Boy was it ever! I would explain it to you, but I barely understood it myself. For your listening pleasure, however, I’ve put together another mixwit mix tape that I feel helps express in very broad terms the kind of day I had.
Featuring
Kajiura Yuki - Key of the Twilight
Sonic Youth - Hits of Sunshine (For Allen Ginsburg)
The video basically speaks for itself. After having listened to the song, I have to say I had not prepared myself for the experience the video had to offer.
Although shot on ‘74 on a disco program, it foreshadows so much 80’s pomp and obscurity.
And either the lead singer is the most gender neutral/confused lead lady ever - Annie Lennox, Patti Smith, eat your hearts out! - or there’s some manner of lip synch going on there that I don’t even really understand. The curious fashion choices of the group don’t really help clarify anything either. If they slicked and spiked their hair and wore a lot more eyeliner they could be just like any of the weird internet-grown gimmick bands of today.
Look for funny moustache face at a minute and 20, and at 40 seconds left to go. Also pay close attention to the extremely apathetic audience.
Jay Is Games tipped me off yesterday that Haluz 2 is out. If you enjoy “casual gaming” at all, and you don’t have JIG bookmarked, then shame on you. But I digress.
Haluz and Haluz 2 are two gorgeous point-and-click puzzle solving games. (See also: Samarost and its sequel, Samarost 2 from the fine folks at Amanita Design.)
Haluz 2 shows improvments from the first incarnation very early on, with the introduction of “level codes”. Right now I’ve got 3 of them on a sticky note next to my desk so I can pick up after I leave work. The puzzles in the early stages I’ve played so far were simple, but Haluz 2 is a game of two parts. One is free online, and the other is a download which costs $9.99(us). Or for a couple more bucks - $12.99(us) - you can get the full version and the soundtrack. Given the lush soundscapes that match with the rich environment design, I would argue that the extra few dollars for the soundtrack is well worth it.
Visit haluz.eu to play the free online versions of both games. The option to purchase and download all of Haluz 2 is also there. Also check out the links section where the games’ creator pays homage to its inspiration, Samarost, and also provides links to a few other p&c games and the games’ music creator.
Clocking in at 11 minutes, this alternate take of the title track from the rerelease of Televison’s 1977 album Marquee Moon is a sweeping soundscape of what translates to near pure bliss for this listener.
“Eleven minutes?!” one may be inclined to exclaim, “Why that’s much longer than 3! and far longer than the limited attention span which may even permit 5 minutes of one song!” Yes it’s true. Still I urge you, gentle readers, to set aside the urge for mere bite-size culture bits take this time to absorb the crash of the drums, the sinuous progression of the guitar, the underlying call of the bass, the lyrical journey.
Next comes “Marquee Moon,” a nine minute encapsulation of the group sound; a great Lloyd chord opening, looping riffs out of left field by Verlaine, and a funky, rocking bass and drum part that lead into the song. It then builds and builds, and Verlaine begins to solo up into the upper neck of the guitar. More than a few times you wonder if even he knows where it’s all going. It finally resolves into a Stones-like chord burst (actually not unlike a good Dead jam number), then settles into a lyrical, atmospheric section. Smith and Ficca then lead us back into a reprise of the main melody.
Editor’s Post Script: I was quite drunk when I first posted this, with no preamble or followup comment. Suffice it to say I had been cruising around YouTube while saucing it up, and decided this great live performance by Ween (way back in the day) was highly deserving of a nod from the RKNet hive mind. That said, please enjoy the video, as it’s a great performance by the duo.
50,000,000 Blank White Pixels for starters. Although I prefer to see it as an exercise in photoshoppery, combined with an unwillingess to stagnate into the blah conformity of constant stress.
My private, LAN-based ShoutCast radio station. I enjoy sharing my musical collection and providing my co-workers and myself with an enjoyable soundscape for the day. Incidentally, the Last.FM stats seen here are coughed up by the box running the Shoutcast. Which means the presented stats aren’t all “me” in the strictest sense.
Work. Always with the work.
I’ve been playing a lot of Pokemon Pearl since I got my hands on the game. The changes they’ve made (like time-sensitive events, better dual-pokemon battles, etc) really add a new level of enjoyment to the standard of gameplay they’ve set up. While I agree with my friend John that the battles themselves are still sort of slow, I’m pretty accustomed to that from years of RPG-type “random encounter” battles. It’s really not that much of a sacrifice. Besides, I got a freaking Abra before I even got my first badge! What’s up now, bitches?! (Incidentally, I don’t have a good place to connect for WiFi play, so no friend code action until I get a real wireless router.)
This blog. Yes it’s true. I spent a few hours last night just slapping social widgets and whatnots into the template. Of course, this template is highly temporary. I have every intention in the world of redoing the entire site to something more cross-browser compatible and attractive… or at least more cross-browser compatible.
I’ve also been spending a lot of time on IRC and a lot of time playing with Twitter. I’m in the mood to absorb ideas and assimilate people into my “circle of contacts”. There are few things I like more than knowing who to ask about certain subjects. The internet is a vast array of tubes crammed with all the information I could ever want, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to just ask somebody about something you’d like to know.
Yeah. Anyway. Time to stop wasting time and figure out what to do with the rest of today.
Some kids play in the sandbox. We play in the.... litterbox??? The RKNet staff is pleased that you decided to stop by. Currently this is a multi-author project, with a rotating cast of totally kooky characters. Contact giania [at symbol] gmail [dot] com if you'd like to play here too.
