I just signed up for Mixwit! The interface for this “mix tape” making web app is a joy to work with. I can’t wait to get some of my other cohorts in on this, because I’d like to make this a regular blog feature. I have always enjoyed making mix tapes and cds for friends. It was always a very involved and heartfelt process. There’s something about music that speaks directly to the heart, and sharing your favorite music is a really good way to give people insight into who you are and how you think. (Which is why differences in music are so often dealbreakers in otherwise perfectly legit relationships, I think. Although I know that it’s not always the case. You’re a lil bit country, I’m a lil bit rock’n'roll, etc etc.)
There are still tickets available, from what I can see, but they probably won’t last long. They’re 25 pounds each (approximately 48.95 USD according to xe.com) and absolutely worth every penny.
The details of the festival itself make all the US festivals I’ve read about look tragically bourgeois and haphazard by comparison. For your festival ticket price of 140GBP (274.07 USD), you get:
To put that in perspective, VIP treatment for the Gathering of the Vibes cost $385(USD) and was still basically camping, unless you were lucky enough to have a camper of your very own. Campers are not cheap items by any stretch of the imagination, and neither is a quality tent set up, so staying comfortably for the entirety of the festival was by no-means cheap. The festival was held in a very large public park, which - to the best of my knowledge - was not set up for camping.
Doesn’t really stack up, value-wise, with the proposed admission/accommodation deal ATP has to offer if the information provided in the FAQ is to be completely believed. Unless I win the lotto, knock over a liquor store, or find some kind of sugar daddy (or momma, I’m flexible), I’m not going. If any of you are, be sure to take lots of photos and share. If recording is allowed, encouraged, or doable by way of l33t skillz, please do.
Anyone who’s read Neuromancer will recall the use of dermal patches for the administering of drugs. At the time it seemed like a far-flung vision of a technologically advanced future. No pills, no needles, just slap it on and go about your business.
HP and a company named Crospon are developing that very thing. A device that looks a bit like a CPU is covered in “microneedles” which are only .5mm long. The article has photos of the device as well as diagrams displaying how it is intended to work.
Current patches, such as the nicotine patch, rely on the fact that nicotine may be absorbed through the skin. Being able to get past the epidermal barrier for chemicals which aren’t readily absorbed could mean wonders for people whose medication regimen requires regular injections, or in some cases could prevent the need for pills. The developers intend to control dosage via microchip, which can protect patients from overdose and expands possibilities of time-release drugs as well.
While this can certainly revolutionize medicine, it also has the potential to revolutionize reacreational and dependency-based drug use also. Look ma, no track marks! This concern is years in the making, as scientists are still working to determine the safety and affordability of such a delivery method.
And now on a related note, for your listening pleasure:
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.
I was standing outside in the back parking lot of my apartment building with some people, talking about I don’t even remember what. It was night time approaching early morning and rather cloudy. All of a sudden there was a noise in the air like dozens of planes. Flood lights popped on to periodically illuminate green (like the old copper on Lady Liberty) planes of a sort I don’t even suspect could really fly. Rather than having a wing perpendicular to the body, or two as with a bi-plane, there was one wing suspended away from the body in a parallel that extended slightly beyond the body of the plane on all sides. While I was busy being confused-bordering-on-fearful about it all, one of the planes swooped low and banked hard over our building once or twice before dropping a bomb that rocked the very air around. Everyone outside was knocked down, including myself, but I looked up to discover the damage was mostly to the third floor, but there was a fire. I pushed myself off the ground in a rush. I nearly went right back down to the ground from the immediate dizzy spell, so I half-ran and half-crawled to the badk door, struggling to get the key in the sticky lock and charge up the stairs. The next thing I remembered I was waking up next to my beau. It was early in the morning, the apartment was a mess, and it took me a moment to realize what had happened. I’d gotten to the apartment and passed right out. Why he was there, seemingly undisturbed, I don’t know. I can’t remember if I woke up on the floor or in bed. At this point, a frantic search for the people outside occured, turning up everyone who had been there, plus extra. Rushing up the stairs, the damage was awful but no fire was raging. Heading back down to the lot showed everyone was either up or getting up. There was some outside source who didn’t believe in the bombing, at which I nearly lost it. The planes had been there! Everyone else saw it, too! It was a short lived argument for whatever reason, and next I was looking to help one of my neighbors who was mysteriously also one of my co-workers. He’d lost a lot in the explosion and I was going to offer to store some of his stuff while he tried to rebuild/relocate. The beau wasn’t too happy about that and was probably less happy when neighbor/co-worker started making up the couch as if to stay there.
Before, during, or after all that, I was somewhere public with a little watch on a chain attached to my collar. Just a little clip on thing, and it also had a pink teddy bear charm. I found out during the course of the speech I was listening to that there was a culture of dominance and subserviance which relied on such indicators to show who was who. Sure enough I look across the room just in time to spot the short haired girl with the animal collar riddled with charms just like my little pink bear. I didn’t get my watch out of sight fast enough and she came over to me. Subserviant though she was, she was clearly a leader in her circle. I tried to explain that I didn’t know, and it was a mistake. The girl only smiled at me knowingly and proceeded to evaluate the quality of the bauble hanging from my shirt collar (or did I have on an animal collar as well…). I remember a couple arguments between some same sex couples where I hyperfocused on their faces, as well as the start of another event/scene/thing, but not clearly enough to make the transition.
that’s all.
Anyone who still reads at my “old location” knows that I’ve been having a bit of a family crisis. So yesterday while driving to the Portsmouth Regional Hospital, I was fussing with the radio, trying to find some kind of music that didn’t suck. This task is often challenging in this area, as they tend to play the same five Pink Floyd songs, and a mix of recent popular dreck. (I most often listen to 96.7 since they tend to have a pretty enjoyable mix of 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.)
However, periodically I’ll tune in to 106.1 - Portsmouth Community Radio - in time to catch some DJ’s set that introduces me to the interesting, oddball stuff I so thoroughly enjoy sometimes. Yesterday was one of those happy accident days. The two charming ladies setting up the records at the station that day played a unique track called “Japan” by a duo known as Cocorosie.
My immediate impression from the first 30 seconds or so was that Lamb Chop had grown up and started dropping a lot of acid. In two words: Far fuckin Out. As it went on I started to pick out the warm and quirky lyrics themselves, and the choice of instruments that fit the theme. The tune was relatively simple, but that wasn’t a shortcoming, it was a feature that made the song more accessible. At one point the song faded out, and I thought that the next song on the playlist was a lovely, operatic vocal song with minimalist instrumental background. As it turned out, that was an intermezzo of sorts. It was such a striking musical experience that I managed to remember the artist and song title hours later. (A rare feat for me, no matter how much I like what I hear.)
A quick googlin’ turned up one of my favorite lyrics sites: Always on the Run.net. They’ve got a brief bio, lyrics galore, and a couple MP3s available from the group (available from a small icon by their name on the main page).
Hit it up, check it out, and let me know what you think.
The obligatory “if you like” list:
The Flaming Lips
Ween
Poe
That one operatic song from The Fifth Element
Modest Mouse
Lamb Chop, grown up, on acid (not the actual band named Lambchop, mind you)
I dreamt about a lot of things. I dreamt about being interrupted during what was ostensibly my high school graduation by a flirty boy who was also graduating by some kind of satellite deal so he was there/not there. The majority of my “class” was people I work with. Some strangers. Some people I actually went to school with. I kept getting distracted by that boy, and by thoughts of Zelda 2 for whatever reason. There was some EXTREMELY awkward joke about some kid with terrible hair being gay and I told him his back hair wasn't that bad at all. (Although it was pretty fuzzy.)
In another dream I was partly an observer and partly behind the eyes of a blond assassin woman who had Athena, Inc type abilities including hiding a sword in her throat! She said it was encased in a tube of that “movie glass” stuff, apparently after drawing the sword from her throat, she'd then shatter the “glass”. Since it was movie glass, her stomach would dissolve it since it's some kind of sugar and corn syrup mix or something. She was laying behind some kind of barrier with a wide crack between it and the ground. Sidling forward, she pulled out some kind of blade, she was going to ham string one of many soldiers just for the hell of it and something held her back. What it was I don't rightly remember, probably the vulnerability of her position. At any rate, she kidnaps Patton, who was played by some guy I know from work (so, assassin is fictional girl on the outside, me on the inside, this person is fictional on the inside and real on the outside), and proceeds to hold him captive for days, during which time they become lovers. She reveals to him that she's been successfully cloned many times, each clone being taught enough unique personality traits to be planted in subversive roles throughout the US without too much of a fuss. Yet she advises Patton not to worry because while her side has terrifying technology, they are also insane at their core and will fall apart. She eventually lets him go, with some story about defeating some large number of attackers and whatnot. With the excuse of completing her mission to eliminate him, she returns to where he is stationed. Some alarm is sounded at this stranger in their midst but “Patton” makes an excuse for her, including in front of his wife who appears obviously dismayed. Yet some joke was made of it that instantly mollified the situation. There was more canoodling and fretting and then the last I remember of it was she was leaping about through some kind of warehouse or some place with pipes.
The last dream I remember was quite a doozy. It actually takes place after the high school dream. Outside, sitting on the ground, some moderately heavy-set woman in a very loose knit red fuzzy body suit (and various other whatnots) made a bunch of awkward comments to me. Then I or someone was studying a bunch of paintings. 3 large panes, 2 of which had many of smaller images within the main frame, coming up with this insane theories and running into this building next to him/her/me yelling at some woman who was supposed to be a clarvoiant or something in regards to the meaning of the paintings. Then the paintings started to shift, and things got real meta, since it became the memory of a dream within a dream itself. There wer adorable colorful monsters in a crowd, and something else with an equally fat-lined drawing style. It was all moving and shifting colors a wash at a time. Then there was some business with me being in charge of some magical soda machine, which appeared to have gotten mixed up with reality since there was frozen corn and whatnot in it. Things started to fall apart right about then.
Synopsis of totals available behind the cut:
Radio Rock: 1
Country: 2
Psychobilly: 1 (I would like to see Unknown Hinson in either country or Psychobilly. He’s great, you should google him and check it out!)
Pop: NA
Emo: NA
Original Emo: NA
Ambient: 0
Chillout: 5
Indie: 5
Metal: 0
Metalcore: 0
Hardcore: 0
Post Hardcore: 2
Grindcore: 0
Doom / Sludge / Experimental: 0
Powerpop: 2
Punk: 1
Pop Punk: 1
Street Punk: 0
Crust Punk: 1
Rap: 0
Hip-hop: 4
Ska: 0
Classic Rock: 12
90’s Alternative: 6
Industrial: 2
Electroclash: 2
Electronica: 2
My heritage wins out overall. If any bands are missing from my listening loop, please, fill me in! I really only checked off artists I either have albums for, or have a strong familiarity with. Which means there are several in these categories that I “sort of” know, but not enough to stand behind them for the purposes of this survey. Read the rest of this entry »
Walked all up and down the strip. The shuttle from the hotel dropped us off at the Tropicana. We milled around uncertainly, then decided to just start walking. A lot of the routes are very roundabout, but we managed to make it over to the MGM Grand without too much trouble. We milled around in there for quite a bit, and wound up making dinner reservations at Shibuya. Once that was taken care of, we wandered off in search of more adventures.
If you don't mind doing a hell of a lot of walking, the on-foot route up and down the strip is actually quite enjoyable. Minus all the timeshare presentation solicitors, of course. It's funny, I went on vacation to get away from salesmen for a while. I found myself confronted with several, and not on a strictly conversational/business level either.
From the MGM, we made our way down and breezed into the Hawaiian Marketplace that's hosted by Polo Towers. I stopped in this little Japanese-run shop called Yokohama Okadaya and bought a little purse so I could go out without my jacket. (The weather is really too warm during midday to warrant a leather jacket.) From there we walked to Aladdin, and I convinced Ian to peruse their shopping arcade with me, since I noted they had a Sephora and wanted to check it out. Didn't end up buying anything during that trek. There were a lot of really high-end designer shops, and if I were richer and thinner I surely would have gone into a couple of them.
We went past Paris Las Vegas and their reproduction Eiffel Tower. I have no idea if it's a completely to scale replica or not, but I'd assume it would be.
We popped across the street to the Bellagio, which had several more high-end designer shops that I didn't patronize, and a gallery of fine art that we really should have gone into.
We left there and got close to Caesar's Palace, but only to each grab a lemonade with tequila and midori. It was extremely refreshing, given all the walking we'd done. It doesn't look like much on the map, but to get most places, you have to go from casino to casino, and that involves circumnavigating their pit to figure out where the restaurants, shops and exits are.
After our lemonade, we decided to head back in the interest of not being late for our reservations. One of the sister casinos to the one next door to us, Barbary Coast, was past our route, and it looks a fair sight older and in poorer shape than South Coast.
We made it back early and exhausted to the MGM, and decided at right around 5:30 to see if the restaurant would take us a bit earlier than our 6pm reservation. Luckily they were happy to accomodate, and we had what is probably the best dinner of our entire lives to date.
We had our napkins laid in our laps for us, a book of sake selctions before us, and a menu that was appointed with some of the most elegant choices I think I've ever seen. We had not one but two servers, really. We ordered a carafe of Tengumai sake, warmed, although we were cautioned that most of their selection of about 150 kinds of sake was better served chilled. When the miso soup kicked in we finally overcame the shock of the decision-making process, we got an appetizer of sunomono, two kinds of seaweed and eggplant. The eggplant was a little funky, but the rest was beyond good, and I found it hard to keep from just constantly stuffing my face until the food arrived. He got a tray of vegetable maki, I got a tray of crab, avocado, and mixed greens. They both came in modest portions, but it was all so good I had a difficult time keeping a respectable pace yet again. The sake ran out at the same time the food did, which worked out nicely, since the sake paired with the food in a way that was indescribably fitting. We each had a glass of chilled plum wine, served in snifter-like wine glasses. This was perfect as it allowed the wine's aroma to really sock you right in the face when you went to sip. He got some banana-rum flambed crepes. I only had one bite and decided that I didn't care for it overly much. It wasn't bad by any means, but it wasn't what I was after at all. I got a selection of little sorbet scoops. There was peach, apricot-ginger, lychee, and a dark red berry. I adored the berry, and the lychee was almost like rose water sorbet instead. The apricot-ginger wasn't quite my speed, so I left most of it for Ian, and the peach wasn't quite as distinctly fruity as I'd hoped, but it was very good either way. Total for the whole experience with tax and tip? About 150$. Granted it took quite a chunk out of our vacation funds, but it was more than worth it. Again, were I a richer person, I'd be going back there on a regular basis.
The rest of the night was spent wandering about. We made our way over to Excalibur, whose one redeeming quality was that they had a bar right inside the door. This was a relief because it took a great deal of walking just to get inside. The arcade was shockingly devoid of Joust, or any interesting games for that matter. They had 3 DDR-knockoff machines, one of which was working (and occupied).
We left there and made our way to the Luxor. I really really like the architecture and the decor of this place. Although as a pretty hardcore RO player, I kept expecting a mob of ancient mummies to jump out and attack my face. XD The shops with all the neat egyptian junk were just starting to close at that point, so we decided to see what the story was with the shark show at Mandalay Bay.
My suggestion is not to walk to Mandalay Bay from the Luxor. We did that, not knowing there was a shuttle AND a tram between the two locations. After discovering that the Shark Reef thing is cheap, we vowed to return at a more appropriate hour and decided it was time to hop the shuttle back to the hotel. We took the tram from Mandalay to Excalibur and popped across the street to the Tropicana to wait. I misread the schedule sheet and we had a half hour to kill, so we went inside the Tropicana from a side entrance and wasted some change on the slots. That was pretty much that.
Yesterday -
In the interest of resting all our worn out body parts, we opted to pretty much just stay in. We went next door, had breakfast, got booze, came back, grabbed a movie from the front desk, and settled in. I can at this point recommend watching White Noise. I didn't know it had Michael Keaton in it. That's almost always a selling point of a film for me. :) I cannot, however, recommend Red Eye. Cillian Murphy should really be ashamed of himself for this blah, short, basically pointless film. My theory is that Wes Craven decided to try his hand at a 24-like situation. He failed.
Today -
Since we napped away a good deal of yesterday, it was about 3am when we decided it was time to go have breakfast. We went back to the same cafe we'd had breakfast at before to take advantage of their Graveyard Shift specials. That was the most food I've ever eaten for 2$ in my whole life. Awesome.
No clue what's on the agenda for today, but I suppose that sitting here isn't getting me any closer to anything awesome. I want to try to hit The Palms today, and hopefully the art gallery at The Venetian.
Listed as one of the Worst 10 Games of the Year by Game Informer (whose opinion is periodically subject to question), I confess I am really enjoying Red Ninja. I'm on my second rental of the game right now, because 3 days was not enough for me to beat it with my present schedule. My opinion thus far, however, vacillates wildly between pure enjoyment and utter frustration.
There are 3 major challenges in the game. Tricky Jumping Shit, Tricky Camera Shit, and Tricky Button Timing Shit. The jumping is to be expected. As a ninja, one should expect to overcome some serious wall running, leaping, and crazy hanging-from-a-tiny-filament type action. That isn't so bad once you get the hang of it, and the game is pretty forgiving in terms of continues when it comes to sections that require you to succeed or die.
The camera in the game can and will drive a person to drinking unless you're willing to use the left shoulder buttons to frequently correct the angle manually. To be honest, since L1 is the enemy auto-target - a crucial part of combat unless you feel like taking a chance on button mashing - the camera correction is (usually) pretty easy to deal with.
The game's potentially most frustrating flaw rears it's ugly head during the aforementioned Tricky Jumping Shit. Say you have to dash to the edge of a ledge and leap to the other side, one's instinct is to mash on the jump button on that very last step. Wrong. This is the path to certain doom. Jumping has to be done about a step or so before that. Otherwise your jump doesn't execute like you didn't touch your controller at all, and one of two things will happen. Either A) you will automatically slip and hang from the ledge by your highly skilled ninja fingers, or B) you will dash right off the edge to your watery or cavernous or bone-crunching doom below. No fun either way. Result A is a lifesaver, but result B will happen often enough to cause less patient players to throw down their controller in disgust and quit altogether.
The bosses are challenging, but they rely pretty heavily on their individual gimmicks. Auto-targeting, running around a bit at the beginning of the battle to notice their patterns, and back flipping like a fiend is typically the best way to figure them out. Incidentally, my understanding is that the back flip is invincible. Something with will prove very useful for both the hard-hitting bosses, and the occasional hordes of enemy soldiers.
Still, the stealth elements and regular enemy combat provides you with plenty of things to play with during the game. There are a variety of attacks per weapon, making use of the tetsugen wire can make dispatching soldiers a barrel of fun. There are also lots of opportunities to set up the ever-entertaining stealth kills, which will help keep you stocked in healing materials for the more difficult traps and bosses. The story itself is really interesting, and there are character vocals provided by the same actor responsible for voicing Invader Zim, no less. There is a grading system at the end of each mission, which does inspire replay for those who really want to work on their timing.
While I am aware of the game's potentially fatal flaws, I'm finding it to be fun enough to want to play it all the way through. I'd recommend checking it out on the rental, since I know I haven't been able to find it new or used at any of my local retailers.
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.
