The Spacebase

2009-12-23T00:12:00.001-05:00

Move it on over. This blog is dead, but this one isn't.

Rocky Mountain News closes; chalk one up for the cynics

2009-02-27T09:17:00.002-05:00

I wrote this for Radio Sweethearts, but wasn't quite comfortable posting it there.

I knew this particular bit of bad news was coming; Scripps has been trying and failing to sell the ailing Rocky Mountain News since December. Scripps has been suffering huge losses at the paper.

I say that I saw this coming, but the actual announcement of the closing comes as something of a suckerpunch.

The news comes as so much of a suckerpunch that I need to emphasize my editorial independence on this one. No one else knows that I'm writing this - until it's up.

It's fair to neither the employees of the Rocky Mountain News nor to their families that no one was told that tomorrow (Friday) will be their last day until today. And rather than simple "life isn't fair" unfair, this treatment of employees borders on injust.

Kerry works at the Commercial Appeal, another Scripps paper. She works for the online department - she and her immediate co-workers are/will be the saviors of the newspaper industry. If, that is, they aren't beaten to within an inch of their morale's life by incidents like this happening within their employer's parent company.

I strongly believe that the Commercial Appeal is going to weather the storm, a statement I can make only after having met the stalwart crew of the online department, because they're doing what they believe in, because they care too much, and most of all, because the paper has never missed an issue.

The people I know there are too damned stubborn to be the people around for the Commercial Appeal's first missed issue.

But I can't say that I don't worry. The morale of employees at any business directly affects the morale of their families. I try to stay positive, knowing that Kerry is in a position which will remain vital to the newspaper industry throughout this awkward pubescent transition to the industry's new world, but the simple fact that she's aware of the possibility of another suckerpunch causes me to worry, too.

I don't have the heart to look up any public radio reportage on the Rocky Mountain News' closure, because I'm afraid that it's all going to be tinged with the sense of superiority that comes from working in any other form of media.

I'm looking at you when I say that, Bob Garfield. You know, there was a battle between radio and television, too. Just like the one between newspapers and the internet. Guess what? TV won. And you still have a job - two, actually, in radio and print. Your living depends on dead media.

But if radio can evolve and find a market in a TV world, then surely newspapers can do the same in an internet world - this not taking into account the fact that much of the internet experience is already based on the newspaper model, an advantage that few commentators have noticed, and few small-town daily newspapers seem to have realized either.

My thoughts and prayers - such as they are - are with the employees and families of the Rocky Mountain News. If you people are anything like the people I know at the CA, you'll pull through and end up in a better place.

Madison Mosaic Mural (13/365)

2009-01-13T02:37:00.001-05:00

Madison Mosaic Mural (13/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I sort of inadvertently picked up a third job today - one of my Apple Store coworkers is working on restoring a mosaic at a MATA trolley station near downtown on Madison, and she needs help. So Nicola (left) and Jim (right) and I are acting as said help.

When we took the sketch out to the site this morning, it turned out that some grave miscalculations were made in transferring the original sketches to the materials we will use in making the new mosaic.

Everything is too big.

Mexican Potluck (11/365)

2009-01-12T01:13:00.001-05:00

Mexican Potluck (11/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

lots of pots at the potluck. Isn't THAT inexplicable?

(My stomach is still recovering.)

Kerry Celebrates (10/365)

2009-01-12T01:10:00.001-05:00

Kerry Celebrates (10/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

Kerry and I bought iPhones today. This marks her financial independence. We celebrated by drinking (rather good) champagne in a can through (rather collapsible) straws.

tri-tone (8/365)

2009-01-12T01:09:00.001-05:00

tri-tone (8/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I don't know what this is. But it was on my camera when I did find it, and I like the tri-tone sunburst thing.

Comin' ATCHA (7/365)

2009-01-12T01:07:00.001-05:00

Comin' ATCHA (7/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I lost my phone immediately after this photo was taken, thus the delay since the last photo.

Cooper-Young (6/365)

2009-01-07T01:32:00.001-05:00

Cooper-Young (6/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

The intersection that gives my neighborhood its name, as seen from my passenger seat.

Brought to you by the miracle of Gorilla Pod.

Self-Portrait at Eclectic (5/365)

2009-01-06T00:34:00.001-05:00

at Eclectic (5/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I spent a rainy afternoon off at Cafe Eclectic on the other side of Midtown drinking Americanos, reading poetry, writing poetry, and figuring out how to make a new Automator workflow to help me use iPhoto more effectively.

(The workflow, by the way, takes photos added to a specific folder in my Dock, adds them to a specific album in iPhoto, and then moves them to the Trash.

I created this because my desk job frequently necessitates the use of public-domain/CC-licensed photos in Keynote presentations. It's just easier to use Keynote's Media Browser to find photos in iPhoto than to dig through Finder windows and what-have-you.)

screenprint (4/365)

2009-01-04T22:28:00.001-05:00

screenprint (4/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

Screen for a print I made of Kerry and Myself. It sits directly above my desk, in the window for which I never found blinds.

(I know #3 is missing; Kerry and I spent the last day in Nashville, meeting my family somewhat less than halfway. Like an idiot, I forgot my camera. My sister did not, and I'll try to snag one from her.)

Henry (2/365)

2009-01-03T01:16:00.001-05:00

Henry (2/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I know the dog looks like he's guarding Hell. He'd need to have two more heads and own Chrysler before he's a true Cerberus.

That said, he was acting like a little demon when I took this picture.

New Year, New Habit

2009-01-02T01:56:00.001-05:00

Kerry (1/365), originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I'm trying to start doing the 365 Days project, over on Flickr, as something to replace smoking, which I've been trying to quit (in fits and starts) for a year.

It only occurred to me yesterday or the day before that having a new habit to replace smoking was the only real way to keep myself from having that craving - I'm pretty sure it's psychological addiction, not chemical dependency.

Also, I used to be pretty good at photography. And some pictures I've taken for the desk job have gotten compliments that make me wonder if I didn't make a mistake in not pursuing it further.

Anyway, the first entry for the year 2009 is this piece of work: one shot, taken at around 11 (because I'd forgotten to carry my camera around with me all day) of Kerry, who's probably the most insistent that I stop smoking - even though she's got the least faith that I will.

Do people really expect this to work anymore?

2008-11-24T10:32:00.001-05:00

FROM MR UMAR HASSAN.
BILL AND EXCHAGE MANAGER.
FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT
BANK OF AFRICA ( BOA)
BURKINA FASO WEST AFRICA
TELEPHONE:+226 78 82 57 54

Dear Friend,
Compliments,
I am writing to seek your cooperation over this business proposal.
First I must solicit your confidence in this transaction; this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day.
l have decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction, Let me start by introducing myself properly to you. I am MR UMAR HASSAN. a manager with the Bank Of Africa( BOA), Ouagadougou Burkina Faso, Africa .
I came to know you in my Private Search for a Reliable and Reputable Person to handle this Confidential Transaction, which involves the transfer of huge sum of Money to a Foreign Account requiring Maximum Confidence.
In my department, We discovered an abandoned sum of$15million USD(FIFTEEN MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS.)Only, in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his entire family in a plane crash that took place in Kenya , East Africa, the bank now expects a next of kin as beneficiary. Valuable efforts are being made by the Bank to get in touch with any of the Brumleys remaining family or relatives but all to no success. the Late DR. GEORGE BRUMLEY,a citizen of Atlanta , United States of America is a known Philantropist in, West Africa and the whole African continent
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because it cannot be released unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you via your foreign bank account as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and It is because of the perceived possibility of not being able to locate any of Late Brumleys s next kin (He died with his entire family members)
The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after seven years, the money will be transferred into the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund The request for your assistance and maximum co-operation as a foreign citizen to stand as the next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the deceased customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.
The sharing of the fund are thus: 30% for you the account owner,60% for I and my trusted colleagues and the remaining 10% for expenses for both parties. If this proposal is acceptable by you, do not make undue advantage of the trust we have bestowed in you.
Best regards,
MR UMAR HASSAN.

NOTE
You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter
Trusting to hear from you immediately.

Science!

2008-10-25T17:28:00.002-04:00

Proof that 90% of all scientific inquiry consists of someone getting bored, thinking "What if I do this, here?," and then trying it out.

Fwd: From Rev.Jones Maxwell Harth (Urgent Matter)

2008-10-09T13:29:00.002-04:00

Uh oh, if he's with the World Bank, I should probably pay attention.

or...

DELETED!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Rev. Father Jones Maxwell Harth <info@live.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 6, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Subject: From Rev.Jones Maxwell Harth (Urgent Matter)
To:

I am Rev. Father Jones Maxwell Harth, a senior staff with the World Bank
fact finding & special duties office.I need your attehtion on an urgent
issue please write me back email:(rev.jones.maxwell121@live.com) call me
on phone: +44-704-572-0668

--
Matthew Trisler
www.radio-sweethearts.com

The best friendship $15 can buy

2008-09-02T18:11:00.001-04:00

DSC_2501, originally uploaded by alexander.gordon.

I am now a lifetime member of Graceland, Too!

2008-09-02T18:09:00.001-04:00

DSC_2547, originally uploaded by alexander.gordon.

as in "Graceland, Too!," not as in "hey, you're a lifetime member of Graceland?" Neat! Me too!

No, this is Graceland, Too, as in Paul McLeod's Holly Springs, Miss.-based shrine to Elvis. I'll explain more later.

Also, I'm thinking maybe I should buy a leather jacket.

I have bad dreams.

2008-08-14T01:45:00.001-04:00

Alone in Homewood, originally uploaded by Hryckowian.

I had a dream when I first fell asleep tonight. It was a bad dream. I'm not sure why it felt the way it did, but I can't shake it.

It wasn't a bad dream the way dreams about being chased by Nazis are bad; it wasn't a bad dream the way dreams about falling towards certain death are bad.

I just know that I woke up from the dream feeling depressed, feeling hopelessly, inexorably alone. Never mind the fact that Kerry had fallen asleep with her head on my shoulder, with her arms around me.

Part of the problem is that she slept on, while my initial round of R.E.M. constituted a power nap, so while she shifted and dozed off, my loneliness was compounded by a very refreshed feeling.

I woke up well-rested and ready to conquer the day. Even if that meant conquering my loneliness. Alone. At least until she wakes back up.

Squeeeeee!

2008-07-18T11:50:00.002-04:00

Feist
Feist
Feist
Feist
on sesame street!

The grin is infectious.

Multimedia message

2008-07-17T13:23:00.001-04:00

The most awesome rest stop EVER. at least by name.

Wait, Twitter's down for what?

2008-06-05T22:32:00.004-04:00

I hate that I'm addicted to Twitter. It's a good thing the site's free--it definitely wouldn't be worth the expense.

It's not the incessant downtime that bothers me. It's the complete lack of mastery over the English language.

2008-06-03T18:39:00.001-04:00

Dylan in Noblesville, originally uploaded by mutineersofindy.

WHERE IS THE BOB DYLAN GRAFFITI IN DOWNTOWN NOBLESVILLE AND HOW DID I NOT KNOW ABOUT IT BEFORE I MOVED??

Fahrrad

2008-06-03T18:28:00.001-04:00

Fahrrad
Originally uploaded by The Spacebase

WE HAVE BICYCLES WE CAN RIDE THEM

I said I'd try the tea.

2008-05-29T19:23:00.000-04:00

The Abandoned Tea from Radio Sweethearts on Vimeo.

It sucked.

I Think I Love Cats Now

2008-05-20T14:17:00.002-04:00

Low Fidelity Cat Dream from impactist on Vimeo.

In other news, I'm mostly settled in Memphis. May start documenting the process shortly.

Yes it's true

2008-05-09T01:53:00.002-04:00

toothpastefordinner.com

Le Countdown

2008-05-08T06:53:00.001-04:00

Kerry on Kerry, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

Because of this woman, I (gladly) have only 8 days left as a resident Hoosier.

It's Not Just Love; It's Life.

2008-05-03T11:48:00.001-04:00

mix tapes, originally uploaded by newrambler.

I just finished a book that Kerry lent me shortly after we started dating. I had to put it down for most of the semester, 'cause I'm an English major. Putting down books to read books is what we do best. That and talk like pretentious Douchebags.

I may have officially graduated today. I'm not really sure; there's a bursar loan services hold on my Ball State account, and the bursar's office isn't open until Monday. I did figure out that I owed a quarter from a library fine. (I don't remember having anything overdue this semester--maybe a final good luck and goodbye from Erin? If not, then I owe her the good luck/goodbye.)

At any rate, I'm starting to mourn Muncie and I'm starting to feel anxious about moving to Memphis. So much so that I couldn't sleep last night. As I'd mentioned, I finished the book Kerry lent me, Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield.

The book tore my shit up. I want to meet Rob Sheffield. If I do, I will first punch him for making me cry like a baby. I will then hug him for making me cry like a baby. I will then have him sign the book for Kerry. Then we will probably trade mixtapes, and I'll hug him again, because I totally understand why the book made me cry.

It also made me laugh. Less like a baby, more like a toddler:

One night I had a bit of a revelation. I was up late, as usual, unable to sleep, drinking ginger ale and flipping channels, looking for something to soothe my nerves, the way a Discovery Channel panda forages for bamboo. This time I found something--a newsmagazine piece about a breaking news story in Milwaukee. I watched with awe and reverence. The story concerned a nacho dwarf. He was the most famous and successful nacho dwarf in Milwaukee--maybe the world. His job was walking around in a Mexican restaurant wearing an oversized sombrero with a brim full of tasty nachos. The crown of the sombrero held a cup of salsa. The nacho dwarf greeted the customers, shook hands, worked the room. He would invite everybody to sample the treats he had on his head. He was there to serve. He was there to honor the nacho-dwarf code.

Understandably, quite a few of his fellow dwarves felt this was a degrading and insulting gig. Steve Vento (for that was his name), a former car salesman (for that was his trade), disagreed. He proclaimed himself proud to be a nacho dwarf.But other dwarves complained angrily that he was perpetuating inhumane stereotypes and encouraging mistreatment of non-nacho dwarves. In fact, they were protesting the restaurant, demanding a boycott until the nacho dwarf was canned.

I watched this with intense fascination. They showed a clip from the Anthony Michael Hall movie Johnny Be Good, which apparently had a party scene that had inspired the whole nacho-dwarf thing. They showed the dwarf lawyer who was representing the protesters. And they showed the nacho dwarf himself, defending his profession. He implied that maybe the other dwarves were just a little jealous that they did not have the talent to make it as a nacho dwarf. They resented his success, so they were trying to drive a fellow dwarf out of work and into the gutter. Why, they were taking food right out of his mouth!

"We are not trying to take food out of Mr. Vento's mouth," said the lawyer. "We are merely trying to take it off his head."

And then, dear friends, at those words, a little light flickered in my mind. Some sort of divine revelation started to make itself clear before my eyes, and a voice began to articulate unto me the horrible truth: I needed to get out of the apartment more. No, I really needed to get out of the apartment more.

And that, dear friends, is the reason I love this book. Well, that and it expresses a lot of fears and hopes I have regarding marriage, and though Sheffield's taste is questionable, his love of music is undeniable and infectious.

Also there's a really great section on the varying types of mix tapes, but I don't want to blog a passage that long ever again.

Seriously

2008-05-02T15:14:00.001-04:00

DSCN0891.JPG, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I'm a pretty lucky dude.

I'm a fan.

2008-05-02T15:12:00.001-04:00

DSCN0874.JPG, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

Also, there's one more photo here than days left until we live in the same place.

A Belated Defense

2008-04-28T17:30:00.002-04:00

On Friday, I went to a fiction reading/rock show at Village Green Records in Muncie.

I was standing outside the store when a car of what appeared to be frat boys drove past and shouted at us, "Hey, Punk Rock Faggots!" Which was really hurtful.

I don't even particularly like punk rock.

Time for a Calling Out

2008-04-28T16:33:00.003-04:00

Over the weekend, someone anonymously commented on a couple of my posts, with the same text in each comment:

Heard some of your music, "William." You've improved over the years.
-an old friend

I don't know who this is, though I would very much like to. It'd probably be pretty good to catch up, if they are indeed an old friend. (If you're reading this, you can find an email link at williamwolfe.net.)

I'd also just like to say that of course I've improved over the years. I've worked pretty hard at becoming decent.

Multimedia message

2008-04-28T15:59:00.001-04:00

Is this news? Seriously?

Tales of Shame, and Also of Delight

2008-04-23T13:41:00.002-04:00

Before I unleash upon you the beauty of the edited Charlie Rose clip from Boing Boing, I have something else to share. Sad news.

We may as well burn the rest of the Constitution now.

That said, there's this!

Both via Boing Boing.

2008-04-22T16:03:00.001-04:00

I want today over. Now. It's not that it's particularly bad, but i'm tired and need a minute or two for unadulter

--
==================================================================
This mobile text message is brought to you by AT&T

Waiting for Obama

2008-04-11T13:35:00.003-04:00

In chronological order now, the tweets and blog posts from my time in line, waiting for Barack Obama tickets. Of which, I only got one.

I'm discovering, after the fact, that the chronology is difficult to determine; seems my Twitter and Blogger accounts post in different time zones. Ah well, that's pretty close.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T18:45:00.001-04:00

It's sad to realize that the Obama headquarters is the only storefront in this mall still open, save for the budget haircut place.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T18:38:00.001-04:00

I can taste it!

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T18:30:00.001-04:00

Getting closer. Still at least another 20 minutes until i get to go home and maybe watch Top Model. My back is sore from my bookbag, and i'm really quite hungry. Should have packed a sandwich for progress.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T17:55:00.001-04:00

Surprisingly, i'm finding it terribly dull to liveblog waiting in a really long line. Even if it's not that much different than normal liveblogging. READ: LIVEBLOGGING IS STUPID.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T17:31:00.001-04:00

We're not called 'the House.' We were going to be, but we decided that 'the' was much catchier. It's just that we'd already had the signs printed.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T17:16:00.001-04:00

If you squint or enlarge the picture, you'll see more of the line behind the cars.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T17:14:00.001-04:00

More line.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T17:08:00.001-04:00

Thank god they've been passing out water. It's not hot yet in indiana, but it's a very sunny day. It'd be terribly easy to get dehydrated. Also, there's rumors that the line stretches several blocks down university avenue.

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T17:05:00.001-04:00

Multimedia message

2008-04-09T17:03:00.001-04:00

In line for tickets to see Barack Obama speak in Muncie on saturday. It's three people deep around the block, not to mention my part, which winds through the parking lot in the back of the building with the Obama office.

Ooh, swish!

2008-03-23T22:42:00.002-04:00

make it work:

As for the second, the implied gender roles don't really work for Kerry and I, but if she wants to dress like that, I'll gladly join her for a dance around the Kitchen of Tomorrow.

Never satisfied

2008-03-23T18:02:00.001-04:00

I'm in UR Press, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

Proudly writing angry letters since 1982.

2008-03-23T07:40:00.000-04:00

2008-03-20T15:30:00.001-04:00

http://view.break.com/470415 - Watch more free videos

How does that feel? Right there?

2008-02-29T13:34:00.001-05:00

I wanna be a badass local TV reporter.

Record Companies Keeping the Money From File-Sharing Suits

2008-02-29T13:14:00.002-05:00

337/365: The Big Money, originally uploaded by DavidDMuir.

And not giving any to the artists they're 'protecting.'

Fuckers.

Matthew TRISLER has sent you a link to "Leaked LEGO Sets Feature Old School Spaceships, Tentacled Space Skulls" on Boing Boing Gadgets

2008-02-28T14:13:00.000-05:00

Hi,

Matthew TRISLER has sent you a link to "Leaked LEGO Sets Feature Old School Spaceships, Tentacled Space Skulls" on Boing Boing Gadgets.

<a href="http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/02/28/leaked-lego-sets-fea.html">http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/02/28/leaked-lego-sets-fea.html

"SWEET. Legos haven't been as cool since they started putting faces other than smiles on the figures, and cross-promoting with big movie franchises. This seems like a step back in the right direction."

Matthew TRISLER has sent you a link to "UCCTOP Xeno Laptop for Video Editors, People Who Enjoy Knobs" on Boing Boing Gadgets

2008-02-28T14:09:00.000-05:00

Hi,

Matthew TRISLER has sent you a link to "UCCTOP Xeno Laptop for Video Editors, People Who Enjoy Knobs" on Boing Boing Gadgets.

<a href="http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/02/28/ucctop-xeno-laptop-f.html">http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/02/28/ucctop-xeno-laptop-f.html

"I'm a Mac fiend, so this isn't THAT wonderful, but still... Look at the knobs and sliders! It's a thing of clumsy but tangible beauty."

2008-02-25T17:02:00.003-05:00

I'm having a bad day. So you know.

My neighbors (who hate any noise I make and bang loudly on the wall to show their displeasure) are having work done on their apartment today, which began about an hour before my alarms were set to go off.

Maybe it was just that the way I woke up angried up my blood, but I've been cranky and down on myself and off my game all day.

I have a choice this evening of going to the Writers' Community or going to see NPR's Juan Williams speak. Ordinarily, this would be a difficult choice. Today it's easy. I'm going home and doing some homework, making the most comforting food I can forage from my remaining groceries, and going to bed early.

I Need a New Plan

2008-02-21T14:33:00.001-05:00

Over the last couple weeks, I applied for a position with the Teach for America organization.

I heard back today. They don't want me.

I'm gonna need a job in Memphis. Anyone who has an idea what a Creative Writing major can do for a living in that fair city, please let me know.

Turns out the 'blood for oil' thing is true. Again.

2008-02-21T11:34:00.002-05:00

Oh, groan.

Seriously. This needs to stop. Bush, Cheney, et al. need to put on their big girl panties and just admit it.

Jon Taplin has more information, with decent sources.

More Self-Promotion, This Time With Moving Pictures

2008-02-19T15:31:00.003-05:00

Let's try this again. I play as William Wolfe.

I have some music on MySpace, and I'm about to start building my own website. I'll keep updating here about my progress

Shameless self-promotion: Show on the 24th

2008-02-16T16:46:00.002-05:00

Click the image for its animation. I don't know why it doesn't like to work as-is.

When I play music, I'm usually using a name that's not mine. I just feel like it, that's why.

I'm William Wolfe, and I have a show coming up on the 24th. If you're within an hour of Muncie, you should come.

More information here.

...moi plus

2008-02-14T18:36:00.002-05:00

Suffice to say that, despite distance, and its included lack of kisses, not to mention a bad stomach ache that had me out of commission all day, this has been a remarkably good Valentine's day. Kerry, i'm extraordinarily happy to be with you. You can gag me with a wooden spoon now.

Photo 48

2008-02-12T21:56:00.001-05:00

Photo 48, originally uploaded by skeletonkey.

I'm gonna leave the library now. I'm very tired of being here, but I don't want to walk home. And I'm gonna wait for you to call again.

Oh, here's a HUGE freaking surprise.

2008-02-12T20:30:00.000-05:00

What type are you? Take the quiz.

Eleanor Rigby: Sonic Illustration of Loneliness

2008-02-12T20:05:00.000-05:00

note: I wrote this for a class, at the absolute last minute. Let me know if it sucks, because it probably does. But please note: I probably won't care.

The Lennon/McCartney composition, Eleanor Rigby, is apocryphally credited to just Paul McCartney, and with pretty good reason; there's not a lot there lyrically that would be identifiably Lennon's. It could be argued that instead of being a Lennon/McCartney compostion, "Eleanor Rigby" should really be considered a Paul McCartney-George Martin composition, owing largely to the centrality of Martin's string arrangement for the song.

Martin's arrangement was only ever really given its due in the Beatles' Anthology collection, released in the mid-nineties, wherein the vocals were removed, leaving the doubled string quartet (due to the fact that it was a string quartet recorded over itself, it can't really be called an 'octet') had the original tracks remixed into stereo, allowing the cellos to embrace their throaty hum and quick runs up the scale, the violas to take their quarter-note stabs, and the violins to carry the higher registers.

Martin's arrangement, in stereo, is easily among the richest sounds I've ever heard. The studio reverberations are at the absolutely correct level; they neither overpower nor distract, but they do add a necessary since of urgent distance to the mix, without which, it could not respond so movingly to the lyrics of the song. It's a shame the quartet on the Revolver version is compressed into one mono track, panned dead center.

Whoever remastered Revolver for stereo made some very odd choices. After the introductory chorus, with the choir of McCartneys surrounding the listener, the recording engineer made the odd choice of suddenly panning McCartney's vocal hard right, and doing it right in the middle of the word "Eleanor." The choice is very distracting, and it draws attention away from the song and towards the mix--which should only happen to recording engineers--of which I am not one. Another result of this hard pan is that the verses, panned all hard right (though I doubt they're mixed any quieter than Paul's solo "All the lonely people" at the end of every verse) sound quite a bit quieter than the vocals at any other point on the track, by virtue of coming out of one speaker instead of two.

This creates, I think, an unintended correlation between the mix, rather than the music, and the lyrics. While Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie isolate themselves in the church--which grows increasingingly irrelevant to anyone outside (which, in this case, is literally everyone but Rigby and McKenzie)--McCartney's vocal withdraws itself from the focal point of the mix.

Ah! but the universal sentiment, "Where do they all come from," fills the speakers on both sides of the listener, saying "I am the whole point of the song! Listen to me!" (As though the fact that it's the chorus wasn't enough.) But the quick pan to right in the middle of the word "Eleanor" startles the listener into paying close attention to the verses--the specifics which illustrate the general chorus.

For me, however, the most curious fact of this song is that, despite how perfectly the string arrangement locks into the lyrics, there exists a fair number of covers of the song, some of which eschew the strings altogether. I know Ray Charles has a version, which draws nothing but mixed reviews--"It's Ray Charles, so I can't hate it," a friend of mine said, "but... it just doesn't work."

There's a hard rock cover by Vanilla Fudge, too... but my copy of that record is so badly scratched as to render "Eleanor Rigby" unlistenable. But from what I heard, the insane rock organ that fills the record more than makes up for the lack of string parts. It's not a very faithful cover, and that's fine--probably preferable, if they weren't able to score George Martin to record the exact same string quartet playing the exact same way.

Jackie Wilson's soul version is perhaps the most confusing. It has its own string arrangement, and a real, swinging beat... but the orchestration is ill-advisedly busy, and the beat makes it feel less like either "Eleanor Rigby" or almost any Jackie Wilson I've ever heard, and more like a Tom Jones-type smarmy sex jam. I tap my feet with the beat, and I want to drive around in a Mini Cooper wearing an ascot, pointing and winking at every pretty girl... and maybe this works too, I guess. Even a crazy, swingin' cat like Tom Jones, who has panties thrown at him every night, has to feel lonely, too. Right?

The Aretha Franklin cover is, well, just a disappointment. It sounds like the backing band is Booker T. and the MGs, which is totally enjoyable in its own right, The soulful electric piano lines are beautiful, and again, I bounce along with the beat. This is Aretha Franklin, and she can really do hardly any wrong, but, I'm sad to report, here she does. She drops a line or two from each verse, invariably the line I feel is most central to the verse. Perhaps most ill-advisedly, she claims by saying "I'm Eleanor Rigby." Which is is just fine until the last verse about Rigby being buried.

I know Aretha sings soul, and probably believes in an eternal soul (how's that for a baseless claim?), but she doesn't sing the song like a ghost. There's too much vitality and sheer energy.

The main point I would like to make here is that "Eleanor Rigby" is a song, not a poem. The lyrics are poignant, and in the right context, moving, but the right context for these lyrics is, I feel, George Martin's delicate and reserved string arrangement. It provides the perfect setting to make sure these lines do not descend from pathos into bathos. Though it is a valid pursuit to discuss a song's lyrics separate from its music, it can be a faulty pursuit. In the case of "Eleanor Rigby," it feels plain to me that the song loses much of its meaning once lyrics are separated from music.

Actually...

2008-02-10T21:53:00.000-05:00

It's pretty much up. It just doesn't look quite as it should.

It's coming

2008-02-10T18:46:00.000-05:00

I have still to figure out a lot of stuff regarding the site, but a placeholder homepage is up!

The Hawaii Chair

2008-02-06T17:31:00.000-05:00

Watch in awe as Erin Lee negotiates the work-free workout while maintaining composure:

The first-time user testimonial is also amazing.

This Weekend

2008-02-05T14:20:00.001-05:00

Housewarming_002, originally uploaded by brandondillphoto.

I went to a party. I had fun at the party; you probably wouldn't guess by looking.

There's a song by Two Gallants, called "Nothing to You," that just came up on my iPod. I'm liking it. It has a line, "I'm as gay as a choir boy for you."

thump thump thump, that is all.

Some Sort of News

2008-02-05T12:15:00.000-05:00

Turns out Muncie made the Make: Blog. Sorta. I mean, we didn't make Make:, but you get the idea.

I found this on my computer.

2008-01-24T15:28:00.000-05:00

I have no idea where I found it. But it's lovely. Sorta. Supposta animate and junk.

Flip on the TV, we may pick him up on Channel Two.

2008-01-21T15:08:00.000-05:00

I cannot pretend to have any clue what inspired this Beware of the Blog post from WFMU, but its insane detail in imagining what DJing for their station would be like--ON ANOTHER PLANET--is a real winning feature.

I admit, Saturn sounded nice, but it's the black hole that won me over.

An American pineapple, of the kind the Axis finds hard to digest, is

2008-01-19T13:40:00.001-05:00

An American pineapple, of the kind the Axis finds hard to digest, is ready to leave the hand of an infantryman in training at Fort Belvoir, Va. American soldiers make good grenade throwers (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

On those photos

2008-01-19T13:28:00.002-05:00

The Library of Congress has a Flickr account. And they've been posting the most kickass photography I've ever seen. Several thousand in each of two sets (what, nobody's bought them a Pro Account?). They're beautiful photos. It seems like they were taken with slide film--I'm not sure how else they'd get focus that sharp with such insanely sharp contrast and beautiful color.

What's more, those titles, they are (ah!) lovely.

Very writerly in their descriptions. Except maybe the girl in the glass bubble. But that's too great a picture to pass up.

Scroll down for more, or check the "LOC Photos" tag.

Women workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage

2008-01-19T13:28:00.001-05:00

Women workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17F bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-17F is a later model of the B-17 which distinguished itself in acti, originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

This girl in a glass house is putting finishing touches on the

2008-01-19T13:27:00.001-05:00

This girl in a glass house is putting finishing touches on the bombardier nose section of a B-17F navy bomber, Long Beach, Calif. She's one of many capable women workers in the Douglas Aircraft Company plant. Better known as the "Flying Fortress," the B-1, originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

[Electric phosphate smelting furnace used in the making of elemental

2008-01-19T13:23:00.001-05:00

[Electric phosphate smelting furnace used in the making of elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the Muscle Shoals area, Alabama] (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Crane operator at TVA's Douglas Dam, Tennessee (LOC)

2008-01-19T13:18:00.001-05:00

Crane operator at TVA's Douglas Dam, Tennessee (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

[Man shovelling ears of dried corn from wagon through feed store

2008-01-18T13:55:00.001-05:00

[Man shovelling ears of dried corn from wagon through feed store window] (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Smoke stacks (LOC)

2008-01-18T13:54:00.003-05:00

Smoke stacks (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown

2008-01-18T13:54:00.001-05:00

Woman aircraft worker, Vega Aircraft Corporation, Burbank, Calif. Shown checking electrical assemblies (LOC), originally uploaded by The Library of Congress.

Ahh, Jens Lekman. The Jacques Cousteau of the pits of blackest despondency.

2008-01-14T13:43:00.001-05:00

Poetry kicks ass, but it kicks mine, too.

2008-01-13T19:11:00.000-05:00

Mark Halliday on Mary Ruefle's "Perfect Reader," from his essay, "The Arrogance of Poetry," from The Georgia Review (but I don't know which issue):

"The satisfactions of imagining a lover's embrace, imagining 'fucked-up beauty' in a tree, imagining a man who describes a flower in comically abstract language: such satisfactions may put a swing in one's stride but cannot become the same as having a lover. The summer of imagining will subside into the winter of isolation, and the speaker will return to awareness of her own lack of a spiritual home.

[. . .]

"The poem turned out to be good, so I'm not ungrateful; indeed, my life is enriched by the poem--but now where am I? I'm on the first page of Post Meridian, a book containing more than seventy poems; and one of the many other books around my desk is Ruefle's more recent Among the Musk Ox People. How much can I respond to? What will become of me? When can I have lunch?

"Standing at the beginning of a book, "Perfect Reader" seems a warning: It is beautiful to try to be a perfect reader of poems. And you are fated to try. But your imaginative efforts will be tiring and endless, and they could bring you to a condition of overexposed vulnerability, with newspapers as your only blankets."

Every Christmas, I recieve at least five books of poetry. Every semester, I buy at least five books of poetry for class. I fully intend to read all of them. But there's no way I can adequately expose myself to the inherent meaning of all of those poems.

A poem is so short and yet demands so much scrutiny in order to be properly understood and enjoyed, that each good poem--and I stumble into so many worthwhile, if not necessarily good poems--requires at least an hour to itself. I can't do it. There is no human way to be an adequate reader of poetry.

And yet I try. And I live for the trying.

Lady Tiger! On the Prowl!

2008-01-06T11:51:00.000-05:00

The story beginning as told by the NY Times.

And then taking a hilarious headline (and a pretty good subhead) in the San Diego CityBeat.

I know, I know. Someone died. I should take this seriously. But "Lady Tiger on the Prowl" is a Hall & Oates song waiting to happen. I call Oates.

actually thom yorke looks mostly like an emo clapton who has something stuck perpetually in his eye.

2008-01-06T10:16:00.000-05:00

Seriously. Check minutes, um, six on.

quite possibly the most distressing thing I've seen in a long time

2008-01-06T02:17:00.001-05:00

What We Are

2007-12-30T17:30:00.000-05:00

Backlit freight train, originally uploaded by jsymmetry.

Major life decisions are being made at a rate and momentum incapable of being registered on any currently available scale.

All afternoon

2007-12-30T17:18:00.001-05:00

freight trains yard, originally uploaded by smoytheonlyone.

Kerry and I have been almost completely incapable of accomplishing anything. Almost two months 500 miles apart have us sitting across the table--me trying to write, her trying to do her NY Times marathon--and just staring at each other, grinning. I occasionally have to go the bathroom for victorious powerslides and karate kicks.

She is beautiful. She is incredibly smart. She does certain things that just absolutely kill my ability to think and reason. She is my girlfriend, and I'm keeping it that way.

18 hours still seems too long

2007-12-25T20:10:00.001-05:00

19-shortpantsdance.jpg, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

Until we party

About 48 hours left.

2007-12-24T12:33:00.000-05:00

DSCN1079.JPG, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

She's pretty hot. And brainy. And I get to call her my girlfriend. And I get to see her the day after Christmas.

And, like, kiss & stuff.

Happy/Merry, Y'know.

2007-12-24T10:32:00.001-05:00

The Holy Family, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

Just trying to live in love as best I can. The kid in the middle did a better job of it than most of his American admirerers ever managed to.

Joel Osteen, I'm looking at you. I don't trust church because of you.

Rich people are to heaven as camels are to the eyes of needles. Go ahead with the Health/Wealth/Prosperity heresy, for all I care. Jesus wants room in heaven for a dance party anyway.

Thanks for the reminder, and the links, Headphonaught. I wish I could finish the article. It makes me too angry to finish.

oh noes!

2007-12-22T17:29:00.000-05:00

Wolf boy, with scary toenails on the loose in Moscow!

Run, Russian urban peasantry, run!

(story at boing boing.)

More real stuff later.

this is my fault.

2007-12-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

I have no idea what I mean. But I named it for Jens' "Postcard for Nina."

2007-12-18T02:34:00.001-05:00

Sonic Kerry, originally uploaded by The Spacebase.

I was grumpy earlier today. This picture always makes me happy.

I'm probably not going to finish this book

2007-12-16T21:06:00.001-05:00

At the beginning, it was clever and funny--and the way the author tied himself into the plot was brilliant. But once it became clear that the author-as-character wasn't completely impotent/incompetent, the charming hilarity juxtaposed with the long-winded and muscular yet carefully chosen and delicate prose of all Russian classics faded away. It's all a ploy. The middle of the book (where I am) is terrible.

Shteyengart is too entirely pleased with himself and the hilarity of his creation and his narrator. Gag.

I liked Misha for a good hundred pages. It was a bit cloying, sure, to have a 300-pound Russian Jewish immigrant to the United States living large and enjoying a life of American hiphop and his hispanic Bronx girlfriend. He's a rich gourmand. Like all good Russian protagonists. It was great! Life was good when the book felt like a tribute to Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Gogol; when the book was successfully lampooning both American hubris and Russian mobsters. Seriously, the protagonist was named Misha Vainberg. Gogol's characters all had allegorical names like that. It was great. He's a self-centered wealthy gourmand. Like all good Russian protagonists.

Yes. I've read Crime and Punishment. And I have yet to finish it, either. I know Raskolnikov was neither rich nor a gourmand. But three hundred pages into that book, I still believe the poor, scrawny, nervous Raskolnikov. One hundred forty-one pages in, and I've given up on Misha.

All of which is to say I've abandoned better books than Absurdistan. Life is too short for me read something I don't enjoy. Unless I'm being graded on reading it.

Super 8 + Zombies = Freaking Sweet (but not like you think)

2007-12-13T12:22:00.000-05:00

Two of my favorite things in the world: Super 8 films and sappy semi-psychedelic love songs.

The Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year" is way up on my list. I would argue, in certain rare moods, that it's an even better love song than "God Only Knows." But rare moods indeed.

Also, apparently, these movies were shot by the filmmaker's parents. Which is extra sweet.

via Look at This...

The Reason for Saying I've Got a Crush

2007-12-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

The more I settle into the routine of a long-distance relationship, the more I learn to take care of myself. The more I learn to take care of myself, the more I learn to rely on myself for day-to-day needs. The more I rely on myself, the less I need anyone else for things I should take care of by myself anyway.

Which just makes me want you more.

I want to turn the things I'm learning into a crayon drawing and hang them on my refrigerator for you to see and admire.

I'm back in the fifth grade when I think about you.

Helvetica on Studio 360

2007-12-09T20:12:00.000-05:00

This week's PRI's Studio 360 featured a segment on Helvetica...

Geeking out about typefaces should be the new national pasttime. But maybe that's me, speaking as the guy working on a book of poetry about typefaces.

"Little Drummer Boy" by Low

2007-12-06T15:35:00.000-05:00

A breath. A noise blast until :20. Reverb to end all reverb. Every breath a string quartet.

I think the "slowcore" label Low gets saddled with is unfair and inaccurate, but listening to their langid-but-still-somehow-incredibly-tense version of "Little Drummer Boy," I want to hit 'repeat one' and curl up under a blanket under my parents' aluminum Christmas tree and sleep until New Year's.

Edit: you can buy it from eMusic, if you've got an account. If you don't, and you want one, please let me know. We can all get free music if you do.

A live version, via Hype Machine: Low - Little Drummer Boy

I'd rather be in Tokyo, I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy

2007-12-06T12:12:00.001-05:00

Or watch the Sunday gang in Harajuku:

Seriously. Weird. (via Boing Boing, at that. Purveyors of weird.) I mean, I understand the desire to take care of a pretty wounded girl (wounded pretty girl)--but post-dance party Kerry feet never really did much for me. Apparently, the, ahem, "Lawrence Nightingale" effect does work for some people.

It's cold here. Really cold. (Not the coldest I've ever seen, not by a long shot, but the snow makes it wet, too. Which is not pleasant. I track snow into my apartment. and I can't just kick my shoes off at the door either; I'm wearing my four-year old Doc Martens for marginally better snow navigation (though the lack of traction allows some INCREDIBLE ice slides), and them shoes' a pain to get off.

So yeah. I'd rather be in Tokyo. Anywhere warmer or more interesting. I'd prefer Memphis. Or even the legitmate cold of more northerly climes. But I'd take Tokyo. I'm listening to podcasts. On the Media, currently, but I'd rather listen to Thin Lizzy:

Edit: There's something wrong with me--I'm a cuckoo.

Idea: Voter's Debates

2007-12-05T09:34:00.001-05:00

I'd referenced this in my Twitter feed, but I think it would be a fantastic idea.

With the emphasis on the presidential election, it seems that the candidates (mostly) speak to a focus-grouped constituency. So why not subvert the usual debate format and have moderators ask questions of selected voters? Each response to a prompt would be broadcast as-is, unfiltered through the lens of statistical analysis, thus providing a more vital documentation of the wishes of the electorate in a specific area of the country.

The problem is, by the time Indiana' March primary rolls around, it's rendered meaningless by earlier primaries and Super Tuesday. Perhaps a Voters' 'debate could focus as much on local issues as national/international issues. It could also spark more interest among the electorate for local politics by making participation in local politics a truly visceral experience.

maybe.

correction

2007-12-03T14:12:00.000-05:00

There will be an edit to the post that mentions this (when I can be bothered to edit it), but I'd said I bought Elizabeth the Found and/or Postsecret books. She bought them herself. I just thought they'd be a good present for her sister.

Mea Culpa.