.

Such appeals proved unpersuasive until 1891, when the United States had a thriving literary culture and a book industry that wanted its own protections abroad. Congress then passed a copyright act extending protection to foreign works in return for similar treatment for American authors overseas.

11:59 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Monday, October 14, 2002

How slashdot survived and kind of prospered

8:57 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Laurie Anderson on NPR talking about performing after 9/11, writing about New York for the Encyclopedia Britannica, and her stockbroker brother's request [page] [RealAudio]

2:05 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Portland (OR)-based electronica label IsDiff spotlights local talent -- and offers streaming and downloads of at least some artists

I'd be willing to pony up a few bucks for high-quality downloads -- they should make that an option.

2:25 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

New York's Gogol Bordello goes on tour

Gogol Bordello shows are wooly New York legend, a mix of surrealist cabaret theatrics and anarchic rock antics. Crazy stories abound -- about the drunken Latvian prime minister slumped on stage, about late-night, plate-smashing, table-dancing debauchery, about hot candle wax guzzled along with copious vodka rations. The Gotham hype surrounding Gogol Bordello's stage show has reached such a fever pitch, Hutz won't discuss it anymore.

"I'm not gonna tell you anything about it," the singer says in pungent Slavic English. "All I tell you is that it will be approximately like circumcision, baptizing and a wedding at same time. It's a Gypsy secret."

2:10 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

New memoir trend: sex worker lit

2:04 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Mostly positive review of Moonlight Mile -- which I'd otherwise stay miles away from -- spotlighting Jake Gyllenhaal's (Donnie Darko) performance

1:58 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Single-parent prostitute is newest comic superhero

Of the many wonderful things about The Pro, the most startling and refreshing are its politics. For a change a prostitute is the smarter, morally superior and stronger of the lot--without coming anywhere near the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold cliché. Plus she's hilariously nasty, venomously pissed off and sports a behind you could bounce a quarter off.

Not um for kids.

1:48 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Johannesburg brings Tuscany to South Africa -- complete with artificial sky

There is, after all, a long history of attempts to recreate nostalgic European fantasy landscapes in Africa. Evelyn Waugh wrote that on his trip to Kenya in 1931, everyone he encountered seemed to be trying to recreate the vanishing lifestyle of the English country squirearchy, with local tribesmen conscripted into the role of the peasantry.

But supposedly the trend is moving away from vestigial neo-colonialism in SA architecture.

1:26 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Architects and community (and the Robin Hood Foundation) come together to create an inspired and inspiring new library out of a school gymnasium in Queens

When it was finally done, and the paper was pulled back, I had a faculty meeting and said, "OK, all you skeptics, come downstairs with me." I opened the library doors, and they just stood outside. They didn't want to come in. It was almost as if they felt they were entering sacred space. "Just come in," I said, whispering. And they were amazed. They had their mouths wide open, speechless. "We had no idea this was going on inside that wall," one teacher said.

1:16 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

"...that nice dominatrix I was telling you about."

Mistress Morgana mainstreams S & M

12:38 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Nice little article on Fark founder Drew Curtis

12:24 AM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sunday, October 13, 2002

Glad once again that I don't have XP on my PC: Service Pack 1

Hope I can get W2K when I get another PC, unless I get a Mac. . .

9:06 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Art exhibit explores "art and ideas on the fringes of intellectual property law" to show how copyright restrictions kill art [u]

3:02 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Kickball is back -- in organized adult leagues

Which is nice -- people having fun playing games without the heavy manners of pro games or even Little League (which some parents have been taking way too seriously lately).

But there's something about "adult organized" kickball which is like say, the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame -- it used to be essential to their enjoyment that they weren't something adults would touch with a ten-foot pole.

But at least people are having fun without feeling guilty -- no small feat these days.

Now if we could just get adults to stop playing army. . .



1:42 PM - [Link] - Comments ()

Sorry Opera users!

I'm aware this site looked funky before in Opera, the links area especially. Now the archive tag completely fucks up the links area, disappearing the links etc.

We're working on it, but I'm leaving up the archives because it's important to have access I think.

For now use Mozilla/Netscape/IE please. I'll announce when we have this at least semi-compliant.

Now I understand a bit of what web designers have to deal with. Bleah...

1:04 AM - [Link] - Comments ()