Life As Bullet Points

[grendel317]

+ Supremely creepy animated For Better Or Worse comics. They blink, but that's it; it's like everybody in the comic is paralyzed from the eyelids down, sitting there helpless with their mouths hanging open. It reminds me of those Garfield strips where all the animals' thought bubbles were removed, leaving cartoons of a manic, pathetic bachelor

Comments

[dch4]

Perhaps grab the neighbors and nail them to the rotting dead tree a la Conan the Barbarian to show them the error of their ways?

[grendel317]

I find this to be a reasonable and appropriate solution! However, I suspect it would not improve the smell, which causes me to hesitate. Also, I think I would require larger pecs and a thicker accent to execute this plan in the style it deserves.

[beeporama]

Did you see "Zen of Garfield"? It randomized three Garfield panels, and oddly, it consistently came up with a strip that was like a Zen koan. It think it got pulled off the net after getting a cease-and-desist.

I have a handful of prize vinyl-- Nitzer Ebb, Siouxsie, promo-only major label stuff-- but not quite enough to drag turntables in when I DJ. Shame that.

I don't like Morningstar Farms much, they're generally my least favorite purveyor of fake meat. The chicken strips are not as good as their nuggets or patties; I agree that they are a "pass." However, I was quite delighted with the fake BEEF strips, which I often add to salads. (It is a Pittsburgh regional delicacy to put steak and fries on salads.)

[grendel317]

I missed the "Zen of Garfield," which saddens me. The "sans thought bubbles" versions were pulled down after a cease-and-desist, too, which is also unfortunate.

I've got about a dozen records from ebay and various record stores around town so far, and I've been noodling around with them at home. The biggest problem for me so far is the lack of reliable pitch control. I do most of my beatmatching with math and fine adjustments, but these Numark tables are no good for that - the lines on the pitch slider do not seem to correspond to 1%, 2%, etc. I imagine a real Technics deck would be better in that regard, but learning to match widely divergent bpm by ear wouldn't be a horrible thing anyway

[beeporama]

I would not be surprised if the lines on pitch slider corresponded to 0.8%. I use math too, and can tell you that 0.8% means 1 BPM for a track that is 125 BPM. Most dance music is in the 120-130 range, so lines at 0.8% are very useful. I know that's where they put them on some equipment...

You're right though, the most useful thing you can do is to train yourself to hear tracks in two different ears seperately and mix by ear. I've been so lazy dependent on math that I never did teach myself to do that.

[grendel317]

That makes sense. I'll have to investigate. The bpm on vinyl seems to vary somewhat from the bpm on CD for tracks I have in both format ("Redemption" by Conjure One and the remixes of "Just Let Go" by Fischerspooner), but I'm not sure if that's a matter of slightly different versions of the track, or imprecise equipment. Could be either.

And yeah, me too. Estimating with the 100/111/125/145 "magic numbers" and then fine tuning works so well that I never developed a particularly good ear for larger differences, and I have a really hard time if I don't know the bpm of the tracks. But, obviously it can be done, and I imagine I can probably learn to do it.

[artaxastra]

I kind of don't like the animation either. I've been following the strip for like 20 years now, but the blinking is annoying.

Glad you still have an intelligent hottie! They seem to have good genes for that in that family! *G*

[grendel317]

Oh, I love the animation! Just, not in the way I think they intended. Also, I don't actually follow the strip - I imagine the blinking would impede my enjoyment if I did.

And yes, they do, not to mention excellent taste in spouses! ;-)

[servingdonuts]

I will now ask a question and demonstrate my utter disconnection from pop culture and modern music.

Prog, to me, suggests "prog(ressive) rock", which I have somehow learned refers to lines of musical heritage reaching back towards Jethro Tull and Yes and forwards through Rush to Dream Theater (and many others in each era, of course). Stuff I like, which is probably the only reason I know what the term means.

What's "prog trance"? Any relation?

[grendel317]

The "prog" is for "progressive," but I don't think there's much musical relation. It's a type of electronic club music - mellower and smoother than industrial, less pop-structured than synthpop, less repetitive and more melodic than house or "classic" trance. There are often vocals, and it tends to draw a lot of influences from other styles (electronic or otherwise). I tend to be especially fond of prog trance that incorporates indian or middle eastern sounds - the Junkie XL remix of "Dilruba" by Niyaz is a great current example - though my favorite song of the moment does not (the Armin van Buuren track in the "Current Music" field above).

I do like prog rock, too, though. "Roll The Bones" was the second CD I ever bought.

[servingdonuts]

Cool, thanks. Nice descriptions... seems like "progressive" in both cases includes a sense of "complex".