Im liking the free song of the week from iTunes by The Blow. I've been listening to them for a while now and the new album seems really good. Very simple electronic driven indie music to be found here. Anyways, Just thought I would mention it here because its free. Get it while the gettings good.

itunes link

I never do these cheesy in the mirror self portraits but I just happened to have camera in hand and thought id snap a couple off and I liked them in the end. I thought the color and dof was really nice.

I have happened upon a really interesting hour long BBC documentary about the history behind the video game Tetris. It is one of my all time favorites because of its incredible simplicity and its unwavering capability to suck you in and keep you playing and playing and playing. Anyways, I'm sure some of you are interested so I thought I would toss a link your way. The documentary is tough to follow here and there if you don't speak russian because some of the subtitles are kind of hard to read. Anyway heres a link.

I have been using a handy safari plug-in called Inquisitor since it's verison 1 release and I use it all the time. It's such a quick and easy way to search and get the top few results as well as have quick and easy access to other search sites all at once. Best of all it is now a free program so you have no excuse not to give it a shot. The developer is one of my favorite mac shareware developers and this great little mini add on comes with the ts seal of approval if that counts for anything!

Link to the software page

I have been lingering around the audio industry by proxy my whole life and in the past few years I have taken a more direct interest in the field and I love it to death. With this love comes an enormous amount of irritation with the industry in general. Something I should point out right off is just how huge it really is. I know that it is often overlooked, you go to a concert to see the band and 99 percent of the people there never think once about what went on or is going on to make them shine. Most people are happy enough simply seeing their favorite bands play live and rarely realize when things sound good or bad.

Also, there is a split down the middle of it that is not quite black and white to most people affiliated with the industry but I feel that there is a bigger line dividing the two fields than most people want to think. Recording studio engineers and live audio engineers I feel are different species of thought. The thought process for working in a studio is not totally different from working in a live environment but enough so that I can safely say that studio engineers should stay in the studio and live engineers should stay out in the field. Part of my feelings on this topic come from experience working with guest engineers and whatnot. I wont go naming names or getting into to much detail, I just wanted to put my opinion out there.

So at any rate, now that ive been exposed to the workings of the industry (more the live side of things than the recorded end) I cant help but be critical of its structure. It is really really really heavily influenced by the top companies in the field. Let me reword that, not the top companies as in the companies that are necessarily putting out the best products and innovations but the companies that spend the most money in strategic marketing. I guess that you could say that about every major industry in the world but to me it feels different when it comes to the audio industry simply because of it's not quite in the spotlight stance among the general public. The sad thing is that the biggest companies are making cheaper and cheaper crap because the men in suits at the top of the company food chain are looking to grow and grow. They are money makers not innovators and I think it is totally killing the industry as a whole. The same thing is happening in the recording industry with companies like M-Audio dumbing down and lowering the bar for acceptable quality sound everywhere.

Good sound is getting harder and harder to find these days and part of that is all of the miseducation flying around. There is so much BS you have to gig through before getting anywhere. The market leaders are paving the way to a future of bad audio and its scary. Maybe it's always been like this and I am only just now beginning to get it. You look at companies like Mackie which has become notorious for being super cheap crap and they have slyly started "The Coalition to End Bad Sound" which is hilarious to me. Then there are companies like Harmon (which is the Kraft Foods of the audio industry) and Shure which are putting out cheaper and cheaper junk every year but no one seems to be seeing this because they are so blinded by there pull in the industry as a while and even the "Pro" publications are pushing it because guess where most of their funding is coming from... Sorry, I forgot, not naming names here. It's just silly what kind of junk these guys are selling these days.

The sad part of it all is the rise in schools like Full Sail which are marketing zoo's. Seems like the physics behind good sound and the interesting nitty gritty are continually getting glossed over so as strange and backwards as it is the actual science behind good sound reproduction is lurking around in this murky grey area. It's a depressing fact that I am going to just have to live with but its a struggle being right in the middle of the field like I am because I have to deal with people constantly who are so blind to it all and are so hard to deal with because it's getting so everyones an expert these days.

I'm sure I have contradicted myself somewhere in all of this rambling mess but I just had to get some of it out of me. I know I have a lot to learn and am not at all gods gift to sound but I can say that it has been quite a bumpy road getting to know the ins and outs of the field and I can't wait to learn more and more.

I have added a new section to the site which will be a temporary one probably. I will be filling it in in the coming days I hope. Prints, lenses, and whatever else. Head over and see for yourself. OK so there's nothing there yet but there will be soon. I just wanted to get the page set up and ready. Thats all for now.

Being a designer for how ever many years now I have made my fair share of typos on various projects. Thankfully 99 percent of them are caught in the proofing stage of the whole process and never get seen in the final product. I just had to point out this slip up from the back of a video game box, something I came across over on Joystiq.

The game is called Killer 7 and on the back of the box (of the gamecube version specifically) you will find a URL to the official website, simple enough. Let's just type this on in here and get the low down on the game, maybe some tips or something but wait a minute, this isn't the games website at all! My God! Kids, close your eyes.. what's that damn shortcut to close a window... ah hell...

Yes, the website on the back of the box leads you straight over to none other than a porn site. The games website is not killer7.com its killer-7.com! oops.Seems like the porn industry owns 50 percent of all domain names in existence. If that were me id be laughing all the way to the classified section of the paper... its to bad spell checkers don't check links for porn.

I have developed an unwavering love for prime lenses and after seeing the difference a quality lens can make when I bought my 35mm 1.4 L. The way I see it is I'm not a photojournalist and I don't need the immediate flexibility of a zoom lens. There is something that feels more pure about shooting with a prime too, this and I love and am not sure what I would do without the control over the aperture from silly wide to nice and tight. Anyways, I've been compiling a list in my head of the photo equipment that I am looking to get in the coming months one way or another and this is how the story goes so far...


I keep having to wipe the drool off the keyboard when this image pops up on screen, soon it will be mine, im selling my laptop to raise money for it. Anyone in the market for a powerbook G4 1.whatever ghz? Keep an eye out around here, I'm having a sale soon, prints, ipods, lockets of hair.. ok not that far but a sale none the less so look out.


This little beauty is like my dream lens, 50mm 1.2 with an L build quality... ahhhhhh... It isn't available till november and I think the 85 will come first.


Id also like to experiment with a nice tilt shift lens and this one appears to be a beauty.


Ive been debating on a second camera for some time now and it will either be a film camera or a nice compact camera like this that still gives me control over exposure. Something for times when I don't want to lug around the big ol' 5d. No RAW support on this G7 here but meh... its last here on the list for a reason.

I have been a fan of Flickr for a long time now, it is by far my favorite online photo sharing tool. It just works so well and seems to have a really great community of photographers and people involved within it. I have decided to start putting my account to use and I will be posting photos up on there from time to time. Currently I have uploaded most of my recent desktops and I will continue to add them there as I post them here as another way of sharing them with people. I have kept a personal photoblog over the past month or so using Apple's Aperture software and I have decided to start using Flickr for that use instead and hopefully make some new friends in the process.

That said I would like to invite any readers with Flickr accounts to become a contact of mine on flickr to help me ease into the community over there. Thanks and Ill see you there... heres a link to my profile/page:

Twistedsun.net on Flickr.com

Ever notice how on 90 percent of tech news sites and blogs the comments always feel like they have been written by high school boys? I read blogs like Engadget and Gizmodo and sometimes I venture into the comments to see if anyone has any more to say on the post posted, you know things like insight into the post, but all I ever find are really poorly stated he said she said kind of arguments and ill used sarcasm like all of the tech world either really literally is a bunch of 15 year olds or never managed to get out of those puberty like ego swings.

While I'm rambling here, I have not been reading the Gizmodo blog all to long but is it always this badly written? seems like the writers are really really trying hard to be as sarcastic as possible, you know, to add a bit of humor to their blog but they always just manage to come across as dicks in my mind. Maybe these commenters are just emulating their geek news overloards. Engadget is at least has better writing than Gizmodo but they still have there share of condescending sarcasm floating around.

Anyways... back to your regularly scheduled posting...

I have been trying to get my soundscape podcast up and running for some time now and have run across a few set backs but it's been fun experimenting with it up to now and I look forward to continue the series and eventually split it off into its own feed separate the music and other shows that pop up when I get a chance. Until then though I came across a similar podcast to my soundscape shows and it is produced by National Geographic. Although I like the idea of simply a high quality audio recording to close your eyes and let your imagination take flight as you listen National Geographic has taken a moving image approach and made a video podcast that simply sits in one stationary position for 10 minutes or so and lets you sit in on that moment in time wherever they are filming. Seems a natural progression for them coming from such a strong photography background. Anyways, they are interesting to say the least and worth checking out. A link can be found below...

National Geographic Atmosphere Podcast (itunes link)

After a couple weeks of no new desktops I have a few new ones waiting to be posted so I will be adding them slowly over the next couple of days as I have time.

update: there are now 3 more desktops available.

...of relief that is. My crazy week full of work and shows is over at last and I have a couple days to get caught up on all of my computer work and updating and whatever else. That said, here are a few photos from the week... (more content is on its way)

This is a great documentary and it is available online it's entierty. I'm not sure if it is up there with permission from anyone but it's there all the same and i'm sure some of you could spare an hour and a half to check it out. Aside from the ocasional activist jargon tossed in there(not much dont worry) it's full of really interesting looks at the electric car and its history and future.

LINK

Ive got a bunch of music Ive been shuffling through in the past week or so and it's all been really good so be sure to check out some of the music featured here this week...


Clark - Boddy Riddle

First up this week is (Chris) Clark's newest album. I mentioned here at some point a while back about his free tracks leading up to this album and here it is and it is really amazing. For some reason other people and reviewers seem to always compare his music to the likes of aphex twin and to me thats like saying that an apple tastes like an orange. Clark has definatily taken a space of his own. His production has improved ten-fold over the years and his sound is as gritty as ever. If i were to say any other artist has influenced him with this album id only point out that his dynamic volume stucture within his compositions and some of his new melodies could be Ultravisitor era Squarepusher inspired and the second to the last track is like a gritty remix of the last song on Aphex Twin's Windowlicker EP.. Id say if you were a fan of any of the electronic music on Warp records then it's a pretty safe bet that this belongs in your music collection.

Songs not to miss on here are Ted, which is just brilliant and one of my alltime favorite electronic music tracks, Vengeance Drools, just wait till around the 2:00 mark when it starts breaking down crispy, and the first track, Herr Bar.


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Beck - The Information

So I hear that this album is a mix up of various music he has been writing over the past 6 yers or so and it shows. The songs all have moments that give away what time period he wrote them in. I found this album a little hard to get into but it is starting to grow on me the more I listen to it. Although at times it feels like he is simply going through the motions there are some great new songs on here. I hope that one of these days he ditches all of the samplers and heads back up to K records and does another album with those guys but the chaces of that seem pretty slim...
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Damien Jurardo - And Now That I'm In Your Shadow...

It's hard to believe that more people have not heard this great songwriter. He has released some really amazing albums in the past and this release is no exception. In fact I would go as far as to say this is my favorite album from him. Full of heartbreaking mellow songs that have really stuck with me at a level beyond them just being pretty songs. Really great stuff and well worth picking up. I have been listening to an advance copy of the album and am all set to pick up the vinyl as soon as I can...
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Little Miss Sunshine - OST

I picked this up in Nashville and couldn't be happier with it. OK OK, I could have done without the totally random two songs from the fashion show at the end of the movie but otherwise there is a lot of great material on here with a really smooth memorable europeanish feel. I honestly don't know how to describe this style of music, please leave a comment if you can help me out here. Be sure to check out the last song on the album called How It Ends by Devochka, really really nice. Follow this link to download a free live in studio version of the Devochka song, How It Ends. just stumbled across it..
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zach's misc songs

3 songs from Zach Braff things (scrubs and the last kiss) I know he can be a bit a over the top and cheesy from time to time but he has a good ear for emotional music, not as in emo but music with a bit of depth somewhere buried down in it. Three songs from the albums pictured above have been rotating on my ipod for a long while now. Imogen Heap has a song that has been a big seller on itunes called Hide and Seek and for good reason, its an amazing acapella song soaking in a harmonizer. At first I didn't care much for the heavy effects on the voice in the song but the more I listened the more I heard all of the subtle layering and found a huge amount of detail within the production of the song. The Collin Hay song is called Overkill and its about nights im sure everyone has had at some point or another, nights full of restlessness from an overactive mind. The third song is just beautiful, it's a song by Jeff Buckley called Hallelujah. It's not a cover of the classic religious song, he simply uses the word as a celebratory statement. Thats the best way I can think to describe it.

Till next time...

sorry again for the lack of updates this week, i have a few in the making but jsut have not had the time to finnish them up. that goes for a new podcast, a couple posts here, and new desktops. I am all over the state this week doing shows. Mainly a series of shows at schools in the area for a Thelonius Monk jazz institute. Its been fun but a lot of work traveling around and running sound all over the place. At any rate, I have to get some sleep but I will do my best to have some new content up for you all tomorrow.... Mata-ne!

I have been in Nashville, TN this weekend at a photography conference for educators and students and after a long weekend full of artists going on and on about the deep philosophical meanings behind their work (which was interesting all in all, really) Jack Spencer stood up and said words to these artists that left them silent and my heart sank and I suddenly knew after a weekend of soul searching within my own work and questioning everything I had done up to this point with a camera that no, I was not crazy.

Head over to his website and head straight down to his artist statement at the bottom of his main navigation to get the overall feel of what was said.

Link

Hey guys, just a quick note that I will be in Nashville, TN for the next 4 days. I will try and post something here and there if I can but I just thought I would give a heads up that regular posting will be suspended.

That is all, please resume with your regularly scheduled program...