First Post

Hello friends,

I have never had a blog before. Sure I've been through my fair share of Internet social networking websites but i just never really had enough to say to warrant a blog of my very own. Don't get me wrong, blogs are cool and I visit several regularly.

This first post (as I am not sure what my lecturer, Peter, quite wants out of this) is to be a fairly casual summary of my the digital media in my life at the moment. What I like, what's impressed me lately etc etc

I'll just start with a few notes regarding school. The class seems sweet, this guy Tom and I are working on a presentation about Torrents. I use torrent a lot, I'm a student and I don't have a lot of coin so illegally downloading music is necessary. I read about torrent technology on Wikipedia once, that's pretty much all I know about it. I was recently invited to join a weird torrenting website called What.cd which basically gives me access to a private library of music, comics, film and programs with out-of-control fast download speeds and an amazing sense of community. Although I guess we are all breaking the law by sharing this copyrighted material but using technology to share like this seems to have a higher purpose. Users are actually people and not the usual slime one may encounter on the Internet. I think this class will be very good for me, although i like to think i maintain some kind of hold over new uses and applications for the Internet (as much as suit my needs) this class will help me give a more critical insight to this brave new world. I once did a computing degree, i never finished in fact i think i only have one more class to do. It kind of killed my love of technology, too much programming. I used to build heaps of webites when i was a teenager, now 'll leave that to the pro's. More research to come...

Electronic Gear:
I am currently rocking an IBM ThinkPad R52 laptop. ThinkPad's are tough computers and if you want to know why I choose PC over Mac, PCs soldier on. Mac's are excellent, I really like them and for some uses Mac's are clearly superior to PCs. Mac's also have better advertising than PCs. I sort of want a Mac. BUT, PCs just don't say die. I've noticed that Mac products (less the computers and more IPods) break within a year and when they break the chances of fixing them are remote, and/or expensive. So I'm going to champion my chunky piece of black plastic and circuits just a little longer.

A 180g Maxtor OneTouch external hard drive. This piece of equipment is not the slightest bit interesting, it serves it's purpose as it should but is neither aesthetically please nor technologically advanced. Items like this just essential these days.

I've got two digital cameras, both fairly old. The first, an Olympus AZ-1, I bought the night I went to see Isis play at the Annandale Hotel in Sydney. An Amazing concert even if they didn't play anything of "Celestial". None of my photos came out that well but it's gone on to be an important part of my young adult life. The fun, portability and usability of a digital camera (one that's not a DSLR, although they're fun too) makes getting one that is even remotely decent almost a necessity. Don't get me wrong, I still swear my old Pentax SLR took some stunning photos (when luck was on my side) but for documenting something as simple as a road trip they are essential. The second is a Canon PowerShot A75. I found this camera when I was cleaning out a van my band had hired when we went on tour one time. There were two Japanese bands (Palm & Edge of Spirit) travelling with us at the time so I thought it was one of theirs, it wasn't. So one night, I think at the end of semester I pulled it out and found that it contained someone unknown's photos from one of there trips, it was weird. Finding digital technology randomly around is weird. I looked at photos of this lady's kids, so weird. That said Trent Reznor hid USB sticks randomly at Nine Inch Nails concerts just before the release of "Year Zero" in 2007 with leaked tracks, images etc. Finding that would be so mysterious and exciting, especially once you realise what it is.

Plus some old school speakers that used to belong to my Dad's first stereo that sound excellent, and old Phillips TV, a Sony Playstation 2 (I am back into Mortal Kombat) and a Realistic Amplifier.

Here is a list of stuff i've been getting a kick out of lately:

http://www.nintendo.com
Lately, I have been sucked right into the portable console debate. I work at a JB Hi Fi in the music department but i still hear all the info and debates about the consoles. My friend Franc has had a DS for a little while and praised it's element of fun, it's usability and this thing called "Home Brew" which is basically a massive array of simple programs (as well as pirated games) to download on to your DS. The first thing that caught my eye was the IPod interface. This turns the two screens of the DS into an IPod, top screen is the viewer and bottom screen is the scroll thing. Oh.. AND it's Wi-Fi ready. Now I don't have to buy an IPod, Peter 2 Mac 0!

http://probertson.livejournal.com
Paul Robertson is a film maker that lives in Brunswick East. I applied for a room in his house once but didn't get it, the ad read something like "Do you like DVDs and Beer?" which sounded right up my alley but unfortunately for me someone else beat me to it. Like I said, Paul makes movies, short ones made up of sprites and animations that look like your favourite arcade games. Fresh looking heroes, devastatingly ugly and horrible enemies, cameo's from Rambowski and a truck load of awesome action makes this guy one of the best and most original in any short film field. Definitely download "Kings of Power 4 Billion %" and "Pirate Baby Cabana Battle 2k6".

http://www.rebelbass.com
This is a place I visit to find new music. I think it's just a bunch of nerds who happen to be DJs. they like to make mixes of either the freshest music or the most old and obscure and you wonder how they got it... introverted crate diggers... that's how! I don't really know what happened to this site over the weekend but I'm pretty sure the dudes who run it took a lot of drugs and decided to revamp their website. All the content is gone and now this ghostly, half-finished weirdness is in it's place. Maybe give it a week or so.

http://www.thebooksmusic.com
This is a band called "The Books" who I think are awesome. Their two albums "The Lemon of Pink" and "Thought for Food" are some of the best I've heard especially if you are into sampled music and how digital or natural it should sound, The Books make it sound almost organic. This website is fun to explore, all Flash, and by "explore" I mean explore the important information (tour dates, online shopping etc) are pretty easy to access but there's a lot of other fun to be had.

http://www.nasa.gov
NASA photo of the day is a great way to start the day, I am actually learning stuff.

http://www.myspace.com/bowcasterrock
I play guitar and sing in this band.

On this blog I will refrain from talking about any organic music that I am listening to, instead, in the spirit of the event, I will only talk about sample-based music. I am currently listening to: Pan Sonic "Katodivaihe", The Books "Thought For Food",Trans Am "Trans Am", Kraftwerk "Trans Europe Express" & Wu-Tang Clan "The W". I also think people should get out and hear that new Diplo mix of Santo Gold's album.

- Dark Knight rules -