Friday May 18, 2007

Greetings and bonsowa-ru. This week the topic is film trilogies. That's right people, we're talking movies with exactly 2 siblings and there are a lot of them. This month the 3^rd Spider-Man movie and Shrek the Third opened, and the third installment of Pirates of the Carribean is to be released next week. Of course none of these summer blockbusters may remain 3-parters and it's no coincidence that a money-making movie will spawn a sequel or 2. Some notable film trilogies of the past include the Back to the Future Trilogy, the Matrix Trilogy, the original Star Wars Trilogy, the 2^nd Star War Trilogy, and The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I've always favored the first film in any series, though the finale of a true trilogy is often a strong contender as well. Poised between films 1 and 3, the often overlooked middle film has to provide a strong continuity. The sheer scale of having a story told over 3 movies is almost an irresistible draw for any couch potato, so the next time you have 6 hours or so (or 3 consecutive evenings) try a trio of movies on DVD. And don't forget the popcorn and lemonade.

The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle

Click on the picture to get a full-sized view.

The loops of the week were created using Orion Pro

Right click on a loop name to download it.

----- Bass 1----- Bass 2----- Bass 3----- Bass 4 -----

----- Drums 1 ----- Drums 2 ----- Drums 3 ----- Drums 4

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.

Bye for now!

Saturday May 12, 2007

Good evening and happy Friday to all. The topic for this week is music and main focus will be on creating music using patterns. Repetition is a key part of music composition, and nearly every song has at least one repeated phrase. It's a basic technique, but very powerful and frequently used throughout all genres of music. A pattern can be a minimal drum beat, a driving bass line, or the melodic solo. The true power and flexibility of pattern based composition becomes evident when using a computer or standalone sequencer. Each pattern becomes a modular block that can be used or reused or stacked with others to form new configurations. In many ways, it's more intuitive to work with patterns than to try to write music using traditional music notation. Orion Pro (the program I use to create the weekly loops) is pattern based and I've found it to be extremely easy to use. I'll delve more into the use of patterns (and loops) in another installment.

The picture of the week was created using Bryce.

Click on the picture to get a full-sized view.

The loops of the week were created using Orion Pro

Right click on a loop to download it.

----- Fr Horn 1 -----

----- Oboe 1 ----- Oboe 2 -----

----- Strings 1 ----- Strings 2 ----- Strings 3 ----- Strings 4 -----

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.

Bye for now!

Saturday May 5, 2007

Hello and welcome back! The topic for this week is computing and the focus will be on scripts and scripting languages. To a computer programmer the term “script” doesn't refer to the lines that an actor will read on stage or TV. A script is a more generic term for a kind computer program. A scripting language can actually take the form of a general-purpose programming language, as in the case of Perl or Ruby or Smalltalk, or can be very specific, as in the case Unreal Script and Quake C which are used as in modifying FPS games. Anim8or, one of my favorite graphics/animation programs has added a scripting language called ASL in the latest version. The dark side to all this scripting goodness is that the potential for abuse exists. Javascript, a scripting language and one of the main web programming languages, has come under criticism for a number of security issues. It is apparently quite easy to insert a bit of ad-ware or other unwanted info into Javascripts. I'll have more on scripts and my own attempts at script writing in a future installment.

The picture of the week was taken on one of my recent bike rides.

Click on the picture to get a full-sized view.

The loops of the week were created using Orion Pro

Right click on a loop name to download it.

----- Bass 1 ----- Bass 2 ----- Bass 3 ----- Bass 4 -----

----- Drums 1 ----- Drums 2 ----- Drums 3 ----- Drums 4 -----

----- Guitarish 1 ----- Guitarish 2 -----

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.

Bye for now!

Friday April 27, 2007

Hi again! It's a nice warm weekend here in So Cal and the topic for tonight is graphics. The program of the week is Virtual Dub, an open source video editing studio for Windows (95/98/ME/NT4/2000/XP). Virtual Dub can be used to record video from a camera, piece together separate scenes into a single long video, or to add an audio soundtrack to your video creation. It's loaded with features, reasonably easy to use, and free (under the GPL), so have a look and see if you can't create the next video clip to go viral and worldwide. For more info check out the Wikipedia article on Virtual Dub.

I've an update regarding the bunnies in the park that had been the subject of a previous blog entry. They've been adopted and have a new home in what will almost certainly be a safer place. It was a happy (hoppy) ending for the rabbits and for me.

The picture of the week was created using Project Dogwaffle
Click on the picture to get a full-sized view.

The loops of the week were created using Orion Pro

----- Bass 1 ----- Bass 2 ----- Bass 3 -----
----- Brass 1 ----- Brass 2 ----- Brass 3 -----
----- Drums 1 ----- Drums 2 ----- Drums 3 -----

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.
Bye for now!

Sunday April 22, 2007

Hello again! This week's entry is late because I was away visiting some friends in Sacramento. Due to my current state of employment (or lack thereof) I chose to rent a car and drive there. My luck was running true to form, and I managed to pick the first rainy weekend in months for my getaway. It wasn't all rain and driving the roughly 780 mile round trip gave me a bit of time to think about the various mysteries of life while listening to about a half dozen different classic rock FM stations. Monotony and sameness broken by the sounds of Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, the Eagles and Cream. There was a bit of snow to be seen near the Tejon Pass on the way north, and cows, horses, citrus groves, strawberry fields, all under puffy white clouds, or foreboding gray ones. I saw barns and irrigation trenches, small towns, power lines, billboards, and acres of nothing. It was memorable and in some ways quite beautiful. So once more I've taken a step outside of the box, and have been rewarded with some fresh experience. My recommendation to anyone faced with a similar opportunity? Go for it!

The pictures of the week were taken this past Friday, when I took the sole wrong turn of the trip, and wound up in the midst of some of that scenic farmland.
Click on a picture to get a full-sized view.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.

Bye for now!

Friday April 13, 2007

Hello and welcome back. This past Wednesday one of my personal and artistic inspirations departed this world for whatever lies beyond. Kurt Vonnegut wrote novels that were both fictional and full of truth. His humor was darker than the dark matter that fills the void between the stars, at turns satiric and cynical, and always a bit absurd. It was a balancing act that defied convention and definition. His books were often labeled as science fiction, but there was little hard science in them and the fiction had that persistent vein of truth that ran through everything he touched. I never read all of his works, but those I did read had a profound influence on the direction of my life and art. Slaughterhouse Five is considered by most to be Vonnegut's breakaway novel and drew on the author's experience during the allied fire-bombing of Dresden. That horrifying incident represented literally the death of art at the hands of war. What Vonnegut managed to do was nothing less than a resurrection of art in the form of the novel. The circle closed and the phoenix rose from the ashes. Art survives death and destruction and in doing so is a life force. Thank the fates for the bards and storytellers, players and singers, and above all those who can tell the truth, frame it as entertainment, and make us both laugh and find the truth within. I think I'll stick with writing for a while and see where it leads.

The picture of the week was created using Bryce
Click on the picture to get a full-sized view.

The loops of the week are going be delayed while I find a new host for the files. Those acidified WAV files take up a a fair amount of space, so I'm on the hunt for a bigger place to house them.

The website of the week is Jump the Shark, a page devoted to the moment when a TV show looses all touch with reality or the illusion thereof.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.

Bye for now!

Friday April 6, 2007

A very good, Good Friday to one and all. The topic for this week is music, and more specifically live performance. Every band or individual will eventually reach a point at which they've outgrown the garage or bedroom. The likely first gig for an aspiring artist will be a nice non-paying night at the local pub or coffee house, or an “open-mic” night. While playing for free or for beers doesn't seem very glamorous, you're slowly gaining the essential experience necessary to take it to the next level. It's a well known fact that the Beatles played a number of low-rent dives in Hamburg before hitting it big, and there is a persistent rumor in these parts that the band that would become Van Halen performed at Pasadena High School in the days before they were the toast of the Sunset Strip. It all goes to show you need to pay your dues and do the hard yards before you reach stardom. This past Tuesday I did my first live performance on guitar (rather than keyboards) at a local pub during a blues jam/open mic night. The house band was very forgiving and overlooked my beginner nerves and obvious flubs. It's a continual learning and growing experience that I would recommend to anyone with a love of making music.

I thought it would be appropriate for Easter to share some pictures I took of bunnies living in the park near my home. They aren't wild rabbits. They're domestic pets that were abandoned in the park. That bit of thoughtless cruelty nearly made me cry, but fortunately for the little long-ears there are some good people who have been putting out carrots and proper rabbit food. They have a comfy hole in the concrete wall to evade the numerous dogs and occasional coyote and they seem quite healthy. Happy Easter Bunnies!

Click on a picture to get a full-sized view

The website of the week is my old friend Mark Craig's Blog. It's something like the mathematical inverse of my highly artistic and largely unstructured blog.

Send your comments and feedback and I’ll read it all and respond to some of it.

Bye for now!