tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13384705931304193222024-03-19T00:02:12.217-07:00Art-and-TechnologyArt & Technology Blog: Notes and commentary on design, illustration, music production and
applied technology and development.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger392125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-27235184901912443472024-03-19T00:01:00.000-07:002024-03-19T00:01:11.814-07:00DEEP SPACE 9 : Finish<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxvw77m_slYOOLom3vZPdm3Ih4Qv7qlMpR1qe62YsQqGvUXjP1DXcBblohKKZnrtUZyflOVYRc8UTax7Olymx5YTQes-lKa2XkGF5DJw97bmeZ9qZRuhqIuHnDZ30l6yrlbWCkKlOjLTmJmtQuknKCr_66tQDBcDnRvX4H5TXrWOAPFKCyz1MOzL7Jsl-W/s1426/DS9-start-to-finish.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1426" data-original-width="1000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxvw77m_slYOOLom3vZPdm3Ih4Qv7qlMpR1qe62YsQqGvUXjP1DXcBblohKKZnrtUZyflOVYRc8UTax7Olymx5YTQes-lKa2XkGF5DJw97bmeZ9qZRuhqIuHnDZ30l6yrlbWCkKlOjLTmJmtQuknKCr_66tQDBcDnRvX4H5TXrWOAPFKCyz1MOzL7Jsl-W/s320/DS9-start-to-finish.jpg" width="224" /></a></div><p>Another thing I finally caught up with today. Changing countries 3 times and "life", got in the way of doing somethings. I had seen Season 1 & 2 in Japan in the 1990s. Like ST:TNG and EVANGELION, it was on at 2AM on a Wednesday morning so I used to record episodes to VHS tape. </p><p>About 5 years ago I almost bought the DS9 Complete Box set. They were not unreasonably priced. Don't remember now why I didn't, except that with all the free to air digital TV channels and the PVR I had, it was difficult to watch the programs I recorded as it was. I had plenty to watch if I wanted to waste some time.</p><p>A few months back I finished all of VOYAGER on Netflix too. I don't remember when I got to see the first episodes of that, but must have been the same way via VHS tape. I have no memory how many seasons of any of these shows were shown. It wasn't prime time TV in Japan.</p><p>Seeing DS9 & Voyager earlier would have helped with getting some of the things PICARD Seasons 1 to 3 had in it, I guess.</p><p>I took the approach of watching DS9 in 82 hours.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8VELB72bq1f0BrI1xx6_biDxvtOmRqPkXn2OL_H7hPKsONwDz8e6WqqeAV1zY-niOhm8fVyZNARINnUC-B7Jhl00owqbuJn2NOeIywlCwhQWjLic-x5ZLz5lCCWjfYpT7gwwLuOm7_SwMs8ymdIB8tk49c2QpNRjLG-HUTdB47M82qrXcHMhsFRhNI7z/s757/DS9%20in%2082%20hours.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="757" data-original-width="660" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc8VELB72bq1f0BrI1xx6_biDxvtOmRqPkXn2OL_H7hPKsONwDz8e6WqqeAV1zY-niOhm8fVyZNARINnUC-B7Jhl00owqbuJn2NOeIywlCwhQWjLic-x5ZLz5lCCWjfYpT7gwwLuOm7_SwMs8ymdIB8tk49c2QpNRjLG-HUTdB47M82qrXcHMhsFRhNI7z/s320/DS9%20in%2082%20hours.jpg" width="279" /></a></div><br /><p>The episodes that focus on the core story. Except I would still say some of these aren't really core, even if they are nice character studies.</p><p>In the 1990s, I manage to see BABLYON5, all 5 seasons, via swapping Japanese music CDs for VHS tapes of episodes taken from the Satellite feed before the advertisements were inserted with a guy in Louisiana USA. A friend of a friend. Didn't get the opportunity to do something similar with the Star Trek shows. </p><p>As the comic says, sitting here typing this, I am struck that it took 30years to see it.</p><p>I will come back later and add this when I think about it a bit more</p><p><br /></p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-15730335099331413582024-03-15T16:45:00.000-07:002024-03-15T16:47:21.978-07:00The Great Designer MARCELLO GANDINI has passed at 85<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikU_Vk04m5OWpNSs4iqnSCyay9YGxv9VDX83n_O74cTHdOy3xSTz4gIYZ1uguAaCafrHAp9iBFOEbnrdON4wHHKOD3joNgfGs8yqdwJZO88WXK4DdOaDpZCMIZwSdfa4Xbz2Cvy7V6NU5kqyTCzDd-nDGmUR_xUWqphAGQ3mlUskN8lJ3t8iuDejNZfFVq/s1500/Marcello-Gandini-rip.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1266" data-original-width="1500" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikU_Vk04m5OWpNSs4iqnSCyay9YGxv9VDX83n_O74cTHdOy3xSTz4gIYZ1uguAaCafrHAp9iBFOEbnrdON4wHHKOD3joNgfGs8yqdwJZO88WXK4DdOaDpZCMIZwSdfa4Xbz2Cvy7V6NU5kqyTCzDd-nDGmUR_xUWqphAGQ3mlUskN8lJ3t8iuDejNZfFVq/s320/Marcello-Gandini-rip.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>MARCELLO GANDINI's <b>Lancia Stratos HF</b> and <b>Lamborghini Countach</b> were designs that truly inspired me in 1970.</p><p>He, more than any other car stylist, left a lasting impression. I never knew him, but one that made me sad knowing he had past.</p><p>My <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/comics/index.html" target="_blank">HEAVY METAL GARAGE Comic</a></b> references his designs more than once </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-10091325832038181722024-03-15T15:24:00.000-07:002024-03-15T17:30:48.414-07:00DUNE PT2 TOHO Cinema first session 2024/3/15 <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJcF3M6sPh-L_BXm60gCb6F3ntUNm11DfOdB2Pnn5g-WaPJCkNFkiig0n_JQNkzz-YB9scovAmOQA8SRYSViszzIAaOeqOnUxjDokGJngThkgabgFC8zPKFpUgHjMHZoGBMP4WhgO6Lhz1zUg7u9o6h2ol1yjLgsPtugwGbOwuQfkzhk_MX7szzuf4PeON/s4000/DSC_1775.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2250" data-original-width="4000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJcF3M6sPh-L_BXm60gCb6F3ntUNm11DfOdB2Pnn5g-WaPJCkNFkiig0n_JQNkzz-YB9scovAmOQA8SRYSViszzIAaOeqOnUxjDokGJngThkgabgFC8zPKFpUgHjMHZoGBMP4WhgO6Lhz1zUg7u9o6h2ol1yjLgsPtugwGbOwuQfkzhk_MX7szzuf4PeON/s320/DSC_1775.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I go to the Cinema about once a year, and seeing <b>DUNE PT2</b> in the first session maybe it for this year. </p><p>I saw DUNE, before they knew it would be PT1, in the same Toho Cinema on its release in one of the smaller screens in the cinema complex in Kuzuha Hirakata Osaka, my closest Mall. It was, maybe, the first time I thought the sound was painfully loud at the cinema, and I was sure the sound was breaking up during the loudest drums and action scenes then. </p><p>For part 2, it was on the biggest screen with Dolby ATMOS sound. And for the first screening on release on a Friday morning, a work day, there was a fair turn out. Maybe 40 people.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQs8Ko5DvL39Q92VMEkMR9pBiYoXX7aM75kXUNreuYKZLfjVnqblJH8iGRSGlZF0v2kuo8UPNJ9XynuIP5E6Dcf_GaXuQS_gcIYS1qbQ9NrqGb7iGV0aejqau_kW3kXPvFvKXUiC10rimlYWZRDWCuPkVDJqmqNCofMbksaivMIoK8srx1v7XdOARE54H/s2557/GHtNwuTaUAAf7fz.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1059" data-original-width="2557" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxQs8Ko5DvL39Q92VMEkMR9pBiYoXX7aM75kXUNreuYKZLfjVnqblJH8iGRSGlZF0v2kuo8UPNJ9XynuIP5E6Dcf_GaXuQS_gcIYS1qbQ9NrqGb7iGV0aejqau_kW3kXPvFvKXUiC10rimlYWZRDWCuPkVDJqmqNCofMbksaivMIoK8srx1v7XdOARE54H/s320/GHtNwuTaUAAf7fz.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>It was the standard English release with Japanese subtitles, but they had kept the English subtitles too for all the Fremen language spoken. Good for me.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghOZrwskIKOQrpoy6c4ZHtjXqbGPt8SVx4q6wDSNgAQD5JK4Y2o7ocvnDGRX1Sk0F0N96DeR90_9IT9ToQnWuSxiK8GTr3qMN1FRRRVzgpNy_Tht8pZSB0f09aqDneAg6IOKjnuuh_vACaUJFKHWFd2kmZS07qnyS2-_p1QWsnyf0tqiqTQ0DslJz37W4O/s929/worms.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="523" data-original-width="929" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghOZrwskIKOQrpoy6c4ZHtjXqbGPt8SVx4q6wDSNgAQD5JK4Y2o7ocvnDGRX1Sk0F0N96DeR90_9IT9ToQnWuSxiK8GTr3qMN1FRRRVzgpNy_Tht8pZSB0f09aqDneAg6IOKjnuuh_vACaUJFKHWFd2kmZS07qnyS2-_p1QWsnyf0tqiqTQ0DslJz37W4O/s320/worms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Three hours is a long time for a movie to me, and it was only the end of a movie. It looks and sounds amazing, <i><b>but I was physically exhausted when I got home</b></i>. I guess that is what most people are paying for. The sound was loud, but it wasn't too loud. </p><p>You get charged an extra 100円 per ticket to get the ATMOS sound installed with the biggest screen. That seems excessive to me. DOLBY is getting really obnoxious with their licensing. ATMOS adds ceiling speakers to their previous surround sound system. It also has a more sophisticated way of moving a sound around the cinema space. I noticed this time entering the theatre, the ceiling speakers all had green illumination around them. Guessing that is used to explain what the extra money is for. I don't remember that being the case last time I went. Luckily they turn off the illumination when the movie starts! </p><p>I read the novel in the later 1970s, probably after finishing High School before University started. It was the first time in many years I didn't have something I had to do instead. A friends sister had a huge SF paperback collection, and I must have been loaned DUNE, as well as many <b>STAINLESS STEEL RAT</b> and other books. I can't say I'm a fan of the story of Dune's mostly evil, rich families, religious orders and zealots "inspired" by middle eastern oil, Arab tribes and global corporations. </p><p>It isn't a fun experience like Star Wars but I had to see this latest part, and is worth a trip to a wonderful cinema for the spectacle.</p><p>I am a fan of the unofficial <b><i>Spice Diver Fan Edit </i></b>of David Lynch's Dune, <a href="https://youtu.be/vJykw3H4PDw?si=837jyIfAV29pRnA4" target="_blank"><b>DUNE REDUX</b></a> , that corrects many issues with the original versions released, and have watched it several time. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPjeNAxrtqPSZXUPy_2BotMaD8ZRAzlrztvMoLGYRh4yEoCDSQ2bzjXDzR5pNohtCl0UUdMd04sTy52VyVmAcOtQp9VAtSnN3Ra6OYbzcrMTliqeTISLZZ6s52TH3XVh49PGqWS8QUbmF-A_qaYRlBAgc989iD13xsh8gUf7cYD6nCzzluSCe6ForVevs/s1714/dune-redux1-Screenshot%202024-03-08%20104011.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="715" data-original-width="1714" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnPjeNAxrtqPSZXUPy_2BotMaD8ZRAzlrztvMoLGYRh4yEoCDSQ2bzjXDzR5pNohtCl0UUdMd04sTy52VyVmAcOtQp9VAtSnN3Ra6OYbzcrMTliqeTISLZZ6s52TH3XVh49PGqWS8QUbmF-A_qaYRlBAgc989iD13xsh8gUf7cYD6nCzzluSCe6ForVevs/s320/dune-redux1-Screenshot%202024-03-08%20104011.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_I9_gfWbByHEYckPm7b2lsAIhG0M9k2snAmgsXcU6vbvey-Q9CdQKne5BRZ-B07ijDLobqsDhxr51pt5TVfqsd6nr5ScV3HbRhGY6SNYvT77ygShTTmkNDFP7qOW0IKldsxmMzXOPZSKpl9uybBmpj-aRZlyWU8BqyLIKy5hy-QMJWhF8Z_1Xa7jCQr1/s1687/dune-redux1-Screenshot%202024-03-08%20104140.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="745" data-original-width="1687" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjb_I9_gfWbByHEYckPm7b2lsAIhG0M9k2snAmgsXcU6vbvey-Q9CdQKne5BRZ-B07ijDLobqsDhxr51pt5TVfqsd6nr5ScV3HbRhGY6SNYvT77ygShTTmkNDFP7qOW0IKldsxmMzXOPZSKpl9uybBmpj-aRZlyWU8BqyLIKy5hy-QMJWhF8Z_1Xa7jCQr1/s320/dune-redux1-Screenshot%202024-03-08%20104140.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZwfAzDbV8xLzUv080sFkG-gvMMd3X-Z_8l877EkA0NzugV2YbKjjUJ6LeUB2cCqluW1emaO7tuTgGiAskTSgsAOTyx1H__m1fU7ahrzkl8K635IasVBxRNcohyphenhyphenCzC-wkh5IL42PCpc9v2D5C21StKC5Kkj-XbpV9LeJimwNqYIS8HXOkweGtuuqif2lW/s1719/dune-redux1-Screenshot%202024-03-08%20104331.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1719" height="135" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZwfAzDbV8xLzUv080sFkG-gvMMd3X-Z_8l877EkA0NzugV2YbKjjUJ6LeUB2cCqluW1emaO7tuTgGiAskTSgsAOTyx1H__m1fU7ahrzkl8K635IasVBxRNcohyphenhyphenCzC-wkh5IL42PCpc9v2D5C21StKC5Kkj-XbpV9LeJimwNqYIS8HXOkweGtuuqif2lW/s320/dune-redux1-Screenshot%202024-03-08%20104331.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I see that as "more complete" than <b>Dune Pt1 & Pt2</b> released so far. <b>AND</b> it has <b>STING </b>and <b>Captain Picard</b> in it!</p><p>So there will now be DUNE PT3, to continue the story, again, maybe in another 2 years. I will probably see that in the cinema too. But I expect I will enjoy DUNE PT2 on DVD at home more. I did for DUNE PT1.</p><p>I got out of the cinema at 12:30PM. That is normally too late to be able to get a table in any of the many restaurants at Kuzuha Mall. There are ques outside waiting for free tables from about 11:30AM. But a few months ago a new "American Burger" styled place, <b>BURGERLION </b>opened. The name comes from a JOJO character named more like LEEON, than a big cat.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5_MuGEbyDWbrKw0vegDi6q-gTYBova4vo2cs-UHInfH7RAMiGvsw3qyuMaV48o1KFg9OVDoxKp0hlyvikSlqBJTYS5BU6D1qH3NSsCT7i3EwjezFPaMJDVYuYK-r_9u49Nd5SfFmqo_Y0yOYF75J5nnMsr98voJeqIcnqfT1jwhoIZQbmkADxAt4NYhW/s2000/burgerlion.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="2000" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG5_MuGEbyDWbrKw0vegDi6q-gTYBova4vo2cs-UHInfH7RAMiGvsw3qyuMaV48o1KFg9OVDoxKp0hlyvikSlqBJTYS5BU6D1qH3NSsCT7i3EwjezFPaMJDVYuYK-r_9u49Nd5SfFmqo_Y0yOYF75J5nnMsr98voJeqIcnqfT1jwhoIZQbmkADxAt4NYhW/s320/burgerlion.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Had looked at going there shortly after it had opened with my daughter and youngest son, but the prices and sizes of the dishes were a shock. <b>1,450円</b> for a burger and chips (when McDonalds is just next door) is really expensive, and my sister in law had told me <b><i>"Japanese aren't going to pay that for an American style Burger"</i></b>. Not being an American, makes it a place to I would try once or twice. </p><p>So unsurprisingly, I found <b>BURGERLION</b> mostly empty, with only 2 other tables taken, now 3 and a bit months after it opened. Empty, and that was fine by me, so I got a Pulled Pork Burger. They all come with tasty chips. The Hamburger must be almost 3 times the size of a Big Mac and was good, but messy to eat. They give you a brown waxed paper thing to put it in and you eat it out of that. </p><p>The places biggest problem is you MUST order with your smartphone by scanning the QR code to get the menu to place your order. This strategy would save the capital expenditure to have tablets at each table like most other restaurants do now, but it was slow and didn't work for me first time, and I had to call a waitress for help. I just got 3 deserts as the only menu items! She restarted the App and it then worked. What a massively bad user experience. I expect this place will be closed and gone soon. Way better places have closed and gone in the Mall, and I don't see <b>BURGERLION</b> as a real option. Wouldn't have enough rich Americans to support it. </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-24376840749056729532024-03-09T14:35:00.000-08:002024-03-09T14:37:48.616-08:00Mangaka Akira Toriyama Passes at 68<p>Seen a lot of (young, mostly comic related) peoples posts on social media about how significant Toriyama was to them on his passing. My take is a little different...</p><p>The Dragon Ball Anime was on TV when our oldest son was growing up in the 90s and I thought it was just violet rubbish. The Dr. Slump I saw was of course kids stuff.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A few years ago, the owner of a model shop I visited told me about Toriyama's FINEMOLDS Caricatured military figures and that was the first time I noticed his name, and connection to Dragon Ball and other stuff.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The School Holidays early last year had the SANDLAND movie at the cinema, and I noticed as it, as it seemed to have come out of nowhere. I looked into why that was. Did a one page comic on it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar4ElC7_jBAE2pKrMzZOBajLMsHGC_T5UsvQyPW90Kv5XQJD2d1qTGjpoeGvtFOAdsxEWSfLHXpAqFZvnmVzEge6UrmwJBYsq_8-6LWMNsQt2NHdqu8hwuKE4loyg5z3r0tenlfaozZmXXx68emFLeTfvlHU8rvd51bQp2RK0a0gJPs9JlW2-ftMzJzlj/s954/just-thinkning-sandland2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="954" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhar4ElC7_jBAE2pKrMzZOBajLMsHGC_T5UsvQyPW90Kv5XQJD2d1qTGjpoeGvtFOAdsxEWSfLHXpAqFZvnmVzEge6UrmwJBYsq_8-6LWMNsQt2NHdqu8hwuKE4loyg5z3r0tenlfaozZmXXx68emFLeTfvlHU8rvd51bQp2RK0a0gJPs9JlW2-ftMzJzlj/s320/just-thinkning-sandland2.jpg" width="302" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>After that and finding out about his history, I decided to track down a few cheap second hand books of his in Japan here. Did not look down the DRAGON QUEST game artwork rabbit hole though, just his comic work. So many books, but I just got the first couple of collected issues to see what they were all about.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjyt_GYQO51uCIwb1qk__CaSxn8IspP4O5ZlzheporCfoWSLxAW94I_pjC4v6W3MqKjC_hLd4Ii5bYPlpYRLojLgeHuumzqVR8b29TptUdRQg-I7m9dSUn3uDWOsM3t0uKNHQIkcyM42QZ5Zyeqw6n4q8ZvVjhWr2-WA-zJzRjsxDWINnuSWM34akV3lM/s1600/toriyama.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivjyt_GYQO51uCIwb1qk__CaSxn8IspP4O5ZlzheporCfoWSLxAW94I_pjC4v6W3MqKjC_hLd4Ii5bYPlpYRLojLgeHuumzqVR8b29TptUdRQg-I7m9dSUn3uDWOsM3t0uKNHQIkcyM42QZ5Zyeqw6n4q8ZvVjhWr2-WA-zJzRjsxDWINnuSWM34akV3lM/s320/toriyama.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>So I ended up reading his one volume SANDLAND, his earlier Dr. Slump and the first 2 books, a complete story, of Dragon Ball, that wasn't anything like the Anime I remember. I appreciate his big head little body style, as that has been a significant style in caricature since the 17 century in Europe or so, and something I also do. Dragon Ball was much better than I imaged it could be, even if for 14 year old boys.</p><p>Dr. Slump with its gags may have been his best work, and he had an amazing way with vehicles and machines. He looks like he influenced my work without even knowing directly about him for the longest time. </p><p>68 is way too young. Did he work far too hard in his popular years? Just a day after the voice actress of Chiba Marako-chan died at 63. And with the death of the neighbor in the last weeks really gives this 65 year old something to contemplate. </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-49352159334737810782024-03-07T14:56:00.000-08:002024-03-07T17:05:24.919-08:00A Death in the Street in Silence<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmcEfpAu45cGKcNGPY4kKrnCgMExYCycYkak-_x3pPMeT0V8RG24VTPmFGwabw77b_w74lfPva_UiVpufkn-9dZqthqc9djji_Dhn_yVMJzUReMu1gPpIMZSBnyeSaB_BDTsKDE7x1hdf-8HVvGaEO7d05-0A-4Bi0zGRbIc3ilBkEAyoW2Gd3ISrvdALO/s1200/tw-my-watercolors.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="855" data-original-width="1200" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmcEfpAu45cGKcNGPY4kKrnCgMExYCycYkak-_x3pPMeT0V8RG24VTPmFGwabw77b_w74lfPva_UiVpufkn-9dZqthqc9djji_Dhn_yVMJzUReMu1gPpIMZSBnyeSaB_BDTsKDE7x1hdf-8HVvGaEO7d05-0A-4Bi0zGRbIc3ilBkEAyoW2Gd3ISrvdALO/s320/tw-my-watercolors.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I have floor to ceiling glass doors in the studio here, leading to a balcony over looking our street corner. Our second story location, on a rather large pedestal the way the land is terraced means I can also see out to Osaka down the valley. </p><p>I imagine other views, such as the quick water colors above, but this is a very different story.</p><p>Can hear ambulances every so often, and sometimes one comes into our area, a couple of streets either side of us. There are many elderly here, and mostly I can catch a glimpse of an Ambulance going up the next street away, between the houses. Also many small delivery vans, many to our house as my sister-in-law was rather involved with <b><i>Mercari</i></b>, and as I can't hear the front door bell ring from my second story studio, I rely on hearing the vans come into our street, then looking out the window to see if they stop out the front of our place. It is <b><i>my job</i></b> to handle deliveries here, but checking for that can show other things you didn't expect.. </p><p>I can see in plain sight from the balcony window the house on the far corner. We live so close, but not a direct neighbor, so don't really know them. My sister in law had spoken a few times with the wife over the years as she was her housing group leader, not our housing group, a year or so ago, before we came back to Japan. They have a daughter in her twenties. The wife always drove the family car, and each afternoon when she came home from work, I could hear the cars unusual reversing alarm as she backed it into the narrow carport. She had gotten a new car in the last few months. She could park that car much faster than I could, was something I thought often. </p><p>A couple of weeks ago, before midday on a wet Sunday, an Ambulance stopped outside that far corner house. Siren stopped, but red lights flashing. The women (just around 50, young for this area) that lived there had been at that morning community meeting my wife attended, and had briefly chatted with. She seemed fine, always friendly, but maybe a little tired. I met her myself at a community meeting a couple of months ago. Struck me as young and community minded.</p><p>We saw her carried on a stretcher into the Ambulance. She must have been home alone, husband and daughter out, when she called for the Ambulance. </p><p>I have been taken off to emergency twice myself in the last 10 years, once for Kidney Stones and another for Anemia when I collapsed, so I don't see an Ambulance as automatically meaning a life and death situation. Just you can't get to the hospital on your own. They will probably be fine....</p><p>Three days ago was the first time I had ever seen her husband about. That seemed unusual. There was also a small gray van, from a funeral parlor, parked outside the home. Day after that I saw a Priest enter the home in the evening, when I went outside to bring shopping in from the car when my wife came home. </p><p>Yesterday morning a small gray van parked outside our place with his warning indicators flashing. Expected it was a delivery van, as sister-in-law was expecting a delivery and so she went outside, and the gentleman in the van got out and apologized as he was just here for a short time for part of the funeral proceedings. </p><p>A short time later 2 cars parked in our street and 4 or so people went into the house on the corner. Must have been her and her husbands parents. A larger gray van arrived, and the gentleman from the one outside our house went in too. The family members formed a kind of line between the house entrance and the bigger van, and the 2 gentlemen brought out a body in a white bag on a stretcher and put it into the back of the larger van. There was much bowing and the vans drove off.</p><p>It all happened in <b><i>10 days</i></b>. From a young active community member, to <i><b>gone</b></i>.</p><p>As she was a part of the community committee, we will hear officially something about her soon, and why she is no longer on the committee. </p><p>Sad. You never know how long anyone has. </p><p><br /></p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-63055740931103598542024-02-29T21:01:00.000-08:002024-03-02T19:48:36.656-08:00New BRIGHT POP ART EDM shirt designs (Anime like)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNJAxHBrPzTJImniOkv4QSS1Jy_bKSvUbNFY7v0SX__dbaCv5QRHUlLNS1CzJHDR-uI9gsr1cvDOjc76p119B8hVOXKIrDe5udGnMOfnVTAHVEOR2sJDqJD56c0dywyur29CtFuFUsD5oFCBurgePIyfcMyB_OYV9MozXSEeWdzjcL2Pp-SMOEEHt03DH/s1457/Screenshot%202024-03-01%20101739.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1342" data-original-width="1457" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNJAxHBrPzTJImniOkv4QSS1Jy_bKSvUbNFY7v0SX__dbaCv5QRHUlLNS1CzJHDR-uI9gsr1cvDOjc76p119B8hVOXKIrDe5udGnMOfnVTAHVEOR2sJDqJD56c0dywyur29CtFuFUsD5oFCBurgePIyfcMyB_OYV9MozXSEeWdzjcL2Pp-SMOEEHt03DH/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-01%20101739.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />We have updated our Zazzle Store with new BRIGHT EDM shirt designs based on the latest EDM Single Cover artwork. Felt inspired.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgShshibSEUoQAhP7Ip5GiwUb7IsYBpS7GOvZ0uGsP0Yws9o-00mSYyYswYiXTMPkqulvwtAzPd0m2X22_NEZEfJjSLreENQejsQihfS6vFISu-9bOc6EEG_qHYvG4hmpKGs8aOeY44Ou_SB-nTImKajd9KmI9FmlWzMpdpIM_wM2MQzvJj2r7a_h505S3/s789/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20062144.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="684" data-original-width="789" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgShshibSEUoQAhP7Ip5GiwUb7IsYBpS7GOvZ0uGsP0Yws9o-00mSYyYswYiXTMPkqulvwtAzPd0m2X22_NEZEfJjSLreENQejsQihfS6vFISu-9bOc6EEG_qHYvG4hmpKGs8aOeY44Ou_SB-nTImKajd9KmI9FmlWzMpdpIM_wM2MQzvJj2r7a_h505S3/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20062144.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><p><a href="https://www.zazzle.com.au/store/artandtechnology/products" target="_blank">In our store, if you look at ALL PRODUCTS</a>, you will see the latest designs. They shirt and options can be customized.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4tL-1Dcpy8L-t2uqv18cqGTSqsZi7PV2EBSBJ4PrgxYdjl9AeM7_gtOIQOhyphenhyphenKukpgoHQ2x8wfjtEWzA-2tiArCcDI_5iZGvT7kwIIcaiNRKHFZjRd4DcjcK4OU4pFQi4leqRfNxreM_l-s6sBAYH1k9xx8CSilPfDwjQhGQCizIxYAUO7ON7E16GO5mI/s768/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20085911.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="683" data-original-width="768" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu4tL-1Dcpy8L-t2uqv18cqGTSqsZi7PV2EBSBJ4PrgxYdjl9AeM7_gtOIQOhyphenhyphenKukpgoHQ2x8wfjtEWzA-2tiArCcDI_5iZGvT7kwIIcaiNRKHFZjRd4DcjcK4OU4pFQi4leqRfNxreM_l-s6sBAYH1k9xx8CSilPfDwjQhGQCizIxYAUO7ON7E16GO5mI/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-02%20085911.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>And others</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTMvush_0uwaUhAwI83Q9LlVBQG93D-WPTCDtorBgod6cOn_AV4PiQEBMq2LhGXg_fsYuGK6V5i02W7OKkIZdSOSeHvfvxViwYT-Na8UszHh5nxgJH0qDHbX51JQv7fWNuWNZR8v2iH0p2ijmdOtP8qftgyQ8Rb5fgHPpeNf0Ff_Z75Gzk8QEhmqAd0YPU/s760/Screenshot%202024-03-03%20124305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="669" data-original-width="760" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTMvush_0uwaUhAwI83Q9LlVBQG93D-WPTCDtorBgod6cOn_AV4PiQEBMq2LhGXg_fsYuGK6V5i02W7OKkIZdSOSeHvfvxViwYT-Na8UszHh5nxgJH0qDHbX51JQv7fWNuWNZR8v2iH0p2ijmdOtP8qftgyQ8Rb5fgHPpeNf0Ff_Z75Gzk8QEhmqAd0YPU/s320/Screenshot%202024-03-03%20124305.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-50408452683843771602024-02-27T14:53:00.000-08:002024-02-28T17:49:38.018-08:00TAKASHI MURAKAMI MONONOKE KYOTO Exhibition 2024/2/27<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpKb2Hx_u3xTWVIqHh32zuOHBO10mSpEccTAbZLKiKyXrLLwJnGWcSD4TZ7EBC58q4U8dNuqHZ7KPUGM2b_NfM9MYpB_mgGSn1mzDfgNotmSeBSOaeBASJG0QsN4YOVM-Tz6FTEI22mBc2178jVZKpuj9F6Jyz1yNZc7EB850WXOsZ01Lycew0Ug4ww2R/s3000/tw-murakami-kyoto.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2926" data-original-width="3000" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpKb2Hx_u3xTWVIqHh32zuOHBO10mSpEccTAbZLKiKyXrLLwJnGWcSD4TZ7EBC58q4U8dNuqHZ7KPUGM2b_NfM9MYpB_mgGSn1mzDfgNotmSeBSOaeBASJG0QsN4YOVM-Tz6FTEI22mBc2178jVZKpuj9F6Jyz1yNZc7EB850WXOsZ01Lycew0Ug4ww2R/s320/tw-murakami-kyoto.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>This 6 month exhibition at the <b>Kyoto City KYOCERA Art Museum</b> started a week ago. The continuous rain here had kept me away till yesterday. Very glad I got to it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKLc0XKypFvCINeZnnt2Y860zushxvZx9yYN6_gu9NWDPqDDpfjAlBm3tSl4vB4LPZebEEI4bsf7jgnq3nP35mxn-Zt5TKVe_fFSos-D_O02JNVz5FGlp_gTzUiezwvBpFj8lXThyhYRDiVyJ6393Zt6J7ciSaQUucozbAVGiLxda0oR-RW1a9gdjX1c6/s2976/tw-murakami-kyoto2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2823" data-original-width="2976" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuKLc0XKypFvCINeZnnt2Y860zushxvZx9yYN6_gu9NWDPqDDpfjAlBm3tSl4vB4LPZebEEI4bsf7jgnq3nP35mxn-Zt5TKVe_fFSos-D_O02JNVz5FGlp_gTzUiezwvBpFj8lXThyhYRDiVyJ6393Zt6J7ciSaQUucozbAVGiLxda0oR-RW1a9gdjX1c6/s320/tw-murakami-kyoto2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Takashi Murakami, now 62 years old, has been an artist for 30+ years, but I only heard about his <b>SUPERFLAT </b>about 10 years ago. I may have seen it and a brief interview with him in some TV arts program. A week or so before we left Australia for Kyoto end of 2019, Murakami had a Yokai themed exhibition in Sydney I had wanted to go to, but due to final moving issues, and possibly rain, I didn't get to it.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMwKO4qga6fe98s6kI9sLaZrV9VW2PmQuwFz9Y3E3U-eVodlN8hvz5fwKmzsvqb6Sz_IKEp6FIsaK1gg3Vsx68j1ZRXxCjRXCbg-Po1avWnE5c-RIG6NIbmrJ0caZhO9DyXdTwQqUESb3G3TXljMHAiIMJKlXd3qca4hDQbUmmmuySS4Ivc81qHaf5mzC/s1500/tw-oni.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1309" data-original-width="1500" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgMwKO4qga6fe98s6kI9sLaZrV9VW2PmQuwFz9Y3E3U-eVodlN8hvz5fwKmzsvqb6Sz_IKEp6FIsaK1gg3Vsx68j1ZRXxCjRXCbg-Po1avWnE5c-RIG6NIbmrJ0caZhO9DyXdTwQqUESb3G3TXljMHAiIMJKlXd3qca4hDQbUmmmuySS4Ivc81qHaf5mzC/s320/tw-oni.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>But I didn't miss out as in the foyer, they had the 2 Murakami Oni that were in that Sydney Exhibition.</p><p>So it took some time to finally see his works "in the flesh". SUPERFLAT really caught my attention all those years ago. A current "pop art" inspired by the worlds of Japanese manga and anime. </p><p>There were 6 large rooms and each had an explanation like this "manga". In English and Japanese.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3rpI63XYbzV4JcTHRqrvNsOiPa9xTaUc1sJ61xZIhrU-X_r0kAjFFXVJRhuJmInILYRV0G3_hz3KZGPX_NUDVfjGAd4IyvDLoYyYpBNV7yI0ZDS9C2en1wU8tXcF_WE6vHOiaQ7v5k9SLtZ63_Yn8DilIT4DmMH7Bpz_VfsdwBRsaSUdCYcQfmtcetEv/s2041/intro-murakami.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1095" data-original-width="2041" height="172" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid3rpI63XYbzV4JcTHRqrvNsOiPa9xTaUc1sJ61xZIhrU-X_r0kAjFFXVJRhuJmInILYRV0G3_hz3KZGPX_NUDVfjGAd4IyvDLoYyYpBNV7yI0ZDS9C2en1wU8tXcF_WE6vHOiaQ7v5k9SLtZ63_Yn8DilIT4DmMH7Bpz_VfsdwBRsaSUdCYcQfmtcetEv/s320/intro-murakami.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>A great exhibition. Also worth following up on his SUPERFLAT themes yourself. <div><br /><p>I think I was inspired by SUPERFLAT and his Mr.Dob character the first time I saw it. It just "click" with me. <i>He says "Mr.DOB" is from slang word "dobojite" (meaning why?). I had never head that word, and asked my wife, and she said it sounds like a word made up by a child, but she could guess what it meant, but it isn't "Japanaese slang" that anyone would know or have used. </i></p><p>When I go to an exhibition like this, one of the reasons is that I am hoping for it to inspire me in my own work. More so now, since I retired from my technical career. And I think I can see Murakami did, even before this exhibit. Or was that inspired by the same sources Murakami was?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4wxd6x5Txons9-xdeksrKy44O9lf2fVTWxnVRSmOriKnqSMC1JJkle8AXEGCfFRrdjjM2h4FJ8LfsfsEqd09_9qg9Nn1IPE2TTnsZAMnblH0HjKXJvU8iH0CQ0oNWWfp2PEhBovtCtRQsxu5HUhDJuUYS8G00eW2W8jtAHKGjiMN5B9BKNxGv9VsF3cE/s2000/murakami3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1530" data-original-width="2000" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY4wxd6x5Txons9-xdeksrKy44O9lf2fVTWxnVRSmOriKnqSMC1JJkle8AXEGCfFRrdjjM2h4FJ8LfsfsEqd09_9qg9Nn1IPE2TTnsZAMnblH0HjKXJvU8iH0CQ0oNWWfp2PEhBovtCtRQsxu5HUhDJuUYS8G00eW2W8jtAHKGjiMN5B9BKNxGv9VsF3cE/s320/murakami3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>It gets difficult to tell! If I look at my IN THE NEXT DIMENSION comic I can see a few influences</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKfgzYdXLQw-xHAime3u8BixsyXaqOl-k2uYqCq090gLvmnmyOIHB0rPjz0_HT31ONqJ9Pz9sudWf1Oix0JVqn28SD1AogWaGl13PN7D9jfvlzavF-cahEZd2Wfho47nYL4gQr06V_VjWJdCagby1QyIN2tj8LeRXpYhKtz9f_OXN0ifhR2hmuDjU3ebR/s1277/deadA5-021.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKfgzYdXLQw-xHAime3u8BixsyXaqOl-k2uYqCq090gLvmnmyOIHB0rPjz0_HT31ONqJ9Pz9sudWf1Oix0JVqn28SD1AogWaGl13PN7D9jfvlzavF-cahEZd2Wfho47nYL4gQr06V_VjWJdCagby1QyIN2tj8LeRXpYhKtz9f_OXN0ifhR2hmuDjU3ebR/s320/deadA5-021.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>and I am okay with that. <div><br /><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p></div><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-69358021398155102822024-02-24T15:16:00.000-08:002024-03-07T16:34:43.489-08:00Experiment in Melodic Techno: EDM Bob?<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2219356230/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 442px; width: 350px;"><a href="https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/track/edm-bob">EDM Bob? by Adrian Bruce - Megacurve</a></iframe></p><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>Not so sure it is <b><i>Melodic Techno</i></b>, but that was the style I have been listening to, and applied through my own limitations. The long version of our Melodic Techno experiment, EDM Bob? Like a Street Cat Named "Bob", The Superflat "Dob" or Rowan Atkinson as Blackadder saying "Bob".</div><div><br /></div><div>An earlier short version I used in this YouTube short:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1FOXImYeUBw" width="320" youtube-src-id="1FOXImYeUBw"></iframe></div><br /><div>In Murakami's SUPERFLAT, he has named his many characters Mr.Dob. Mine above are my own in his style, but are they too close to Dob? Hence the question, "is this too Bob?". But the mouth is from another cartoon character, and aren't those ears kind of Mickey Mouse? You can take SUPERFLAT to also mean "shallow" in the way HELLO KITTY is, and the Nursery rhyme level melodic complexity of EDM feels like it fits to me, hence the "Dob" <-> EDM connection to me. I must also say I LIKE Superflat and Melodic Techno.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Reaper Project of the track:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJMBdJVIW_cL9PBotek6gW7b6IGuLJMp6Q2oXRCBMu5k62Q5C4NnI8EKhiVYK6txI5JuSelwPBMbcf68cWW3M49bACQIaYIdf_O0M2n7CqCOtj3KPqk7Xcj6WwZxGaqlbHGSpvWFEOvXdxx8efZt8qa3XK3bTsg7OWZWIEtyxWWpVPt2GSjxX7-g7OFdV/s1451/EDM-bob2-Screenshot%202024-02-26%20150854.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="985" data-original-width="1451" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNJMBdJVIW_cL9PBotek6gW7b6IGuLJMp6Q2oXRCBMu5k62Q5C4NnI8EKhiVYK6txI5JuSelwPBMbcf68cWW3M49bACQIaYIdf_O0M2n7CqCOtj3KPqk7Xcj6WwZxGaqlbHGSpvWFEOvXdxx8efZt8qa3XK3bTsg7OWZWIEtyxWWpVPt2GSjxX7-g7OFdV/s320/EDM-bob2-Screenshot%202024-02-26%20150854.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>I had been setting up and finding EDM sounds for my own music since investigating <b>Cassians's GREAT SOUTHERN LAND Remix</b>. </div><div><br /></div><div>I put together a MS-20mini drum sound collection early on. The Korg really is a versatile synth for very electronic sounds, but there are tricks, such as knowing how the external signal processor can be used for overdrive.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ZHaAruhnwvyqyW-8sUJVx_Qm9xh6TdAhzoPcIBa0GBOzdebIrPhhUO0xqQVz-bVITD7uesDB48i7CREqgxiEVGTEFSYmZYn84ttFDVAgmV-AsZLspfN1ETGvF8KZkfM_lAKPX6XMXKduy_VuinkYwDLI8shtIfHqSVzA4MJYo-VGeVVtOH33QoYnzmsY/s1500/tw-my-ms20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="916" data-original-width="1500" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3ZHaAruhnwvyqyW-8sUJVx_Qm9xh6TdAhzoPcIBa0GBOzdebIrPhhUO0xqQVz-bVITD7uesDB48i7CREqgxiEVGTEFSYmZYn84ttFDVAgmV-AsZLspfN1ETGvF8KZkfM_lAKPX6XMXKduy_VuinkYwDLI8shtIfHqSVzA4MJYo-VGeVVtOH33QoYnzmsY/s320/tw-my-ms20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>My first attempts at making the standard drum patterns were really dull though, and I found velocity manipulation of the hi-hats vital to give a simple four on the floor pattern life and movement. Using tracks by KENSHO, Pyra and Cassian as reference lead me to the stylistic patterns their tracks use. No <i><b>intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle eight, verse, chorus, ending</b></i> here. More<b><i> slow build</i></b>, <b><i>release</i></b>, <i><b>hard verse,</b></i> then <i><b>ending</b></i>, to fit into a different track in a DJ set.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtnxu-Ftv_diopvVAwnuk_0sOV5W5BW24JuUCvUIcikepIt2PKUc_02f_1cmCLLkC46GC-qOVynkLSo5oEDA15XBYkmenn_DBfzFadJquslVw4imKhEd9PJ2z6cDJsgak_3A-5L-2XbY0mZUZ53eRA9E8gCjNOdXsX8kYDXbFNlUkLuN1UEAXEOwAhffM/s1200/tw-edm-b0b-shirts-all.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="1200" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXtnxu-Ftv_diopvVAwnuk_0sOV5W5BW24JuUCvUIcikepIt2PKUc_02f_1cmCLLkC46GC-qOVynkLSo5oEDA15XBYkmenn_DBfzFadJquslVw4imKhEd9PJ2z6cDJsgak_3A-5L-2XbY0mZUZ53eRA9E8gCjNOdXsX8kYDXbFNlUkLuN1UEAXEOwAhffM/s320/tw-edm-b0b-shirts-all.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A TSHIRT of a similar <a href="https://www.zazzle.com.au/edm_bob_t_shirt-256067521128584960" target="_blank"><b>EDM POPART design is here</b></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The rising sine wave tone in this was made in Audacity, in the chirp generator, as it allows you to set start and end frequencies and a duration. </div><div><br /></div><div>Most of the other tones and the melodic bits were played on the <b>MS-20</b> while manipulating the VCF cutoff. Seems appropriate. I must say I am more influenced by <b><i>Jean Michel Jarre's OXYGENE</i></b> for the background <i>sweeps </i>and <i>bloops </i>than anything I heard in Techno though. Same for the panning of the <i>swoops </i>across the sound stage. Now, <b><i>OXYGENE</i></b> is a melodic and technical wonder kind, and that kind of melodic and thematic development isn't part of Melodic Techno from what I have seen. I feel my melodies should go more places than they do, for now though, so maybe for the <b><i>extended mix</i></b>. <b>Extended mixes</b> are also part of the DJ, dance scene, so doing that is fine. I could also say, my techno track here is kind of a <i>REALLY STRIPPED DOWN</i> variation of <b><i>OXYGENE</i></b> at 124BPM, and made really really simple with the Melodic Techno "cliche" things in it. <b>The Rise</b>, <b>The Drop</b>, <b>Snare Build</b> and the long verses which change from no hi-hats, to with hi-hats, to with a snare to handclaps or whatever. </div><div><br /></div><div>I expect I will use this almost 5minute track as the sound track to a Car Illustration Sample Video as I haven't made one of those recently. A change from the more metal sound of some of my other videos. </div><div><br /></div><div>There is an interesting effect with <b><i>musically </i></b><i><b>compositionally simple</b></i> tracks like this. As they don't "<b><i>musically resolve</i></b>" at any time, to anything, so there is never any "that is finished" feeling with them. I can have this track on repeat for hours and it doesn't get monotonous, even if not a whole lot happens in it, it is still changing. Almost <b>EASY LISTENING</b> music! </div><div><br /></div><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-77086223551767372952024-02-19T15:45:00.000-08:002024-02-20T13:55:02.756-08:00A Viking Guitar God's Disco Album<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwmtXli4ndL9yqn9llL8T8Gp7rQKBIgiVFWwAFYFmMJi0RGiVTxVvLVXrXel_fnFqzHUQQvQxq5q65Q3h1psXVCpVxCP4g3Binlcv54-uMMi6xsQiz3kmHHcfJLu6K5w4K-DRh_VADnXvDPSy9aGV-GijNDo3jNCzXI3cFHct6XC6wKjFSzgH0b15qEhWq/s2000/FAL-Tee.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="2000" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwmtXli4ndL9yqn9llL8T8Gp7rQKBIgiVFWwAFYFmMJi0RGiVTxVvLVXrXel_fnFqzHUQQvQxq5q65Q3h1psXVCpVxCP4g3Binlcv54-uMMi6xsQiz3kmHHcfJLu6K5w4K-DRh_VADnXvDPSy9aGV-GijNDo3jNCzXI3cFHct6XC6wKjFSzgH0b15qEhWq/s320/FAL-Tee.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Viking Guitar God, <b>Mattias IA Eklundh,</b> has mostly done heavier guitar riff stuff in odd time signatures through his band FREAK KITCHEN. Love it. Like this:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QzcLomDxJho" width="320" youtube-src-id="QzcLomDxJho"></iframe></div><br /><p>Then in 2022 he released his "Disco Album". <b> Intergalactic Songs Of Love and Reflection</b>, </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxXhr9jYVN9O1K2c9Rm3LAjShazFbMpYrRd2CXGOcyo2_GPBCOK8-xJtGxVrNc2xnUdo2aUMS7bkLzn2tXyE7En9n7e_Ibu-_FXkiQ94byO8R5So4SDavs5JVw44jYEigJLxtm8iWkb1MeUQHM-JBxxT3jazhXZ2rBivV6uwSi1BbTpEzuCvfMUeK3y8LX/s820/freak%20album.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="820" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxXhr9jYVN9O1K2c9Rm3LAjShazFbMpYrRd2CXGOcyo2_GPBCOK8-xJtGxVrNc2xnUdo2aUMS7bkLzn2tXyE7En9n7e_Ibu-_FXkiQ94byO8R5So4SDavs5JVw44jYEigJLxtm8iWkb1MeUQHM-JBxxT3jazhXZ2rBivV6uwSi1BbTpEzuCvfMUeK3y8LX/s320/freak%20album.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><b>a FREAK AUDIO LAB</b> Album featuring mostly synthesizers put together in Reason ( or was it Alberton) and his pitch shifted "alien" vocals. Such as this track:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZepSBNZoIGc" width="320" youtube-src-id="ZepSBNZoIGc"></iframe></div><br /><p>Mattias is a skilled musician, lyricist and vocalist. I get the impression he was given all the software tools and encouraged to do this different album, using the different workflow. He called it "jokingly" his "Disco Album" but it isn't what I now know of as EDM. Kind of a strange POP album, more danceable than his "normal" releases. </p><p>Very interesting, and still has his meaningful lyrics. Something EDM isn't know for. </p><p>I myself have been studying the current, more traditional EDM genre MELODIC TECHNO, and revisiting Mattias's take just shows how different it is. Standard EDM is very repetitive, with slow changes and "drops", rather than solos and bridges. That makes EDM sound boring, but it isn't. Even when repeating basically the same measure, there is movement, and all kinds of things happening in the production that I have found very interesting. The sound is also awesome. </p><p>Last year I did an Ambient-ish Album, and I am <i><b>guessing </b></i>this year I will make my own EDM/Metal-ish tracks, but nothing I have made so far has excited me enough. </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-2802392958281960062024-01-31T13:59:00.000-08:002024-02-01T20:05:57.862-08:00A Food Additive Allergy/Intolerance<p>Since coming back to Japan 4 years ago, I have found I now have some foods I can't eat. I didn't used to have that problem, but it seems, this is one of those features of getting old that isn't explained in the owners manual. A food that is now on my <b><i>DO NOT EAT LIST</i></b> is a certain brand and type of donuts and an extra fluffy Soufflé hotcake mix my wife bought once. I have to be very careful with any baked bread like goods that are "FUWA FUWA" as they say in Japanese, which is "extra light and fluffy". But standard white bread is fine.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfCt5yuHCN7OLkTqyx598bfOgD7PYgAyZXjsRcVHe8DdsSmldojtjgcySj0Jw85hWlI0jSt6XNclqtMwZpp5Ny3js3IgQ1QKFECoc5H7WTpbo8_SZSQCUP-szAhAo6J2mjPmX0mpJEBpZbBBb6tJYf0NV8ZWjp5rsaviKOSZNDM391XzeItqP92RTRjApo/s550/mr-donuts.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="550" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfCt5yuHCN7OLkTqyx598bfOgD7PYgAyZXjsRcVHe8DdsSmldojtjgcySj0Jw85hWlI0jSt6XNclqtMwZpp5Ny3js3IgQ1QKFECoc5H7WTpbo8_SZSQCUP-szAhAo6J2mjPmX0mpJEBpZbBBb6tJYf0NV8ZWjp5rsaviKOSZNDM391XzeItqP92RTRjApo/s320/mr-donuts.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I am guessing it is something about the LEAVENING (rising agent) in combination with some FOAMING AGENT that results in me having gut agony for many hours, hours after eating anything with them. This is usually just described as "bloating", but that doesn't explain how painful that is. My only relief is to try and vomit up the gas filled foam😨, a foam like you find on the sea shore, not the type in a pillow. </p><p>Well, at least I don't have a peanut allergy that could be fatal.</p><p>I was recently surprised that YouTube showed me this science channel video <b><a href="https://youtu.be/K5v61YtDYo4?si=KcnJ5gJhufMkkonn">Sugar Alcohols Ruined My Health: Learn from My Mistakes</a> </b>but I guess that is just the surveillance we are constantly under via cookies and social media. In it this science lady, Sabine, talks about how she tracked down her "bloating" to a food additive that has many commercial names, that are all <b>Sugar Alcohols</b>. </p><p>Could I have a <b>Sugar Alcohols</b> Allergy/Intolerance? Maybe, but I haven't seen the same list of food additives on the foods I know I can't eat. Sabine found a cookie she liked became one of the foods she couldn't eat, when a new additive appeared on the box label. </p><p>So my problem is with a kind of Junk Food, so not eating it is easy. Other things just as nice don't give me the problem!</p><p>I originally tried to embed Sabine's video above, but the Google/YouTube Blogger search has now become so useless, it didn't appear in the search results, even using the exact title, with or without enclosing in ""! Assume sponsored content is all that makes it to the top of the search list now 😡</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyTX6yl9LYyQ9Iy6wlAHVQcU5a66hliJNmgAg4uhFasElPEAMk28fqgI5uldS7bVjfeIf1JzMUCrEpMRcTnBMo_A0GS7iZr3FF_dvs7YtHR9vtMzpWoHlJAGDVhK6jOuqe6zevwHYHV8RFBp70iC7GFgJmkEieKsnVYCKuHwnv3aEFAma9f5_PLkXwuxSh/s1204/youtube-search-crap-Screenshot%202024-02-01%20080829.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="688" data-original-width="1204" height="183" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyTX6yl9LYyQ9Iy6wlAHVQcU5a66hliJNmgAg4uhFasElPEAMk28fqgI5uldS7bVjfeIf1JzMUCrEpMRcTnBMo_A0GS7iZr3FF_dvs7YtHR9vtMzpWoHlJAGDVhK6jOuqe6zevwHYHV8RFBp70iC7GFgJmkEieKsnVYCKuHwnv3aEFAma9f5_PLkXwuxSh/s320/youtube-search-crap-Screenshot%202024-02-01%20080829.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><b><div><b><br /></b></div>Enshittification </b>of services continues. Google has no idea any more.<div><br /></div><div>I would like to know if a food I buy has an additive in it. Would also like to know what known side effect of additives there are, and not have to become a chemist to work all that out. But the Processed Food industry is not as it should be anyway, and been that way forever. The whole sugar/ low fat shill disaster really didn't fix anything. Not that easy to avoid all processed foods though. </div><div><br /></div><div>Now I don't have any problem eating a <b>Yamazaki Curry Donut</b>. Love them. The ingredients and additives on the back of the pack are here:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUWHvppNv5m3ybAGGw77hkpnr2J_U8WicHqyulGY1IW6oxHJqwvfw_yqoYrcAON-LTJSwwFgRWcgN8WOk4Zs3zy1_GCtgnIMQx22hx9Qpfg6y9iuPG7lv_UOiDNM_vQQ9EhV3N3cFQAzqponICZI0f9ivO3naFpHKhVcrIwYUl3CdgBywcNLBmW4igraO/s3344/tw-yamazaki-curry-donut-additives.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="955" data-original-width="3344" height="91" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUWHvppNv5m3ybAGGw77hkpnr2J_U8WicHqyulGY1IW6oxHJqwvfw_yqoYrcAON-LTJSwwFgRWcgN8WOk4Zs3zy1_GCtgnIMQx22hx9Qpfg6y9iuPG7lv_UOiDNM_vQQ9EhV3N3cFQAzqponICZI0f9ivO3naFpHKhVcrIwYUl3CdgBywcNLBmW4igraO/s320/tw-yamazaki-curry-donut-additives.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The ingredients are: <i>Curry (pork, carrot, sugar, onion paste, bread crumbs, flour, lard, potato flakes, extract seasoning, onion powder, sauteed onion, beef, beef tallow, onion, curry powder, apple paste, salt, cumin, tomato paste, garam masala) , sauce, soy sauce, garlic powder, chocolate, shiitake extract powder, pepper, pepper powder, yeast extract) (manufactured in Japan), flour, shortening, bread crumbs, sugar, emulsified oil, baker's yeast, vegetable protein, fried foods Mixed flour, salt, fermented seeds, eggs, fermented flavoring/modified starch, emulsifier, acetic acid (Na), leavening agent, glycine, seasoning (amino acids, etc.), coloring (caramel, carotenoid), yeast food, oxidation Inhibitor (V.E), xylose, spice extract, V.C, fragrance, glycerin ester, (contains milk ingredients, eggs, wheat, beef, soybeans, chicken meat, pork, and apples)</i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div>The ingredients they have now are fine, even though they are a donut, but if they were to change anything, usually for cost reasons, that could change in the future. And that could be a problem. </div><div>I also don't have any problem eating a <b>Pasco Canele Tart. </b>It isn't <b>FUWA FUWA</b>, though, so nothing in it upsets me anyway. The ingredients on the pack are:</div><div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCuG8AxU7_CzSM7ifhYItJ6wv-rhzi2VPh0iPYsA0WuYRZ_ZNYVvnjJtnunPm7FbUUw3ShsvwWXb2i1tFk_R5Dl6TyXoyf1ULjLbXfVOnBxjx_sbLN4okYZHWHFnopKNEDTodLFbXUp-OeIquxL7PUqlrSLdPcQJs64t7BOxiK2Gr05u_34BhXk3QUM3jM/s3323/Pasco%20Carnele%20tart.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="552" data-original-width="3323" height="53" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCuG8AxU7_CzSM7ifhYItJ6wv-rhzi2VPh0iPYsA0WuYRZ_ZNYVvnjJtnunPm7FbUUw3ShsvwWXb2i1tFk_R5Dl6TyXoyf1ULjLbXfVOnBxjx_sbLN4okYZHWHFnopKNEDTodLFbXUp-OeIquxL7PUqlrSLdPcQJs64t7BOxiK2Gr05u_34BhXk3QUM3jM/s320/Pasco%20Carnele%20tart.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Which in OCR Autotranslated English is: <i>Milk (domestic production), sugar, flour, margarine, eggs, processed wheat products (flour), vegetable oil, caramel powder, rum, shortening/modified starch, glycerin, leavening agent, acetic acid (Na), flavoring, emulsifier , glycine, sucrose ester, lysozyme, antioxidant (vitamin E), coloring agent (carotenoid), (contains egg, wheat, milk ingredients, and soybeans in part)</i></div><div><br /></div><div>Now Mister Donut does have Allergen Documents available, like this fragment:</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8b8sxhBXANbHNE0-_Y06k9AO62-BbFlKEnKFS16sqomPsZSwTEsn5gT969VEVHniCPuFibVdaiSqW_e6eRV16DicYpFTBCrNAmqqQ_zqlutY94qBhfcTGXu3Lz5DAHohaZpU1BXZDW-MuaA9CUOnwFE7Oi2ukcLFgQU64lig-R4RmyWqSpJ8IOxEb962l/s1149/mr-donuts-Screenshot%202024-02-01%20122053.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="589" data-original-width="1149" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8b8sxhBXANbHNE0-_Y06k9AO62-BbFlKEnKFS16sqomPsZSwTEsn5gT969VEVHniCPuFibVdaiSqW_e6eRV16DicYpFTBCrNAmqqQ_zqlutY94qBhfcTGXu3Lz5DAHohaZpU1BXZDW-MuaA9CUOnwFE7Oi2ukcLFgQU64lig-R4RmyWqSpJ8IOxEb962l/s320/mr-donuts-Screenshot%202024-02-01%20122053.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />But note that it doesn't include the other additives used for emulsifying, preservation, etc. Stuff like a commercial<b> </b>Sugar Alcohol additive name. Not a complete list. A start though. Could be quite a research project. Not eating any Mister Donuts is easier. Even if I worked out what they add that I can't have, it isn't as if I am going to make a fuss and try and stop them using it. Life is too short.</div><div><br /></div><div>Not long ago I saw a documentary on NHK about food Allergies, and one of the interesting stories in that was about a food (that I don't remember what it was, nothing special just a regular thing people eat) that a growing number of people were becoming allergic too at an Allergy Clinic. It turned out the patients were all scuba divers. They regularly get stung by Jellyfish, and aren't fussed by it. But what happened they discovered is the body reaction to the Jellyfish sting, now gets triggered by a food they had regularly eaten. <br /><div><br /></div><div>What such action/reactions are we all subject too, yet to be discovered? I am guessing Social Media in some way 😁</div><div><div><br /></div><div><div>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></div><div><p><br /></p></div></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-58643653190308061312024-01-26T19:33:00.000-08:002024-02-06T14:13:38.438-08:00Music, Producer, sometimes Musician<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GmB4id91bdw" width="320" youtube-src-id="GmB4id91bdw"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">A quick thing I played & recorded on a Sunday afternoon</span></i></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Over the years I came to understand that there is a rather large difference in the thinking between a musician, ( I am a "Guitarist", or I am a "Keyboard Player") and someone interested in producing music, that plays instruments. <p></p><p>I am very much the later. Making a piece of music, usually with various parts, to play over a stereo is the goal. A recorded, mixed and produced work is the purpose. To play again and again, or put on a video. I started recording and making recorded sound pieces before I had any instruments to learn how to play. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkpgagcY8wb8DpoR5R4vzm1PLSH80KUgyDckq-RED-Iaf8F4gkK44t2fuHf49GM-iEcxvP4A1qBVCwHi70JSNYakEYc-oDxbtxtnFgn0eq9YJi1i9UpRXjEvlgGX1KUCxQZKqFO3ir_eYKGd_gIVqJXwM8V3KMRy7SGXoIzBhnqh8fjZjx5tsLHQx0PBn/s1066/me-3yearsold-comic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOkpgagcY8wb8DpoR5R4vzm1PLSH80KUgyDckq-RED-Iaf8F4gkK44t2fuHf49GM-iEcxvP4A1qBVCwHi70JSNYakEYc-oDxbtxtnFgn0eq9YJi1i9UpRXjEvlgGX1KUCxQZKqFO3ir_eYKGd_gIVqJXwM8V3KMRy7SGXoIzBhnqh8fjZjx5tsLHQx0PBn/s320/me-3yearsold-comic.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><p>The only photos I have of me growing up is a very small album with captions my mother put together a few short years ago in 2019. One picture is of me at 3 years old with the caption "I loved this guitar". I have no memory of ever having a ukulele, but the memory of wanting to play that type of instrument stayed with me. </p><p>Oh, I wanted to learn to play the guitar as a fairly young kid in junior High School, but my mother was <b style="font-style: italic;">"why would anyone want to waste all that time to do that?". </b> Instead, what they sent me too was soccer, which wasn't what I wanted to spend my weekends doing. </p><p>I took a different path. I fell in love with records and good stereo systems to play them early on. Music, among other things, is a drug for my mood. I had upgraded my stereo system several times before I ever bought a musical instrument. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_EBeJhOWPCbOeRMZJJH-Khyj7ukrckTN9Gwtqi1rNHNOP_OJpJ4FVDhbDrFFg720XxyqRZgvrVkbrae16EuqGJER8LYD3qp9l-ng8edy-7b-Qteu6k3Ij_KqyD2WONyrqVcJC10VhIBpHSMeEODaNJ0DHsBlA3ZNsD1H0Xob1VoxbiQkfDnX3ejTt_JX/s1200/hifi-memories01.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="847" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiB_EBeJhOWPCbOeRMZJJH-Khyj7ukrckTN9Gwtqi1rNHNOP_OJpJ4FVDhbDrFFg720XxyqRZgvrVkbrae16EuqGJER8LYD3qp9l-ng8edy-7b-Qteu6k3Ij_KqyD2WONyrqVcJC10VhIBpHSMeEODaNJ0DHsBlA3ZNsD1H0Xob1VoxbiQkfDnX3ejTt_JX/s320/hifi-memories01.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Page1 of a multipage comic</i></span></div><p>First guitar I bought was after I finished High School, and just before starting first year university for a BE Elec Eng. I wanted to design audio electronics. And the guitar I got was a sunburst Strat copy, as that is what Richie Blackmore played.</p><p>Musicians on the other hand, are about the craft of playing, and the instruments themselves. The majority seems to be more about performing and "playing live". The ones I know started when they were young with lessons their parents paid for.</p><p>I know a few like that. Played for decades, with large instrument collections, and have been in bands. Playing covers a big thing. Playing others songs they love., or one of the parts to them In very recent times they may have started home recording, even recorded a few songs, but it hasn't been their life long focus. </p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: center;">I saw a video piece with </span><b style="color: #050505; text-align: center;">Neil deGrasse Tyson</b><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: center;"> talking about how he </span><i style="color: #050505; text-align: center;">much </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: center;">preferred a CD to a live performance. I am like that. Have been to live shows, concerts, pubs, but I much prefer the sound quality and "my own pace" for listening to music at home. Hearing it more than once is also so important. I always preferred the studio version CD to a live performance too. </span></p><p><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; text-align: center;">DEEP PURPLE MADE IN JAPAN is still touted as one of the best live albums, but even there, I prefer the studio recordings. The MACHINE HEAD remastered Anniversary 2CD Edition in particular, with alternate takes is extra special.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYVeesqCIz5XU-XaxboYyoFVq3FQSimMbMyV3TVIIzCh9ikmCRnkewIqOt-yk-58ydIlOseYi8iq5ZLqnI10ezaQkUn6ReMZ6XYCLSdtZ2qqgQ885BeF-xoeplCg1U8lf3GdKcWHRGZRG0sUhvCbMSszNCDgqCqM_KmfbwTHb2IKFVT3VnDLoQ3cIuq7N/s1120/%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1120" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYVeesqCIz5XU-XaxboYyoFVq3FQSimMbMyV3TVIIzCh9ikmCRnkewIqOt-yk-58ydIlOseYi8iq5ZLqnI10ezaQkUn6ReMZ6XYCLSdtZ2qqgQ885BeF-xoeplCg1U8lf3GdKcWHRGZRG0sUhvCbMSszNCDgqCqM_KmfbwTHb2IKFVT3VnDLoQ3cIuq7N/s320/%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B1%D0%BA%D0%B0-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I tend to think loving "live" is as much to do with being a "I like going out" (most likely an extravert, or tend to extravert) person as much as anything. If you are introverted, staying more home is preferred.<br /><p></p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-39122552368884329462024-01-23T21:41:00.000-08:002024-02-08T13:46:11.786-08:00Great Southern Land: 1982 Original vs 2023 Cassian Remix<p> </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsNSWIEROSUfxv0ds5PERs-nFjFcLjrrmpovpFjC_6govkZlanbcu9PaTH5I2vPsjSFZRwJQE8z2GPve8SX4hu3ERXefuW-zPgAVMoHPjhKwRn6Eer-sSZvaRiiKrhcV-AxHH7cBWitN9-77hHHvZdgrKUDJyxWXQLX7CGHCvis3tJVetyQnY2qtVdQxI/s600/old-iva-cmi.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="399" data-original-width="600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQsNSWIEROSUfxv0ds5PERs-nFjFcLjrrmpovpFjC_6govkZlanbcu9PaTH5I2vPsjSFZRwJQE8z2GPve8SX4hu3ERXefuW-zPgAVMoHPjhKwRn6Eer-sSZvaRiiKrhcV-AxHH7cBWitN9-77hHHvZdgrKUDJyxWXQLX7CGHCvis3tJVetyQnY2qtVdQxI/s320/old-iva-cmi.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Recent Iva Davies with his ancient CMI II</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p>The 1982<b> Great Southern Land</b> has become a classic Australian track. Iva Davies used a CMI in the making of this, a machine I was involved with myself at the time. I never met him when I worked at Fairlight though. Just briefly in the Roland Service department before I moved to Japan the first time. </p><p>If you don't know the original, this is it:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3mkidP2OUCk" width="320" youtube-src-id="3mkidP2OUCk"></iframe></div><br /><p>A few months ago YouTube decided to show me a recent <b><i>Sydney Morning TV</i></b> spot with Iva chatting about the track, his history and the renewed interest since the <b>Cassian </b>remix came out. </p><p>A remix?? Cassian??</p><p>Conveniently YouTube has the Cassian remix:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GX9xh1TdjEY" width="320" youtube-src-id="GX9xh1TdjEY"></iframe></div><br /><p>And I must say it sounds great. Thought at the time, <i><b>"I must see what he is doing with that awesome bass synth sound, drums and production"</b></i>. Started doing that this morning, while waiting for a customer to get back to me about an illustration and quote.</p><p>I made this little 14 seconds that demonstrate that it looks like most of the original tracks have been high pass filtered, so that when the new bass, drum and synth parts come in, the impact is <b>dramatic</b>, shown with the dramatically increased low end spectral information. What a great sound. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzFxTpDXlbPVkvvO4rzV5ZoLCHDOEhcho2SUeLC_f-HKVKfd1ku4UNebZ5CQ2CCjckLrPr071WHs715tDSI9g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><p>If you compare the original Ice House (Iva Davies band, even if he was mostly solo at the time of making this) track chorus with the remix chorus, you see the original has more low end in it, but nothing like the remix. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpbCyC5juZ44FlOuGWHkIkPMCD7531_5Yc0fEMv2OfGWt-uE4FF6-cg0I2hQ250MQnHWMfxQxEMTBqs5U59ooxQqJO7ewVhhoVsWhfNqUG9pn6jImANtX_wgMc6KD2QzBuGYktx42tnYMKm1IiDOsGKutimyxBdXkRd7ZIksLSeXxmrWPwxhi9z4lcWKJ3/s1080/Original-vs-Cassini.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="801" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpbCyC5juZ44FlOuGWHkIkPMCD7531_5Yc0fEMv2OfGWt-uE4FF6-cg0I2hQ250MQnHWMfxQxEMTBqs5U59ooxQqJO7ewVhhoVsWhfNqUG9pn6jImANtX_wgMc6KD2QzBuGYktx42tnYMKm1IiDOsGKutimyxBdXkRd7ZIksLSeXxmrWPwxhi9z4lcWKJ3/s320/Original-vs-Cassini.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>Looking at what else makes the remix "more compelling" also seems to be it is a little faster. The original track is 120BPM and the remix 124BPM, as far as I can tell using the TAP TEMPO function on my metronome.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCiv6c7TDUIt0HwAHKah3NVOkRa6V8GzikWe8G3RFy3Z6V_LZhdFVhN7kYe0n6PPOX3YY4vkGAyTjnGPnvJUj9DDOgEiheVS9MlCEbqVqM0rv0yH6e-YEJ-V7XaOJn0yoraMzqKoPXPXZ-Rc2QcKUAggPDVXib8V1v1y-boeViPfDTLL5y6nQrFgMq7JVa/s1212/124bpm.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1212" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCiv6c7TDUIt0HwAHKah3NVOkRa6V8GzikWe8G3RFy3Z6V_LZhdFVhN7kYe0n6PPOX3YY4vkGAyTjnGPnvJUj9DDOgEiheVS9MlCEbqVqM0rv0yH6e-YEJ-V7XaOJn0yoraMzqKoPXPXZ-Rc2QcKUAggPDVXib8V1v1y-boeViPfDTLL5y6nQrFgMq7JVa/s320/124bpm.JPG" width="238" /></a></div><br /><p>All interesting to know. I still need to work out what that bass sound is, and try using it in a track of my own, so this investigation isn't finished yet. It does look like he uses the <b><a href="https://vital.audio/">Vital - Spectral Warping Wavetable Synth</a></b> for his bass sounds though. Listening to his remix on headphones on repeat, shows there are many interesting things going on. This is another rabbit hole for me to fall into 😀 .</p><p>I was curious about <b>REMIXING </b>way before I saw this <b><i>2017 issue of Computer Music magazine</i></b>. So curious in fact that I bought the <i>super expensive</i> EXPRESS DELIVERY issue, rather than wait 3 months for sea freight to deliver the <i>normally expensive</i> overseas magazines to far off Australia.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyXMmVRgXgt5f3-2XchyHnHTBPuhWrMtyAIXt4zLwbiUAe_AxxHE12hheJ4eusDCjc6e2GfKelVWRsvng2Mcq5_5-F1NEAEZJSW54jHDnMgx7JMe5NrBYjC-_r3PN9CJS5nGUKt_3tEldNR5-9WinKm897C5tCH0BrMjFOjpyt79Kyqkxz6WUYQJRK1NP/s3074/cm-remix-issue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3074" data-original-width="2174" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXyXMmVRgXgt5f3-2XchyHnHTBPuhWrMtyAIXt4zLwbiUAe_AxxHE12hheJ4eusDCjc6e2GfKelVWRsvng2Mcq5_5-F1NEAEZJSW54jHDnMgx7JMe5NrBYjC-_r3PN9CJS5nGUKt_3tEldNR5-9WinKm897C5tCH0BrMjFOjpyt79Kyqkxz6WUYQJRK1NP/s320/cm-remix-issue.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Till now I have only done one real remixing experiment in 2017 that <a href="https://art-and-technology.blogspot.com/2017/09/remix-cara-delevingne.html"><b>I blogged about here</b></a>. But had previously blogged about the <a href="https://art-and-technology.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-remix-they-can-be-cool-cant-you.html"><b>remix in the SPAWN MOVIE Soundtrack</b></a>. Specifically the <b>Filter "Can't you trip like I do?"</b>, that I took decades to realize <b>was </b>a remix and nothing like the CRYSTAL METHOD original.<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Cassian ??</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Turns out Cassian is a Sydney DJ/ remixer/ producer, that is now American based. Looks like he knows his EDM stuff to me. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis-gc0kwTBXQ8SMGC8lCr01oGZPd8tgxTY3OZnqXcPzPiAfiDNKUtsVQIMgVljJ-4tLVws5v6CssK4-Aw1gMBRCa6FnQAInDdV-u-bYn8KKxbkQGa29NGr1hpafbx8vxP3htjIbkHBcA0r1XyukMHu-PlEYPQsrnmTf1OSoGxTvvIlVuMUkRgA8z07m3FB/s1023/cassian.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="727" data-original-width="1023" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis-gc0kwTBXQ8SMGC8lCr01oGZPd8tgxTY3OZnqXcPzPiAfiDNKUtsVQIMgVljJ-4tLVws5v6CssK4-Aw1gMBRCa6FnQAInDdV-u-bYn8KKxbkQGa29NGr1hpafbx8vxP3htjIbkHBcA0r1XyukMHu-PlEYPQsrnmTf1OSoGxTvvIlVuMUkRgA8z07m3FB/s320/cassian.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">His main tool is ABLETON LIVE. Live DJing is what he has mostly done. There are a fair few interview Q&As with him on various websites, and he doesn't seem to have any problem sharing his production techniques. On Spotify, his popular tracks seem to all be remixes. I have more to learn about and from him. His 2020 debut album, Laps is all Ableton LIVE, a Prophet 6 and Minimoog Model D and I need to have a listen now... <a href="https://open.spotify.com/album/5QWoAS89O3VclOrdfGR4If?si=dzT1dqobRPSP3jy_OXCjUg"><b>On Spotify it is here</b></a>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I have a soft spot for 90s style synth based Techno and Cassian hits that spot. Maybe called EDM now, but I just see it as Techno. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>EDIT: 2024/2/9</b> Have investigated more and found that Cassian's DJ sets includes tracks from other artists, such as Anyma and Pryda and they are basically all in the genre <b><i>Melodic Techno</i></b>. There are lots of blog posts and YouTube videos about how to make that genre too. The standard DJ thing is all a bit repetitive, but have been playing with adding some of the techniques to me own work. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></div><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-7973917827138311752024-01-22T18:28:00.000-08:002024-02-22T14:33:08.079-08:00Hi-Fi: NEW RECORD DAY - Open Baffle Speakers<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XRrgJ-_npls" width="320" youtube-src-id="XRrgJ-_npls"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p>I originally came across this Hi-Fi reviewing channel as he used a dummy head and was making proper binaural recordings to demonstrate loudspeakers. He did a really good job of it too. And not just because of my own interest in Headphones and Binaural audio.</p><p>His latest videos are about room treatment, and that alone sets him apart from the majority of the BS Hi-Fi crowd. Room treatment is such a vital part of a studio setup, that it is a complete joke when ignored. Anyone that doesn't have their listening space treated can not be taken seriously. </p><p>I discovered his channel shortly before COVID hit the world.<i> </i>During the pandemic he vanished for a while, then came back with a video saying how terrible getting covid had been for him and his family, needing hospitalization. I don't now if that video is still on his channel, but he really looked and sounded terrible, and this was shortly after "recovering".<i> He lives in TEXAS so I expect the prevailing influence of his church, and the ensuing social pressures meant he and family probably were not vaccinated. "Jesus is my vaccine" seemed to be the popular strategy there. Churches with people all singing was also a really good way to spread the nasty virus. </i> I am just assuming all that though, from my understanding of Texas (even Jesse James ex-Westcoast Choppers goes to church each Sunday now he lives there), and glad he got over it. So different from here in Kyoto Japan where "almost everyone" was masked and vaccinated from 2020 till end-ish 2023.</p><p>Anyway, he is a fan of <b>open baffle speakers</b>. Still a pretty rare configuration, don't exist at all in the <i><b>pro audio world</b></i>, but tend to think under the right conditions they must have advantages. I used to watch <b><a href="https://www.linkwitzlab.com/">LINKWITZ LAB</a></b> before he passed away and he was a fan of them too, and had the technical chops to produce his own. The designs are still available at the website.</p><p>I have became a fan of Open Back Headphones for listening to music at home in the last 2 years. Current favorites are AKG K702, as they just give a better sound field ( in a quiet environment). </p><p>The video above has a good demo of prototype open baffle speakers, that is well recorded, in a treated room. The music usually used to demo HiFi is rather sparse and he has done that here too, but that is okay. </p><p>Are they better than high end <b>ATC</b>, <b>GENELEC </b>or <b>PMC</b> from the studio world? I don't know.</p><p>Worth a listen. As a kid, I loved the cartoon <b><i>AUTOCAT and MOTORMOUSE</i></b> too, so I like the accent too I guess😀 . </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEg6KGcmEpzE7H1OGgcOq1qG3WaLnQN2bqzy2lxkyi9cb-oYtKYFcdOcxIdVLK8p1xq7H42HFvOONGVnYSlgIB92WkKCW3aZvnT2NDwyByJZ1MROdiryjSFXjMG-wsAnB2Tsels0y7DbRb-rKl9TWticX5xGBueG2NJ_SJHZQ-aASdOL-zNcI4xhpWZ1Z/s500/autocat-motormouse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYEg6KGcmEpzE7H1OGgcOq1qG3WaLnQN2bqzy2lxkyi9cb-oYtKYFcdOcxIdVLK8p1xq7H42HFvOONGVnYSlgIB92WkKCW3aZvnT2NDwyByJZ1MROdiryjSFXjMG-wsAnB2Tsels0y7DbRb-rKl9TWticX5xGBueG2NJ_SJHZQ-aASdOL-zNcI4xhpWZ1Z/s320/autocat-motormouse.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><b>NEW RECORD DAY</b>? Sounds like his channel originally reviewed records, and I have no idea how the name fits into what he does now, but it is a cool logo. Easy to embryoid patches with too. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8DWRrzwWuV6AKLuIwssSMlCQG6-rYZnUUYQfBRPqQo6t9WgdO0UiG-rZmpyr7VCt5EvmvsRtgAOtaDD8pSim4Z01edeY0NMjBx2duhZBdxsxUVC3XwEwzfuW0kQ7HvAoTHZ-sS9g_sjB_UgyZT-bqIDzff2_xYL-Eav9Smy4SLrI39yZkWSNPmQWMF_j/s450/NRD-logo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="159" data-original-width="450" height="113" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8DWRrzwWuV6AKLuIwssSMlCQG6-rYZnUUYQfBRPqQo6t9WgdO0UiG-rZmpyr7VCt5EvmvsRtgAOtaDD8pSim4Z01edeY0NMjBx2duhZBdxsxUVC3XwEwzfuW0kQ7HvAoTHZ-sS9g_sjB_UgyZT-bqIDzff2_xYL-Eav9Smy4SLrI39yZkWSNPmQWMF_j/s320/NRD-logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-86088516769876603732024-01-12T19:57:00.000-08:002024-01-12T19:58:45.823-08:00Why Don't You Do That Any More?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3XQVttqn5Xht-T7qXBVpAaFy5tH1ka8L0hm8E22nxthXMUpkcl7O72IFjQvWryE1-HFQbZWrQdVjqyNQOVcMcyt03Q_jM59H2ZFEk_an7sDhyphenhyphen2ELQlZmRUPCnSUhKy903AutWp0KusxNc554bolBto172Scs31WFVYZheIZJADT8U6XXSnV0Ex2moVe1Z/s1350/display-case-part.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3XQVttqn5Xht-T7qXBVpAaFy5tH1ka8L0hm8E22nxthXMUpkcl7O72IFjQvWryE1-HFQbZWrQdVjqyNQOVcMcyt03Q_jM59H2ZFEk_an7sDhyphenhyphen2ELQlZmRUPCnSUhKy903AutWp0KusxNc554bolBto172Scs31WFVYZheIZJADT8U6XXSnV0Ex2moVe1Z/s320/display-case-part.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br />I have a display case in <b><i>"the studio"</i></b>. Part of one side is shown above. Filled with things I have made, bought to use as reference when learning to sculpt with polymer clay, sculpted myself and some just made from kits.<p></p><p>The bottom section with the green arrow are original space vehicles and a stop frame animation robot I made from 1995 ~1998. Made from sheet plastic and various kit parts. My<b> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@adriansbruce/shorts" target="_blank">Youtube channel has some musical Shorts with making of pictures</a>. </b></p><p>A couple of weeks ago, my youngest son, now in his 30s, asked "why don't I make more of those?". They are the best looking things in the display case. I hadn't been asked that question before, but had thought about it. Basically the answer is:</p><p><b style="font-size: x-large;">I did that once, and don't feel a need to do it again</b><span style="font-size: x-large;">. </span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLCdRtqqUInHV7vN1wmxDVBvq-SDa_IYZkXbqlTF9Q_MLTe1bH5YvY3FvrstAGUZt_X_1tFSm6fReOZ-JGrLIPjob0yjnGyHLdnfBzowosjs0t8Aj_rUlfjufXuiJ4dEfV8dJvBEWZVZXD_8TviIF-SO9-XrJdhNhunoi-11InqO_uDnLptf20-j7svHs/s1800/fb-DESKTOP-more--articles.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1695" data-original-width="1800" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnLCdRtqqUInHV7vN1wmxDVBvq-SDa_IYZkXbqlTF9Q_MLTe1bH5YvY3FvrstAGUZt_X_1tFSm6fReOZ-JGrLIPjob0yjnGyHLdnfBzowosjs0t8Aj_rUlfjufXuiJ4dEfV8dJvBEWZVZXD_8TviIF-SO9-XrJdhNhunoi-11InqO_uDnLptf20-j7svHs/s320/fb-DESKTOP-more--articles.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />At the time I did them as part of my development of my Desktop Production. I wanted cool looking original vehicles and puppets and learnt what I needed to make them. It wasn't the models themselves that were my final goal, but short movies. In 2022 I came back and used these props, sets, vehicles and puppets, in what I call <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/rock-opera/index.html" target="_blank">My Sci-Fi Rock Opera</a></b>. <p></p><p>I think something I have always done is learn something "good enough" to do what I need. I could say my electronics/ firmware career was similar. I have no interest in electronics or firmware now in retirement, and don't feel any need to do it again! </p><p>My Guitar playing is also similar. Don't think of myself as "a guitarist", and don't collect guitars, even if I do have 3. I can basically do what I need to do my original material, and if I want to do something I can't at the moment, I learn to.</p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-38127137371034165992024-01-12T14:47:00.000-08:002024-01-13T21:48:14.161-08:00Trip to SYD MEAD LAB Nara Tsutaya Books 2024/1/11<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd948iSyuL-buq7l4b4GfF-8kqSEMDV9adUlr1nChSMy4psID3UlAG334EVCKVHuHUj30MLzKZGEMndFJxBIxHsWKc2dhotAvAQLOtd1bLyYMwhCAJHne9A5rwtUfTbEXvao32lctQFHMAZCJfrgWsgnKiyLpkNIYTG-F_aGs4YwUo6hKZFwCfBL6FeKlw/s640/sddefault.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd948iSyuL-buq7l4b4GfF-8kqSEMDV9adUlr1nChSMy4psID3UlAG334EVCKVHuHUj30MLzKZGEMndFJxBIxHsWKc2dhotAvAQLOtd1bLyYMwhCAJHne9A5rwtUfTbEXvao32lctQFHMAZCJfrgWsgnKiyLpkNIYTG-F_aGs4YwUo6hKZFwCfBL6FeKlw/s320/sddefault.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the last 3 months I have been to quite a few Gallery Art exhibits. Something I intend to continue with. This week it was the free "one year of his passing" <b>Syd Mead Lab</b> exhibition at Nara Tsutaya Books 2F Gallery. What is different about this artist though, is I have been a hard core Syd Mead devotee for decades, and am not just a casual viewer.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">They had put on an exhibit at the same place in 2020, that I would have liked to attend, but that was just as Covid-19 was really starting to kick in and I decided not travelling by train was the best thing to do.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So I didn't miss the opportunity this time, to see what was on offer. I was given a personnel tour by the Curator, Hiroshi Matsui that we pre-arranged. On X (twitter) he is <span color="inherit" style="font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: inherit; white-space: inherit;">@SydMode</span></div><div class="css-175oi2r r-1awozwy r-z2wwpe r-6koalj r-1q142lx" style="align-items: center; background-color: white; border-radius: 4px; border: 0px solid black; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-size: 15px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; z-index: 0;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFVkLcRXYEei02Ps0xsYxm1UvmJ6h6u7gHawn7tBpxrl8WDfSXF8rVg0cFe0pzaIXOeQ4F0EugMyEd-OfyObAavB4HccI1JKGXNuipOODSA7LXA1E7kSieazAG3Skv2SGWRr4YGo-dGEHIj3RHpIKL4Hew7BjlQ2iaEC7XwNu_Lc9iU7xEBOesvRoZMQi/s514/nara-trip-Screenshot%202024-01-13%20070547.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="514" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIFVkLcRXYEei02Ps0xsYxm1UvmJ6h6u7gHawn7tBpxrl8WDfSXF8rVg0cFe0pzaIXOeQ4F0EugMyEd-OfyObAavB4HccI1JKGXNuipOODSA7LXA1E7kSieazAG3Skv2SGWRr4YGo-dGEHIj3RHpIKL4Hew7BjlQ2iaEC7XwNu_Lc9iU7xEBOesvRoZMQi/s320/nara-trip-Screenshot%202024-01-13%20070547.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I hadn't seen most of what was on display before. Things like working faxes between Syd and Sunrise on the development of the TURN A GUNDAM designs and the original <b>1965 CELCON</b> ACETAL COPOLYMER book </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjop1SJiGsIhbFKei2k6AumYq_xcthfHhSDVncDBLsXl7sxP0xdgRzo5XC4iN6b5j97LMZb6nDRnYLyfRTm-ZXQobt3XXMV1zKieshflGo7hq1pNBeg2skUMX9sgTQJ5qqGGsk06Ud-odRruheb-cZBM-ctcS35fjwJsjxZ9sdRZTRkJGvkGKSopV2IpoTw/s621/1965-celcon.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="621" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjop1SJiGsIhbFKei2k6AumYq_xcthfHhSDVncDBLsXl7sxP0xdgRzo5XC4iN6b5j97LMZb6nDRnYLyfRTm-ZXQobt3XXMV1zKieshflGo7hq1pNBeg2skUMX9sgTQJ5qqGGsk06Ud-odRruheb-cZBM-ctcS35fjwJsjxZ9sdRZTRkJGvkGKSopV2IpoTw/s320/1965-celcon.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">and 3 of the actual size original (or prints) that went into the pages in it. Very graphic and stylized design work. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCg-cN95zMnjh-phpBjb3o9gHPsO2f554-B6PPQYv7US68Haw2sfhAvOJDV34V1_7oJvlkY6L6lhNVshhQwUDVXRRa6L6zfe9N5WilXMPZcvg446hwae5s2V1Q52rzr6OY9W_AiPZjiPV2yXRmiUQXkgcuBPkkciD2sIOB-PACD0EGKJuEGBtMzo9A0u2/s1499/celcon-display.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1499" data-original-width="882" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjCg-cN95zMnjh-phpBjb3o9gHPsO2f554-B6PPQYv7US68Haw2sfhAvOJDV34V1_7oJvlkY6L6lhNVshhQwUDVXRRa6L6zfe9N5WilXMPZcvg446hwae5s2V1Q52rzr6OY9W_AiPZjiPV2yXRmiUQXkgcuBPkkciD2sIOB-PACD0EGKJuEGBtMzo9A0u2/s320/celcon-display.jpg" width="188" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He very kindly took the book out of the locked display case and showed me the first few pages, next to the original paintings. I took photos for my own reference, but not to publish online in no<i> "FAIR USE"</i> Japan. Now it isn't like I don't have SYD MEADS artworks, my own collection is this:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9v7BJ5XZPamr5YTzbZ3d_QulO5vYHbGVSyG594RsJzFoheyPFN9aXVNosx7NmH2SedWz_W7d3_lkTO4pBQs44j2i1tPOi9HS4a8G_168KsdRQduXALJUqYF6jAwmx-zRODdn0zJQpZVBzr9xgI_UD54ROuIJMRpEh5Z7U9u50h5-YhyIfg68Ff9kLcJiD/s2446/my%20books.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2446" data-original-width="2250" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9v7BJ5XZPamr5YTzbZ3d_QulO5vYHbGVSyG594RsJzFoheyPFN9aXVNosx7NmH2SedWz_W7d3_lkTO4pBQs44j2i1tPOi9HS4a8G_168KsdRQduXALJUqYF6jAwmx-zRODdn0zJQpZVBzr9xgI_UD54ROuIJMRpEh5Z7U9u50h5-YhyIfg68Ff9kLcJiD/s320/my%20books.jpg" width="294" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But my <b>kronovecta </b>book, from the big <b>KRONOLOG </b>boxed set has 10 pages on this <b>CELCON </b>work, but the reproduced pages are very much just thumbnails, and the 23 page images are almost too small to read.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So it was great to see many life sized sketches and paintings, even if some were high quality prints. He had a lovely set of 3 A2 limited edition prints for sale, which I would have liked to have, but I don't have any wall space to frame and display them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">He also had on display models, toys and kits of Syd Meads designs and made me realize I have a few myself. Such as the SULACO from ALIENS, A TURN Gundam figures, and my unbuilt models like the YAMATO 2520 & BLADERUNNER LAZER SPINNER. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLACUchwMJ72l3__zLnVfhp08t0fUuP-x5-oFQZO647zggLuZ_xr7vF_Wb4v4BCkoKcjN8XYR5QUOrqwK5THm7o8VW2jBsZPBaCK4qOaSwYzWDYIqz4w11WC06OOvaUidahKmK5cV8xTB7QGb9JSQU20KNIBXU8uOzFgyiAUE3jVS3VrEX7HkX1JYCMd5e/s2767/20200723_185152-1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1807" data-original-width="2767" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLACUchwMJ72l3__zLnVfhp08t0fUuP-x5-oFQZO647zggLuZ_xr7vF_Wb4v4BCkoKcjN8XYR5QUOrqwK5THm7o8VW2jBsZPBaCK4qOaSwYzWDYIqz4w11WC06OOvaUidahKmK5cV8xTB7QGb9JSQU20KNIBXU8uOzFgyiAUE3jVS3VrEX7HkX1JYCMd5e/s320/20200723_185152-1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div>A key thing to me was the original sketch with Syd's words <b>THE FUTURE IS TERRIFIC - I'VE BEEN THERE</b>. To me, there is such joy and hope in his elaborate future paintings with peoples, animals, vehicles and environments. Inspiring!<div><br /></div><div>So did a rough 2B pencil sketch the next morning: <br /><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQ0K1OkjmOcEwe953_JeBs3XKWXhaVbpnytTVPv-yi6_5Bnp3qU4pPMuUPPk3EBu9Isx7uCRgZD6OQ1JU7JXeHfv3LrJJXnKhsjthcdkKBZAy9OadJjiSjrcEk3MTZnW4HWdE7zRi533greksE5Hfz53-gKH0Eb7Q9aJg8fXJO6_o_oyIz7RUZG0CTTcn/s1500/tw-mead-ladb-skect%20copy-small.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1500" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGQ0K1OkjmOcEwe953_JeBs3XKWXhaVbpnytTVPv-yi6_5Bnp3qU4pPMuUPPk3EBu9Isx7uCRgZD6OQ1JU7JXeHfv3LrJJXnKhsjthcdkKBZAy9OadJjiSjrcEk3MTZnW4HWdE7zRi533greksE5Hfz53-gKH0Eb7Q9aJg8fXJO6_o_oyIz7RUZG0CTTcn/s320/tw-mead-ladb-skect%20copy-small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><p>First time for me to take the bit over an hour trip from home in Kyoto to the bookstore. About an hour by 2 trains to Shin-Omiya Station, then a 12 minute walk to the site that is next to the Nara Convention Center.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCnb3CHIySW7CUxcKDB4wUDqsJkGiUNdU1v-ITUA6BtUL9MHOnuEPwdB86w0q0V55Xwb0d_NlOPzx7rZT9lea_C3wC2x-dUCoREdYVdId40LquNvNaN6-KLU87tW_eHpY7VDHtRtaWkx5Ljvqdtu72ryDp0jOde00w90_haFuWyD2_SHtpCSlKm_81LRI/s1164/Tsutaya-books-Nara.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1164" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXCnb3CHIySW7CUxcKDB4wUDqsJkGiUNdU1v-ITUA6BtUL9MHOnuEPwdB86w0q0V55Xwb0d_NlOPzx7rZT9lea_C3wC2x-dUCoREdYVdId40LquNvNaN6-KLU87tW_eHpY7VDHtRtaWkx5Ljvqdtu72ryDp0jOde00w90_haFuWyD2_SHtpCSlKm_81LRI/s320/Tsutaya-books-Nara.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Tsutaya is a wonderful bookstore/ Starbucks café. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-qCk4a2dfJzNrLCToZ1LayCIOKP6_4JeSGO7lTziEYoMAwL4bOiXBShw_l43DVxWRqjyx3oHq7hTA9vPA3FMDvaAqH_xQYChfSanMrcs7DxV2DH-ZWAUPL1n37hc4JdqMKh6BjRKa36duyzyHsE_2v23T0f1k2nzwmY0U-LFZj8qsTS3Qsnl5lQfAGp7/s4000/DSC_1535.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2250" data-original-width="4000" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz-qCk4a2dfJzNrLCToZ1LayCIOKP6_4JeSGO7lTziEYoMAwL4bOiXBShw_l43DVxWRqjyx3oHq7hTA9vPA3FMDvaAqH_xQYChfSanMrcs7DxV2DH-ZWAUPL1n37hc4JdqMKh6BjRKa36duyzyHsE_2v23T0f1k2nzwmY0U-LFZj8qsTS3Qsnl5lQfAGp7/s320/DSC_1535.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Hope to keep in touch with and meet up with Hiroshi Matsui again in the near future. A card he gave me says SYD MEAD LAB will be at Osaka COMICON 2024 May 3~5</p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p></div><p><br /></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-74206078424989245822024-01-07T21:44:00.000-08:002024-02-15T14:49:40.292-08:00/The Social Dilemma<p><b> </b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KFbXlhmGQLotKKlKJjY8HlggTDQpkEcj3ym5UVduXOvhcxYLxTRR65k3NrT7QTbep5waM0pjfZdtZI7iYQ2v4YMeVJ7v9C_LEB7GXPzoEy4Ts8nw5V7EK_Yg8FWmJe9w8OmYE_hcMSvZiLmg_sT4zomM_v9CPkWRNz7QuG0d0zhGp62Z1MfK8iK1cqpZ/s852/netflix-Screenshot%202024-01-08%20144355.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="680" data-original-width="852" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-KFbXlhmGQLotKKlKJjY8HlggTDQpkEcj3ym5UVduXOvhcxYLxTRR65k3NrT7QTbep5waM0pjfZdtZI7iYQ2v4YMeVJ7v9C_LEB7GXPzoEy4Ts8nw5V7EK_Yg8FWmJe9w8OmYE_hcMSvZiLmg_sT4zomM_v9CPkWRNz7QuG0d0zhGp62Z1MfK8iK1cqpZ/s320/netflix-Screenshot%202024-01-08%20144355.jpg" width="320" /></a></b></div><b><br /></b><p></p><p><b>/The Social Dilemma</b> is a 2020 Netflix documentary I have only just got around to starting. Except I seem to have read all about what it is about anyway.</p><p><b>Social Media</b> is designed to be <b>addictive</b>, <b>manipulating </b>and keep you <b>"wasting time you could be spending doing something beneficial" in the process of changing your behavior</b>, for the sake of the site <b><i>Advertisers </i></b>. The way it <b>manipulates and is addictive</b> also makes you feel pretty <b>terrible </b>much of the time. The <b>Fear Of Missing Out </b>is part of this too. A key point is <b style="font-style: italic;">Advertisers </b>may have a product or a political agender, and dis-information is more profitable. </p><p>The ex-senior people from social media companies go into details on how they do that, with re-enactments as demonstrations.</p><p>A key thing happens early. A main guy in this documentary, at Google at the time, wrote an article how terrible all this manipulation was and sent it to colleagues in Google. One day he was told the company CEO was told about it 3 times in one day, must have read it too... and <b><i>absolutely nothing happened about it</i></b>. </p><p>Four years later, <b style="font-style: italic;">absolutely nothing happened about it,</b><i> and it is just as manipulative. </i>The companies themselves aren't ever going to change direction. </p><p><b><i>Except that for me</i></b>, it seems not checking Social Media is getting far easier, as it now doesn't actually show anything I care about any more. <i> </i>Facebook stopped showing anything any friend posted years ago, doesn't show anything I post to anyone unless I want to pay(!), so I get so little engagement there is nothing to miss out on there any more. That <b>Fear Of Missing Out </b>is just gone.</p><p>I don't, and have never used any social media apps, except Facebook Messenger. Only ever use a web browser, never have notifications <i><b>ON</b></i>, and that seems to be a significant factor in not being manipulated "as much" (but still to some degree). </p><p><b>X</b> (was Twitter after <i>Mulosk </i>screwed around with it), is similarly filled with rubbish in the <b>For You</b> time line, that I don't need to check any more. But to see what <b>Urasawa Naoki</b> is up to, and when the next episodes of <b>Manben Neo</b> will be, I have to directly check his account. And others I care about too. </p><p><b>Mastodon</b> social media do not have the manipulation and addiction of the commercial social media sites, but also not a whole lot of incentive to log on and stay active long on the site either. Just lots of small talk. Also "seems like" the separate hosts don't share posts between them, so you end up having a very small potential audience there. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEpThw2ERIBlXhSaqbTuKTYhPvaPHafsY84bwNS9QeOSK-JxmpTZ_BFNyIX3oV4SUoC1Cxe_6Hee80P7thxYtSHhz0vF7xu8Y3U2E-JUl_VErwZIVgTSyRRPmuIenzGGSIq2W7zb5QICH0qzsqngH-CXY_OYz6QpeKZzagMgTBn2UAg4GZsDly78wxmUl/s1379/rss-reader-Screenshot%202024-01-08%20144137.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="873" data-original-width="1379" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidEpThw2ERIBlXhSaqbTuKTYhPvaPHafsY84bwNS9QeOSK-JxmpTZ_BFNyIX3oV4SUoC1Cxe_6Hee80P7thxYtSHhz0vF7xu8Y3U2E-JUl_VErwZIVgTSyRRPmuIenzGGSIq2W7zb5QICH0qzsqngH-CXY_OYz6QpeKZzagMgTBn2UAg4GZsDly78wxmUl/s320/rss-reader-Screenshot%202024-01-08%20144137.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p>To counter the hell of commercial social media, it has been loudly suggested we go back to using <b>RSS Feeds</b> and an <b>RSS Reader</b> to make your own "social media timeline" , from websites and blogs you like and follow, the way we did before the infinite scrolling timeline and social media existed. I do like this old school approach, but people like that fore mentioned mangaka, <b>Urasawa Naoki</b> don't have a blog or website. The NHK Manben website also doesn't have a RSS Feed, so making your own feed is not always possible. Probable solutions, like a bot to scan the web and make an RSS Feed from places that don't natively make them, seems too much work. Not something interested in paying for either. We will wait and see. </p><p>Think for the majority of Internet uses, RSS Readers and the like are not something they would ever use. </p><p>I have tried a few RSS readers. Raven, Feedly and Inoreader. I have also published our website RSS Feed again, something I stopped many years ago, as I have to generate it manually (with a little help from FeedEdit) when ever I update a page on our website. What that means is I have complete control of what is in the Rss feed, and used it to test the Feed readers. I have found the free Inoreader and Raven to work fine, but Feedly has an issue not being updated. It could be Feedly or it could be the host blocking Feedly, and if my hosting company does that, then who knows what others do too. The advantage of an Online feedreader, such as <b>Inoreader</b>. is you can use it in a browser on the desktop AND your phone. Feedly seems to get all the recommendations, but I guess, like everything on the Internet, you can't believe <i><b>everything </b></i>you read. </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-12801991668738578222024-01-04T14:56:00.000-08:002024-01-04T19:35:11.547-08:00The 6 Weeks Ending 2023<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpQBWAyQUtgJRARc0aRkkcGQk_O2pZnz1bD64Z65U6G8jXHN0KhQbSEkFwEDGvZVZpHiwtgfT8OnQEgQ7zJ1hKCO48YPKkXEnFPVQjRXvJtIuHTqbnoUShxvF9I7XYd9GHUycpccdUEiL64ds-m3IAWkpyjZOQxrrWGnhLLtQzkHyrrLMVt4zHXKZmVrX/s1200/dec-2023.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="831" data-original-width="1200" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPpQBWAyQUtgJRARc0aRkkcGQk_O2pZnz1bD64Z65U6G8jXHN0KhQbSEkFwEDGvZVZpHiwtgfT8OnQEgQ7zJ1hKCO48YPKkXEnFPVQjRXvJtIuHTqbnoUShxvF9I7XYd9GHUycpccdUEiL64ds-m3IAWkpyjZOQxrrWGnhLLtQzkHyrrLMVt4zHXKZmVrX/s320/dec-2023.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><b>The 6 Weeks Ending 2023</b> was a really busy time. Our daughter visited for 4 weeks from Australia, I had my 65th birthday, went to many Art exhibits and events, cafes, restaurants and then the kids and grandson stayed over New Year.<div><br /></div><div><b>ICONS OF URBAN ART</b> at the <b>Kyoto City KYOCERA Museum of Art</b> was an opportunity to see BANSKY art in person. Wasn't a huge exhibit, but interesting. Just one of the things I saw with our daughter. <br /><p></p><p>So happy, and so tired. Taken a week+ to recover. It will take longer to consider what I saw and did.</p><p>The end of the year is a time I look back, and forward. Did I get done what I intended to do the last year? Did I go off on really interesting tangents in the process? Did that matter? What new things appeared that I would never have considered in this journey? What had I prepared years ago, then forgotten about as it was out of sight?</p><p>In previous decades had career advancement and own family to put a lot of effort into. Things are different in retirement now. I have no career to get on with, and our kids are all in their 30s with places of their own. Concerns are now more about our health, my Japanese proficiency and my own creative projects and interests. </p><p>In 2023 I caught up with things like <b>ROCKY I & II, TITANIC, SPACE TRUCKERS, THE EXORCIST, SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER</b> &<b> THE BREAKFAST CLUB</b>. Movies I had just never seen for one reason or the other, and I wonder how that happened, but mostly I was just busy doing other things. Except <b>SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER. </b>At the time disco was "the enemy" and we thought most into it were morons, which the movie actually plays up too. It is a great movie though! Have now almost finished <b>Star Trek Voyager</b>. I think the first couple of years were shown on Japanese TV then I didn't have the chance to finish it till we got Netflix last year. Same for <b>Star Trek DS9</b>, that I saw the first 2 seasons of then lost the opportunity. Will finish that this year, hopefully.</p><p>I also caught up with some music that had passed me by too. Mostly albums from <b>SMASHING PUMPKINS, MARTY FRIEDMAN, JOHN CARPENTER, PORCUPINE TREE/ STEVE WILSON </b>and <b>PINK FLOYD</b>. </p><p>I did a few caricatures and cartoons again in 2023, but my biggest creative project was an Album of <b>Melodic Ambient Music</b>, <b><a href="https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/album/spirograph-the-album" target="_blank">Spirograph </a></b>and a few accompanying videos and animations. Doing abstract geometric animations for them was also a new thing for me. That musical journey was started after seeing the great <b>Hans Zimmer Hollywood Rebel</b> documentary. A few of the more interesting pieces used recordings I made using my <b>ZOOM H1</b> portable recorder,</p><p>I bought the <b>H1</b> many years ago, and every few years have tried using recordings from it in music projects. This year was the first time I liked the results and released the tracks. So success at last, and Ambient tracks I actually listen to myself. </p><p>Unexpectedly, our cat decided he must spend most of everyday with me now. Usually in a chair next to me. I must say I do like his company. He is with me as I write this blog post. Does mean using bottled ink and Nib pens is out of the question. He can jump on my desk at anytime wanting affection.</p><p>The COVID Pandemic is not the panic it was 3 years ago. It is still mutating and lots of people are getting sick, as much as previous years, and LONG COVID still has no cure. All the tourists coming to Japan consider it over though. We remain cautious when out and about. </p><p><b><span style="font-size: medium;">We are all on our own journeys. Hope 2024 goes well for us all!</span></b></p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p></div><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-20772102852240622322024-01-03T14:56:00.000-08:002024-01-03T15:11:57.367-08:00Mixing on Headphones <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ovp6VnEWcWH9ZmduQOC3aSz6rhRn8lbUXaY8gHQ9jeo0QrYheAlT5svuy1JM-LOU_2UM1R9tzQwVciRRg55-V15h4O6N3qN71zD_WSLD71sR1_N2F3K9K_hD7Js9Sw9QiQ_9kTC9w9CGRdo7mLC5ZhXJOTjv_XvYTFzx0CoLoWotDPk3V5Cm4B2Xsvge/s2187/akg-k702-dearmix-Screenshot%202024-01-04%20072206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="976" data-original-width="2187" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0ovp6VnEWcWH9ZmduQOC3aSz6rhRn8lbUXaY8gHQ9jeo0QrYheAlT5svuy1JM-LOU_2UM1R9tzQwVciRRg55-V15h4O6N3qN71zD_WSLD71sR1_N2F3K9K_hD7Js9Sw9QiQ_9kTC9w9CGRdo7mLC5ZhXJOTjv_XvYTFzx0CoLoWotDPk3V5Cm4B2Xsvge/s320/akg-k702-dearmix-Screenshot%202024-01-04%20072206.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>There is so much misinformation and opinion paraded as fact on Social Media and the Internet in general. One such thing is that "<b><i>you can not mix on headphones</i></b>". </p><p>Thing is, a real expert, <b>Andrew Scheps</b> does it all the time now out of necessity. Just uses widely available SONY headphones, as that is what he taught himself to use. As long as you know what you are hearing, and how that translates, you could use anything.</p><p>I am no mixing expert. I have had reasonable results in the last few months using AKG K702 headphones and DEAR VR MIX, a virtual headphone mixing room. A slow moving SPECTRAL Display (Voxengo SPAN) is also a vital tool for me. Previous to that I used a few different "mix over headphone" tools with similar results. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgWQl6-CDSA2bOq8dmngs2b_Zk-DTHTedwuihGukWU9frHsKog0FD32pMT_CSImvVCNpDISiMQ_tCqvSm81vgMBO1OIRQbUkRS6fEGgmz6M4yerWdF1UWzCPUm9IokQBFQWcUOrDhupAWPkWYZV6iFDG68aEdicZEzjfUmG2SX7sJHt-fEuZkDzK_WmFy/s2798/mix-comparosion-Screenshot%202024-01-04%20080939.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1011" data-original-width="2798" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdgWQl6-CDSA2bOq8dmngs2b_Zk-DTHTedwuihGukWU9frHsKog0FD32pMT_CSImvVCNpDISiMQ_tCqvSm81vgMBO1OIRQbUkRS6fEGgmz6M4yerWdF1UWzCPUm9IokQBFQWcUOrDhupAWPkWYZV6iFDG68aEdicZEzjfUmG2SX7sJHt-fEuZkDzK_WmFy/s320/mix-comparosion-Screenshot%202024-01-04%20080939.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>My Mix Comparison Project is also useful for seeing and hearing how other commercial track are setup and mixed and mastered. Very educational. </p><p>My main speakers are small JBL 104s and I am in a tiny room, so mixing on headphones has great advantages for me. </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v5dIosSyop0" width="320" youtube-src-id="v5dIosSyop0"></iframe></div><br /><p></p><p>Have been told this Ambient track sounds amazing, so that is all I am after. </p><p>My music is not on Spotify, just <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/adriansbruce/featured" target="_blank">Youtube</a></b>, <b><a href="https://soundcloud.com/megacurve" target="_blank">Soundcloud </a></b>and <b><a href="https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">Bandcamp</a></b>, </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-576221481648983342023-11-10T20:21:00.020-08:002024-02-05T13:13:52.516-08:00When Slot Cars Were A Thing. But are they Back?<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Pcvkuk-JzTyz0Bi9g6MzIBBwJllGv-IagThS9Lo7Ri_9ay3trKY_fxWq5r1L00jU3RvwZIj-rxIEQMKFAiBy3ZO4WjYY_fLbdmBsspvl4q5njY1NA0IngiDrgHqMvc8FkYruSru8jN6j0k6gYaLt-zJySjxfG1ZOMx-qwyJ-Ec7ojavqF1UReeDxMYX0/s1153/afx.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1153" height="222" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1Pcvkuk-JzTyz0Bi9g6MzIBBwJllGv-IagThS9Lo7Ri_9ay3trKY_fxWq5r1L00jU3RvwZIj-rxIEQMKFAiBy3ZO4WjYY_fLbdmBsspvl4q5njY1NA0IngiDrgHqMvc8FkYruSru8jN6j0k6gYaLt-zJySjxfG1ZOMx-qwyJ-Ec7ojavqF1UReeDxMYX0/s320/afx.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>I was crazy about cars when I was in Junior High School early 1970s. Hot rods, drag cars, plastic 1/24 models and HO Slot cars were all connected in my way of thinking then. This was way before I discovered electronics and audio.</p><p>The American model car magazines <b>Model Car</b> and <b>Model Car Science </b>covered it all, and I had tracked down a few imported issues at Sydney newsagents. Magazines like <b>ROAD & TRACK</b> and <b>AUTOSPORT </b>and others covered the remaining cool stuff. Most of it didn't exist like that in Australia though. American styled Hot Rods and Choppers, where tires where not completely covered by fenders, for example, were not road legal in Australia. The only home slot cars back then were the UK Scalextric, which were really dull in comparison. They didn't even have fat tires back then.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPugPIX43sYI4hcw-Fsyoib6OICwgdicMpDpQfjIT2DKHN2PSOvL83VgdqnKfbf64xVNh5AeTKWwjRvhzYmv7fDJV48mbytMFb34Jnd0I0hp-fC2il_pvoWLqyJH3zLAR6gvjo23jUduVEe8HrrrM2lG6QaSLpCmhjKXAjM2cl02mQ5Q4gskJ5AqnbNOJ/s1084/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1084" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuPugPIX43sYI4hcw-Fsyoib6OICwgdicMpDpQfjIT2DKHN2PSOvL83VgdqnKfbf64xVNh5AeTKWwjRvhzYmv7fDJV48mbytMFb34Jnd0I0hp-fC2il_pvoWLqyJH3zLAR6gvjo23jUduVEe8HrrrM2lG6QaSLpCmhjKXAjM2cl02mQ5Q4gskJ5AqnbNOJ/s320/1.jpg" width="244" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The American stuff just seemed very exciting. And then something really amazing happened. <b>AURORA AFX</b> slot cars came to Australia! I could buy my own set. Similar to the way <b>Hot Wheels</b> had come to Australia end of the 1960s. </div><div><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ldUUxUWv1n0ExDy2ifixuANi8rS6NIAlEbHDjS4T0FRohA2U0JzmO5vXQF6H49pYeSIsyYZz3SwRDVDRcxMK-1m1kuivrmE75Zte3uyO7j-6O-73a9eaELPp5AhVy8jBGo2W5uxe_oqlOKECxNP2nVktkwjNzv70Ne4YMQxZa1OUfHx9jWy5-LrEu0Ld/s943/Screenshot%202023-11-11%20123242.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="943" data-original-width="698" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4ldUUxUWv1n0ExDy2ifixuANi8rS6NIAlEbHDjS4T0FRohA2U0JzmO5vXQF6H49pYeSIsyYZz3SwRDVDRcxMK-1m1kuivrmE75Zte3uyO7j-6O-73a9eaELPp5AhVy8jBGo2W5uxe_oqlOKECxNP2nVktkwjNzv70Ne4YMQxZa1OUfHx9jWy5-LrEu0Ld/s320/Screenshot%202023-11-11%20123242.jpg" width="237" /></a></div><br /><p>I saved like crazy and eventually bought a set. I remember <b><i>ALAN MOFFAT</i></b>, a top touring car driver for Ford being at the Chatswood Grace Brothers store in Sydney promoting the AFX slot cars, and that may have been the day I bought my set. I do remember most of the kids there being about 5 years old, so image their fathers were there to see Alan, rather than the slot cars.</p><p>I have kept 2 of the cars from back then, the <b>101 UOP SHADOW CAN-AM</b> car and the <b>PORSCHE 917 Coupe</b>, pictured at the top of the page. These are from the time before magnets were added to attract to the power rails, to increase the speed they could go around corners. I remember reading the slot car section of Model Car when someone started doing this to their cars in a slot car club, the rules didn't disallow it, and there was much discussion as to if it should be banned or not. </p><p>Road racing like CAN-AM and Le-Mans 24Hr was a major interest back then. I eventually made a larger layout and had it setup on a large board with scenery in the workshop under my parents house. I played with it mostly by myself, and the friends that did visit had little interest in it. </p><p><b>TYCO </b>was the other American HO scale brand, but it never come to Australia in my time. </p><p>Recently <b>Youtube </b>started to show me slot car related videos. Maybe me looking at Archives of old model car magazines I used to have but threw away in the early 1980s triggered that. The chassis of the current slotcars looked familiar, but the brands didn't. They all have those added traction magnets now. Only today found out <b>AURORA </b>went out of business in 1983 (and all IP then bought by TAKARA TOMY ) and <b>TYCO</b> was bought by MATTEL late 1990s.</p><p>The Youtube videos covered race sets and cars from <b>Autoworld ( </b>has <b>AURORA </b>styled pancake motor cars and tracks ) and other smaller brands that make equivalent <b>TYCO </b>styled stuff.<b> </b></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHfMEl5_sNoTSKxdL2N4dvbEYNMTTfGKPBu4ybpOcFlOTgOoX2r4PM8cwGwJ87JApRqlTq-n8JBn7qnLpP1vlidag87C_9udG7j0OUZ21PcPGHYA-qanI6Bro8vONr62VBZ5I42rkXPsH9grjoxK2oSR6FUQt7M80x6wnCPPxmBOgwdZdxTGB-M5zGgzh/s2000/aw-dragset.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlHfMEl5_sNoTSKxdL2N4dvbEYNMTTfGKPBu4ybpOcFlOTgOoX2r4PM8cwGwJ87JApRqlTq-n8JBn7qnLpP1vlidag87C_9udG7j0OUZ21PcPGHYA-qanI6Bro8vONr62VBZ5I42rkXPsH9grjoxK2oSR6FUQt7M80x6wnCPPxmBOgwdZdxTGB-M5zGgzh/s320/aw-dragset.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Quite a few of the videos have seen have been HO scale <b>Drag Racing</b> using an Autoworld set that has an electronic Christmas tree and finishing gate. Looks pretty cool, but just know it would get boring after 5 minutes. Drag racing is partly about driver reaction time, but mostly about car performance, and having just 2 cars wouldn't have the variation in competitors to make that fun. <p></p><p>Road racing is all about going as fast as possible each lap without coming off at the turns and that takes practice and the use of lots of different speeds. Far more play value in that than purely reaction time. </p><p>These days can see why Computer Games like <b>Forza Horizon</b> , (even though I have never played it) makes old toys like slot cars obsolete. </p><p>There was a big commercial slot car track, the oldest in Australia, with 2 large 8 lane 1/24 scale set ups not far from Waitara Station that I had visited more than a few time in 1972 ~ 1974 or so. I even made a 1/24 race car with a lexan body. At the least it taught me how to solder.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Vfd7gEo3Mx8btRm0AHhrQXAwxQlmclMyf6zbHA1dg2h4V7bwzL8YhyphenhyphenMcGCGzuSEUO3jJB5vqNJUY6MnVjOBuQr7zxhmSbq-eq-WPnR2LqecrNbfeuwOGXms-O6VWPFMKGauN52Gs-IfjnnpBc3N9s3RR3_ShSOFrsWvtU0FSMf0RFo_Ay381ftwMQkhR/s537/slots-Screenshot%202023-11-12%20075840.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="426" data-original-width="537" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Vfd7gEo3Mx8btRm0AHhrQXAwxQlmclMyf6zbHA1dg2h4V7bwzL8YhyphenhyphenMcGCGzuSEUO3jJB5vqNJUY6MnVjOBuQr7zxhmSbq-eq-WPnR2LqecrNbfeuwOGXms-O6VWPFMKGauN52Gs-IfjnnpBc3N9s3RR3_ShSOFrsWvtU0FSMf0RFo_Ay381ftwMQkhR/s320/slots-Screenshot%202023-11-12%20075840.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Sure I spent more time making and remaking the chassis than actually racing it on a track. Would have visited the racetrack more, except getting from my parents place in St.Ives to Waitara on the weekend was very difficult using public transport back then, with the train line closed for maintenance and almost no bus service to the local Pymble Train Station! This was back when all shops were closed on Sundays and only open till midday Saturdays! Had to walk over an hour home from Pymble station on a few occasions. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdi-qmooERtshZrTR0B3ygwt9DqXaznQyYqLKaUD_X7gVfmg4u6IE_cKudtHsdiiy7Kb2gsfBVzOY1ABiV_NVUTNhIeYK4J1tnGIvS791TzAX2kMVzxaoqsM2ntn5zaKSHG98noc17UcRL_axRYaleLC1qit-AN2BA2MPsa6nku8yWQt66GxOCO465Lgf/s690/waiitara-slots-hay-days.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="690" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdi-qmooERtshZrTR0B3ygwt9DqXaznQyYqLKaUD_X7gVfmg4u6IE_cKudtHsdiiy7Kb2gsfBVzOY1ABiV_NVUTNhIeYK4J1tnGIvS791TzAX2kMVzxaoqsM2ntn5zaKSHG98noc17UcRL_axRYaleLC1qit-AN2BA2MPsa6nku8yWQt66GxOCO465Lgf/s320/waiitara-slots-hay-days.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Read that it shut down and closed in June 2021.<i> "<span style="background-color: white;"><span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="color: #282828;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">the oldest, continuously running raceway in Australia, being</span></span></span><strong style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> </strong><span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-size: 14px;">"Hornsby Slot Cars," originally "Waitara Raceway," in the northern suburbs of Sydney in New South Wales, will close its doors and cease operation </span><span face="helvetica, arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #282828; font-size: 14px;">at the end of June."</span></i><br /><p>Interestingly,<b> Applied Technology,</b> appeared very close to that old slot car place a few years later, and became a major mecca for all things microcomputer and me in 1978~ 1983 or so, and I could drive there then!</p><p>In my <b>Semi-Retirement</b> I sometimes think about what I used to find fun, and why it isn't now, or why <b><i>that </i></b><i><b>thing </b></i>vanished. Slot cars was one of those <b><i>things</i></b>.</p><p>When downsizing and preparing to move back to Japan in 2019, I just took all the slotcar tracks and other stuff I still had, and the old toys our kids had to the dump and threw them away. Many car loads. It had proven impossible <b><i>to sell, or even give away</i></b>, anything where we lived, and time was running out to move. Just didn't have the space for that stuff any more. A shame, but it was all I could do. A year or so later our oldest son discovered via a Netflix documentary all the original <b>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles</b> toys I had bought for him on my trips to America had become quite valuable, but he hadn't looked at them in 20years and didn't have the space to take them before I had to throw them away. </p><p>That is just the way things go.</p><p><b>Update 2023/11/22</b> Seen a few YouTube videos saying <b><i>Slot Car Racing IS Back! </i></b>I don't know about that, and if it means the 1/32 scale Carrera and Scalextric digital sets. Also 2 of the HO scale Drag Racing channels have gotten rid of their HO tracks. I am not shocked at this, as there isn't much entertainment value in a Drag Strip with 1 or 2 guys and cars. Part of the problem for circuit racing seems to be autoworld HO track isn't wide enough for many modern cars. Also QC issues. Using 1/43 or 1/32 scale Carrera track with HO cars a better approach. The HO car guide pin needs to be enlarged with a plastic sleeve, and possibly gluing on some braid to the front of the pickups is all that is needed. </p><p>I find it hard to believe to would really be back though...</p><p>The 2020 to 2023 Covid years were a boom to many hobbies as people spent much time at home. Music instrument sales went through the roof too. I think the booms are over now, and many will get back to what they were doing the years before 2020. </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-53739947953313729112023-10-30T00:19:00.012-07:002023-12-02T14:52:45.103-08:00Free Art & Music Webpages & The Google Unsearch<p>For the longest time our <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>Art And Technology</b></a> website was for the serious business of showcasing our <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/cartoons/index.html" target="_blank">illustration work</a></b>, and it did okay at that, with the understanding of <i>Google search changes and failings</i> over the years. I do that freelance work, for hire. </p><p>We later put up our <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/garage/" target="_blank">car related comics page</a></b> which related to our freelance work, but wasn't itself selling anything.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBAeUb-3yg8_Q-4Z6eB6B7PEWhgjvmHBF2HNVqByeHZlfPUE4Ovza7mz5MT3K7vRxWmwa25E5OIp2PpuJQC0ElmC_92XHGHyjGTLhowE2k4i7M7FuYx99EEkOFn8Rx544m7dHVhwiHCbIczBbRkYPb9UyYOTPHfZeS7Occho1YmAuBwifOh6jcT3iaM7J/s1203/drawing-tools-girl.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1203" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUBAeUb-3yg8_Q-4Z6eB6B7PEWhgjvmHBF2HNVqByeHZlfPUE4Ovza7mz5MT3K7vRxWmwa25E5OIp2PpuJQC0ElmC_92XHGHyjGTLhowE2k4i7M7FuYx99EEkOFn8Rx544m7dHVhwiHCbIczBbRkYPb9UyYOTPHfZeS7Occho1YmAuBwifOh6jcT3iaM7J/s320/drawing-tools-girl.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBEGmsWPdUDNnmJ-Oa1M2xTjEoByeZ96x-XzTCIIsUflaU7qSrDJ7pFwd6kFalKva7gMBer-UzTJJytb3poBeps8gvfNIZHzclVdphJIeNqhvBalgUM3LhoneAlkCmBP0b6vFbpQv-C7jP3-MznjF6Ez7oUoHHgY7oy7wfT-LaSUG-mttAJU27u57jxqG/s1109/my-pages-small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1109" height="289" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMBEGmsWPdUDNnmJ-Oa1M2xTjEoByeZ96x-XzTCIIsUflaU7qSrDJ7pFwd6kFalKva7gMBer-UzTJJytb3poBeps8gvfNIZHzclVdphJIeNqhvBalgUM3LhoneAlkCmBP0b6vFbpQv-C7jP3-MznjF6Ez7oUoHHgY7oy7wfT-LaSUG-mttAJU27u57jxqG/s320/my-pages-small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>In the last couple of years after <i><b>"semi-retiring"</b></i>, we put up the <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/comics/index.html" target="_blank"> Our Original Comic Books</a></b> page and this year, the <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/rock-opera/index.html" target="_blank">In The Asteroid Belt: Our Rock Opera</a></b> and the <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/music/index.html" target="_blank">Megacurve - Adrian Bruce Music</a></b> pages. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iQeZ-jHxgBdHgB0Vaz_y9YQXkkTKI0KpmyYw7JBIcVyq0TWAUMcvOuKJawp5JVsM-p-Q7x3nF7_F69zJT3dDq3SHs0BSWb2VK3oxd4Q8M7aqVD-G7o4utV6uVmtkTLu7HZSn5lqglcTTB_fs8a64bxDcepQXbBe3rJcPCdi4lLQCNc6QdXUuYU_Wokpf/s1258/covers-1200.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1258" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iQeZ-jHxgBdHgB0Vaz_y9YQXkkTKI0KpmyYw7JBIcVyq0TWAUMcvOuKJawp5JVsM-p-Q7x3nF7_F69zJT3dDq3SHs0BSWb2VK3oxd4Q8M7aqVD-G7o4utV6uVmtkTLu7HZSn5lqglcTTB_fs8a64bxDcepQXbBe3rJcPCdi4lLQCNc6QdXUuYU_Wokpf/s320/covers-1200.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>These aren't about me selling anything at all, and in fact are more about the stuff I give away.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NO1TDhDfcXQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="NO1TDhDfcXQ"></iframe></div><p>They are also visited far less than the samples of previous paid work I have done. <b>Most people visit our website as they are after some business logo or design</b> <i>, or need to repair a turntable, or do something with midi merging, as I have articles on a few technical subjects I give away info on too.</i></p><p>Our website pages that get the visits have generally been around a long time, and I have made sure the indexed <b>url </b>for them <b>never </b>changes. I saw moving back to Australia in 2001 how unfindable a new website was. Getting establish, and having credible links and be in the indexes took years.</p><p>I have found recently added pages are almost <b><i>unfindable</i></b>, the way the google search algorithm works now. But, they can be found in <b>Bing </b>and <b>DuckDuckgo</b>! Web search engines and forum posts are the indexes to a website now. The majority don't go to a website and just look around after they found what they originally went there for. They come from somewhere else looking for something in particular. The SEO gaming by millions of crap website probably doesn't help the Google situation, but in reality, they care far more about advertising and top search results are no mostly sponsored pages. </p><p>I get so much SPAM email about site re-writing and SEO optimization.<b><i> I am not hard to find</i></b>!</p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-75610728369343101572023-10-18T23:04:00.016-07:002023-11-08T14:20:00.027-08:00The Future Of Bandcamp?<p>The big, not war, news the last few days has been <a href="https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><b>Bandcamp </b></a>has been sold again to a company that charges artists and labels for its services, and 50% of staff were sacked in the process.</p><p>There is no information on the real future of Bandcamp, and what features it has that will change, if any, <i>but I would guess to use the service in the near future, you would need to sign up to an Artist Plan with the new owners <b><a href="v" target="_blank">Songtradr </a></b>. </i></p><p>Have to say I have no interest in that, and if it comes to pass will just delete my Bandcamp account and rely on my <a href="https://soundcloud.com/megacurve" target="_blank"><b>SoundCloud artist page</b></a>, and my own self hosted <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/music/" target="_blank">Megacurve - Adrian Bruce Music</a></b> page on our <b><a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/">Art And Technology </a></b>website, which looks like this today:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdoRjtG2CTFgAuF-eMwn45rSKdXTKYc_0wgXS_sT2oCRSP7axomnGZoraPyunWr8EJ5Q6imc_RQ-hDMBCHR-eRrvYlus7sntYUVgjfWJJhH_Pv1Dshb3kjfvksf_hg-1om33zSkM1abUQnpkcPOXX6_nCjedBrsLR3VzMuit3fUhY6nnMMsxLnWuW-v5d/s1767/mymusic.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1767" data-original-width="823" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwdoRjtG2CTFgAuF-eMwn45rSKdXTKYc_0wgXS_sT2oCRSP7axomnGZoraPyunWr8EJ5Q6imc_RQ-hDMBCHR-eRrvYlus7sntYUVgjfWJJhH_Pv1Dshb3kjfvksf_hg-1om33zSkM1abUQnpkcPOXX6_nCjedBrsLR3VzMuit3fUhY6nnMMsxLnWuW-v5d/s320/mymusic.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><br /><p>But I did like the features of Bandcamp better then the free SoundCloud account I have used for many years. Mostly being able to replace a track with a newer version after the track has been released. But the reality is, I never got the plays on Bandcamp that I had with SoundCloud. Just played by a few friends. I don't have or collect <i>"fans"</i> on social media, <b><i>never even tried getting a following!</i></b> For the longest time I just used my music as the soundtrack to my 3 minute <b><a href="https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9DC5951567EE82F6&si=xnVngdoyUVLLhoTN">YouTube Illustration showcase videos</a></b>, pretty much slideshows with a soundtrack. My illustrations are what people have been interested in.</p><p></p><p>To give some perspective on both sites, these are the play stats for my tracks on both platforms. They have to be read with the understanding that I stopped putting new tracks on SoundCloud near the end of 2017, and then put them exclusively on Bandcamp instead. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsCFopmnscpm4RMknH-MBC_FqLA2ACONDb5lhDrC8eTMLvBBXxO7NxRBuCKfJkMiwH7vQdZXt_dgJSF6DahnItMSDa7Ao_pd7cxBtxVReFK48ijXjkkfrpzAce7R_cGO4J3Bjl4EBGyxUZUsGLOVTFePsuv8BYEW2BUfppZMXzFDrlL9R12ZDxXuuBMUw/s576/BC-vs-SC-stats.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="503" data-original-width="576" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVsCFopmnscpm4RMknH-MBC_FqLA2ACONDb5lhDrC8eTMLvBBXxO7NxRBuCKfJkMiwH7vQdZXt_dgJSF6DahnItMSDa7Ao_pd7cxBtxVReFK48ijXjkkfrpzAce7R_cGO4J3Bjl4EBGyxUZUsGLOVTFePsuv8BYEW2BUfppZMXzFDrlL9R12ZDxXuuBMUw/s320/BC-vs-SC-stats.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />I have never really promoted my music on any of these platforms. I make it for myself. I have links on my website and a link to a track if I used the music in one of <b><a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/adriansbruce/featured" target="_blank">my YouTube Videos</a></b>. I promote my illustration work, a more serious endeavor for me, and what all my YouTube videos were for.<p></p><p>Bandcamp for me never got anywhere near the plays of SoundCloud. Strangely so. <b style="font-style: italic;">Bandcamp</b> had an<b style="font-style: italic;"> Editorial Team </b>that all lost their jobs in the sale of the site.<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>These people were the<b style="font-style: italic;"> Gatekeepers </b>there, and from my point of view, <i>should have never been there at all</i><b style="font-style: italic;">. </b> Like the bad old days when a couple of DJs and AR men decided what you learnt about and heard on the radio. Can't say I engaged with what they promoted at all. Expect the previous owners felt that way too. </p><p>I was professionally involved in developing musical instruments and music production systems, but my own music has always been a hobby. Nice if someone gets to hear it though. I have all my Bandcamp tracks set to <b><i>"pay what you want, including 0"</i></b>, so I have <b><i>never </i></b>sold a track on Bandcamp. </p><p>So I don't know the future of Bandcamp, but with the news of staff cuts, I put a few new tracks on my SoundCloud account, and refreshed it a bit. </p><p>If Bandcamp becomes a payed service it will probably impact a lot of people, but not me. I can always give them away from my own website, (or maybe <b><a href="https://discover.gumroad.com/audio?a=319903443&gclid=CjwKCAjwysipBhBXEiwApJOcuzngtRelKL9MTKJ9j5Szxxt5ti46EvQG3705AnczHlfkkRNzO-szWBoCr_MQAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Gumroad</a></b> or <b><a href="https://www.soundclick.com/" target="_blank">Soundclick</a> )</b>, maybe have a <b><i>Donate If you like</i></b> via a PayPal button. If <b>Songtradr </b>doesn't change anything, we will keep things as they are, but probably focus back onto SoundCloud again, for as I showed above, Bandcamp really hasn't helped get stuff played.</p><p>But in recent years,<b><i> the most</i></b> plays of my music has been heard is as the soundtrack of <b>YouTube shorts</b>, the most popular of those being me doing a time lapse drawing of a silly monster. </p><p>Have read often that <b>Hip-Hop</b> is the <i>king of the genres</i> in recent years, and that isn't what I do, so not being popular doing <b><i>old guy music </i></b>makes sense. Here is some of what we do:</p><p><b>Megacurve#1</b> <b>6 Track Snippets and Artwork in 59 seconds</b> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c8uvoyJEk7o" width="320" youtube-src-id="c8uvoyJEk7o"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Megacurve#2 Another</b> <b>6 Track Snippets and Artwork in 59 seconds</b> <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NO1TDhDfcXQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="NO1TDhDfcXQ"></iframe></div><br /><div><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-55339538796004668282023-10-11T16:34:00.029-07:002023-10-27T18:12:57.870-07:00Being a Professional, Amateur & Hobbyist<p>When I was a kid, drawing and making things, mostly out of paper or balsa wood, was what I did for fun. When I got to High School I fell in love with <b>recorded album music</b>. Then audio electronics became a passion and a very serious hobby. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimhtPUekz-QNrpPlUxQCUC7R__WVC4XFML0UsNsSQsqtTbb4l5HuD_uMCxBiLIyUzLjJIUz6j8v3B2Z-qhRzCJDCxeBhheR3S7WkvXdTNvRq2ylVXfijIHGDp8-a9FdM6P1iHDDBI-QWVwkcPjjFCplmxcmjAaxWtBpqqc6UJYSVfre-jNqw2cUPV22iiq/s952/page0030.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="952" data-original-width="640" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimhtPUekz-QNrpPlUxQCUC7R__WVC4XFML0UsNsSQsqtTbb4l5HuD_uMCxBiLIyUzLjJIUz6j8v3B2Z-qhRzCJDCxeBhheR3S7WkvXdTNvRq2ylVXfijIHGDp8-a9FdM6P1iHDDBI-QWVwkcPjjFCplmxcmjAaxWtBpqqc6UJYSVfre-jNqw2cUPV22iiq/s320/page0030.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br />Turned that into a career. I was an engineer, a Professional. Earnt my living doing it. I developed products, managed projects at times, and solved problems. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6pTx2k5ItfdwaF9xTruP9h0oIyvr6p4tncJNptIHcgdX61eqYp4TKwrkb_W-iPpsguF2BdONRxrKiencO1h_6sZtp4GrvCBzBIItWxJK0Hva6VJFAXj4EujyP78DA3tjnpG9bJj6lx3s3KcdkVBKj-P_ISKWBKok9dkKjybCmZZkyvSdwcR8QMLdO1dR/s702/cmi3-pro.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="702" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi6pTx2k5ItfdwaF9xTruP9h0oIyvr6p4tncJNptIHcgdX61eqYp4TKwrkb_W-iPpsguF2BdONRxrKiencO1h_6sZtp4GrvCBzBIItWxJK0Hva6VJFAXj4EujyP78DA3tjnpG9bJj6lx3s3KcdkVBKj-P_ISKWBKok9dkKjybCmZZkyvSdwcR8QMLdO1dR/s320/cmi3-pro.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>But it started from wanting to play my records on a HiFi sound system as an unpaid hobby. <div><br /></div><div>Listening to music is still a hobby. <b><i>(Strange, no one has tried to monetize ... oh, yes, they do by writing record reviews...)</i></b><p></p><p>I don't "do" electronics any more. Not as a hobby. Only if I need to, like changing the battery in a Kindle.</p><p>I do vector illustrations freelance. Paid part time Professional work. It evolved from my first hobby though, well the drawing part. </p><p>I make music, cartoons, comics and music videos as a hobby now. 2020~2022 during the pandemic was probably the most active with hobbies I have ever been. I treat these hobbies as I do making plastic or resin model kits. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiweEjpCfOKK7ZKyMEGZ0LbiK4q9MUte6quPW82hgW_zxKpsTOX9HoU3FCDIkrtueYq9djNdU-7_U1pn0Ny-ttsj9jttIRqAO65jOnpWSNmQnAFN3wMRSKLMaMjOQymYlOGAMtit-Bh82YhhbVB19LX2RlssyTJwXwDuRDiHCecM686LdqDSYdlmsURyMD/s1500/props-1500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="839" data-original-width="1500" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiweEjpCfOKK7ZKyMEGZ0LbiK4q9MUte6quPW82hgW_zxKpsTOX9HoU3FCDIkrtueYq9djNdU-7_U1pn0Ny-ttsj9jttIRqAO65jOnpWSNmQnAFN3wMRSKLMaMjOQymYlOGAMtit-Bh82YhhbVB19LX2RlssyTJwXwDuRDiHCecM686LdqDSYdlmsURyMD/s320/props-1500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>Or sculpted something or painted a watercolor. Doing something for the fun of it. The reality is more that if I aren't <i><b>creating </b></i>something <b><i>every so often</i></b>, I get depressed and down about <i>wasting my time (i.e. my life time left) and not doing something <b>constructive</b></i>.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi251LN_8WeYAT8ZEd5dGOJziDNF8P6QShTmkV8VoPj_q6JtDCYAFfpu2VwdTlYTiDkGfWemJ2aIbamnAXadfJpX5fUogGE3yZDrfeOZTVamHb0sjqtZRSpk3X4pi2En3FlOA4_lIMnCZ-8QfRnIynrkZQtie7tvY6oOo1ygLvz8EmpPgPZ32DlzN8PWPkV/s800/deleen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="554" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi251LN_8WeYAT8ZEd5dGOJziDNF8P6QShTmkV8VoPj_q6JtDCYAFfpu2VwdTlYTiDkGfWemJ2aIbamnAXadfJpX5fUogGE3yZDrfeOZTVamHb0sjqtZRSpk3X4pi2En3FlOA4_lIMnCZ-8QfRnIynrkZQtie7tvY6oOo1ygLvz8EmpPgPZ32DlzN8PWPkV/s320/deleen.jpg" width="222" /></a></div><br /><p>It is nice if someone listens to, reads or watches something I make though, so I always publish it to the Internet and retain the copyright. I don't need payment. Even if I am serious about my hobby works.</p><p>I have released my music on <a href="https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank"><b>Bandcamp under the Megacurve banner</b></a>. Like this track:</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>
<div style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=2298518002/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 442px; width: 350px;"><a href="https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/track/what-a-waste-mottai-nai">What a Waste (Mottai Nai) by Adrian Bruce - Megacurve</a></iframe></div><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p>But I haven't registered and gotten <a href="https://usisrc.org/" target="_blank">ISRC codes</a> , joined PPL, MCPS or PRS, or set myself up as a record publishing company so that my track plays can be tracked and I could collect royalties, like a "professional" would. Same for me then not paying <a href="https://distrokid.com/" target="_blank"><b>DistroKid </b></a>$22.99 a year to put my music on <b>Spotify </b>and <b>Apple music</b>. </p><p>All that stuff costs money. Of course it has cost money to buy my music gear and make the music I do, but that is okay, as it is a<b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>Hobby. I only ever bought music gear with the money I made from my Illustration Freelancing, never from my Engineering work. It was a principal for me. The studio is a wonderful toy. I think of myself these days as a musical cartoonist/prosumer, and don't identify as a musician or guitarist. I don't collect guitars or want to play live on stage. Musically you could say my stuff is unsophisticated.</p><p>For the millions of music makers that do pay those fees to release their songs on the streaming platforms, 95%+ don't make enough in royalties to cover the fees anyway. And with Spotify now deciding that <b>"small artists"</b> now aren't going to get any payout for any streams that get anyway, they will not get anything, unless they can sell CDs or tracks on Bandcamp or whatever. A new type of <b>Vanity Publishing</b>, or <b>Pay To Be Played?</b> But I guess it means they are <b>Professional </b>musicians. It helps self esteem. </p><p>I have all my Bandcamp releases set to <b>$0, <i>"pay what you want, including nothing"</i></b>, to download them. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWviczkiaBxHobtkDQzOkp2Ou4TdG30IZ8OlLiEFOAGktdvfGxfPLzgoYUdlVAqm1Fg1eMeRndUrTsN8Tnyu2MfapBPHTMiVOff0sAMBghVcjrLurpf2Iw7Oj8VhJI4Xxcajeau18m97aOkK9voXMsijaAkUDI8EwGlEWt2CaSDvCqSt33uu21AU2Tgm7k/s1277/a-my-music001.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1277" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWviczkiaBxHobtkDQzOkp2Ou4TdG30IZ8OlLiEFOAGktdvfGxfPLzgoYUdlVAqm1Fg1eMeRndUrTsN8Tnyu2MfapBPHTMiVOff0sAMBghVcjrLurpf2Iw7Oj8VhJI4Xxcajeau18m97aOkK9voXMsijaAkUDI8EwGlEWt2CaSDvCqSt33uu21AU2Tgm7k/s320/a-my-music001.jpg" width="226" /></a></div><p>My comics are also<a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/comics/index.html" target="_blank"><b> free to download from our website</b></a>. Nice if someone looks at them, but it was the creating them that was my need. I print them out 2 pages to an A4 sheet and put them in these cool 40 page A5 files. I revisit them every so often. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_rcXlmVJU87_4ApWmS_o03yuRyS9YGSlz8BEk0C14jO9UKD5yF6tCD5mrPikkdh5Hz96gb1y6Ay8JOdkXvY_H4woGh5ls6EbFDuYPjooi6kfEJgz5EbXwCNLqipwKVlTbN3QWOrfeqX_3C3bP-W1-jHfkX-sG5LqtTAWW8hLiMoRGlOMBtbveoEjZXXH/s1422/tw-my-comic-books.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1422" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu_rcXlmVJU87_4ApWmS_o03yuRyS9YGSlz8BEk0C14jO9UKD5yF6tCD5mrPikkdh5Hz96gb1y6Ay8JOdkXvY_H4woGh5ls6EbFDuYPjooi6kfEJgz5EbXwCNLqipwKVlTbN3QWOrfeqX_3C3bP-W1-jHfkX-sG5LqtTAWW8hLiMoRGlOMBtbveoEjZXXH/s320/tw-my-comic-books.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-SR6I4EaA4M_hblt6ZHIroCe7gYjn7Hogv0eyhPwXO9cUvHl20fCYNLbiix-J2l4yJDEKWsvwJ0fz5kfyF4x3cZ9TVlycNqVJeEKI4vqHay_ZB6KyzNzTioAo1gZaYwJzsgssFQohoUhzIwVU2JNkhtgSyhuZyLPFUMBLvpSZCFdX1lSigzDhWAovpip/s1800/FY8hV2jaQAA_UzU.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="1130" data-original-width="1800" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt-SR6I4EaA4M_hblt6ZHIroCe7gYjn7Hogv0eyhPwXO9cUvHl20fCYNLbiix-J2l4yJDEKWsvwJ0fz5kfyF4x3cZ9TVlycNqVJeEKI4vqHay_ZB6KyzNzTioAo1gZaYwJzsgssFQohoUhzIwVU2JNkhtgSyhuZyLPFUMBLvpSZCFdX1lSigzDhWAovpip/s320/FY8hV2jaQAA_UzU.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>You can do something to a "professional" standard as a "hobby". Don't they call that an "amateur "? </p><p>It all depends on how you see yourself, and what you need to fill your life with "what makes you happy or content."</p><p>For me, that <b><i>doesn't</i></b> include trying to make money off my music or comics. They are akin to diary entries for me about things I felt at the time I made them. </p><p>So this blog was vaguely about being a Professional, Amateur & Hobbyist. All at the same time around different fields. </p><p>We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-10707854755554262282023-10-08T16:20:00.004-07:002023-10-08T21:14:47.790-07:00When Radio controlled the buying of Music<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho2_DhhN8Fs_AL8Za-69LD7hykapchbDqT5rxR2HZUItQiaW6oKUn6NLlkbk8A3lrd569bBQeb55Ucl2tmvsWOTNXpA9ejw54pDLGkU0hJE3ybI_SNqhKum0lsJ8mW27lAbP0Yr56sPr8IcW7-9IejKF4YCU3UCIjCCDTF2OHgbr17DhoYqNgPsXgW3wy-/s474/2sm-top40.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="474" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho2_DhhN8Fs_AL8Za-69LD7hykapchbDqT5rxR2HZUItQiaW6oKUn6NLlkbk8A3lrd569bBQeb55Ucl2tmvsWOTNXpA9ejw54pDLGkU0hJE3ybI_SNqhKum0lsJ8mW27lAbP0Yr56sPr8IcW7-9IejKF4YCU3UCIjCCDTF2OHgbr17DhoYqNgPsXgW3wy-/s320/2sm-top40.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Growing up, the AM radio was the only way to hear music and know what to buy, if you were into that. In Sydney 2SM was the only station for that, and the above is a TOP40 chart from 1971.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I realize now, much of what became hits was only because of PAYOLA from record companies to have something continuously played. There were DJs that also played what they liked though...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">FM Stereo didn't start in Sydney Australia till 1975, my second last year of Senior High School, the same year color TV was introduced. I had a part time job collecting shopping trolleys Friday afternoons and had joined a mail order record club.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In Australia, Countdown started in 1974, and the first time there was a country wide gatekeeper declaring what was hot to the 14 year old girls in their demographic. It did help Australian music. Must say Australian Pub Rock also got a little support. Even ROSE TATTOO got promotion. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2PtKJ1PlymU" width="320" youtube-src-id="2PtKJ1PlymU"></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I remember clearly listening to the massive hit MISEX track SPACE INVADERS, and the DJ getting sick of it and taking it off midway with a scratching sound. He had probably played it every 5th track in his shift and couldn't take it anymore in 1979. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">About that time is when music videos became a massive music marketing thing too. It was still all the hits, with a few hits from Album Bands.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Music was important to me and the way you dressed and the length of your hair showed your allegiances. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The record companies pretty much controlled what you heard and knew about. Meant a band could be huge, as the population interested in music was force feed it.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In 2023 now, it has completely changed. There isn't that controlling force and the Internet has completely fragmented things. Still gatekeepers, but there are many of them, with smaller audiences. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It is also now so easy to hear any music anytime you want with Spotify or YouTube. It isn't all as special as it once was. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When I had to buy an expensive album, I played the album side completely through, and played the album many times. I studied it and the album artwork. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was a different world then. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-63261375330804659052023-10-07T14:47:00.002-07:002023-10-07T14:49:36.755-07:00Situationships<p> For some reason YouTube showed me an interview with actor comedian <b>Adrian Edmondson</b> a week ago</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rpeToj5d-_aDoh_ClecnqcT0JwhKYk6aeAISpA3mejHQDp8Z3N-RZAIBqwsIP30fJX62pXW6rN1Lo1xbupdYSWtWDddv4oEqLhUBnB7eCqoEzW6YQcMWNEVJmwDrDqg7x5g1a5T2igHSpEkQMe0HFssfAkH5j6ev-6nq4HQgIQ2KZgG0eOHiRFMObPf9/s420/adrian-edmondson.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-rpeToj5d-_aDoh_ClecnqcT0JwhKYk6aeAISpA3mejHQDp8Z3N-RZAIBqwsIP30fJX62pXW6rN1Lo1xbupdYSWtWDddv4oEqLhUBnB7eCqoEzW6YQcMWNEVJmwDrDqg7x5g1a5T2igHSpEkQMe0HFssfAkH5j6ev-6nq4HQgIQ2KZgG0eOHiRFMObPf9/s320/adrian-edmondson.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><br /><p>I only know of him from his hippy character in THE YOUNG ONES. A comedy I didn't watch and didn't find funny that my much younger sister found hilarious. He wrote an Autobiography and the interview was about that.</p><p>As a child he spent a decade in boarding school. What I found interesting, and struck a chord with me, was that when he finally left there, he didn't see those school "friends" for some 15+ years. One of those "friends", when finally leaving was asked by his father, "Do you want to say goodbye to your friends?", and he said "No". They were all like that.</p><p>His school "<b><i>friends</i></b>" where actually "<b><i>situationships</i></b>". Alliances formed to help survive a difficult time, even 10 years at a boarding school together.</p><p>I feel I knew most "friends" from school, university or the companies I have worked at were just acquaintances, but this new word "<b><i>situationships</i></b>" sums them up better.</p><p>Had 2 or 3 friends over the years, real friends, but everyone else is a <b><i>situationship.</i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1338470593130419322.post-32326685340499518412023-09-30T17:52:00.001-07:002023-10-07T21:29:56.022-07:00Always Something New You Can Learn<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/h37NtL1TDaE" width="320" youtube-src-id="h37NtL1TDaE"></iframe></div><br /> <p></p><p>I had never used Reapers <b>InputFX </b>feature. To process MIDI or audio at at the input before it is recorded. </p><p>For vocals and things like that, I just use track FX and add compression there, so it can be changed latter as needed.</p><p>But in using the MIDI JS modules to process MIDI, putting them as InputFX allows you to record their output. Useful too in this case.</p><p>So the above YouTube short is a small section of a track where I experimented with JS modules that produce 1 note chords, arpeggiation and force notes to a scale. Interesting.</p><p>The animation is revisiting Terry Gilliam styled paper cut outs, all done in Moho Pro12.</p><p>A longer version of this track: </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe seamless="" src="https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1422332091/size=large/bgcol=ffffff/linkcol=0687f5/tracklist=false/track=1305072274/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 350px;"><a href="https://megacurve.bandcamp.com/album/spirograph-the-album">Spirograph - The Album by Adrian Bruce - Megacurve</a></iframe></p><div>
<p style="text-align: left;">We can be found at <a href="https://www.artandtechnology.com.au/" target="_blank"><b>ArtAndTechnology</b></a></p><p><br /></p></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0