Not that we didn’t all know that, but as Carrie and I were driving east along the southern beltway today, we passed a train that had huge cars for transporting liquid — you know, the kind they use for oil — all labelled “corn syrup” or “corn sweetener.” The train just went on and on and on. It was definitely more corn syrup in one place than I’d ever seen before.
I am having some difficulty making sense of the experience.
Last night was my first foray to the jazzfest, to listen to the “jazz” of Toronto’s DoMakeSayThink. They put on a great show, playing mostly their rockers. It hit me at one point, when they had 10 people onstage at once, that the whole “huge band with hangersabout and friends” thing which has gotten so much press is basically what Parliament-Funkadelic has been doing for years. It looks very similar — lots of switching of instruments, different people coming along for different performances (I remember on P-Funk show at a parking garage where the sign said “Bootsy Collins will not be appearing tonight. No refund”). The point is that when it happens in rock, it’s hailed as revolutionary. I dunno. Maybe, ideologically speaking, rock is a more individualistic than funk or hip-hop so it’s a big deal that way — but I’m not ready to concede that.
Anyway, it was a great show and now I can say I went to the Jazz Fest. Which is important. I’ve had the following conversation with locals several times over the past few days:
Them: “Been to the jazzfest?”
Me: “No. [Insert excuse here.]”
Them: “Yeah, well, it’s not that great anyway. The free shows are usually kind of boring and really crowded. But the pay shows are great.”
and on and on.
—
Why Engineers Don’t Go To Rock Concerts
Because their ears ring. Definitely taking today off from mixing.
1. The thing that makes it so much better than all the other disaster movies is that the disaster just keeps coming and coming until the end of the movie. Which means, practically speaking, that stuff keeps blowing up for the entire film. That’s so much better than the disaster movies where stuff only blows up for a little while.
2. Continuity editing is dead. They had shots of people with digital cameras and a digital video camera in use shortly after an EMP. A car starts. There’s no way it was an accident. They just didn’t care.
Bonus thought: the honking sound the alien ships make is priceless. And to their credit, they use it a lot.
Overall, a very pleasant surprise. I might see if it’s showing dubbed in French.
the title of Will Straw’s fall seminar, also sums up my weekend. Three nights of movies (tonight will be War of the Worlds) , and many hours logged in the studio.
One thing tthat sucks about doing it as a hobby is that you have to do all the maintenance stuff yourself. I’d been putting off a software update and then got a notice about a week ago from Waves (they make software plugins) that I had to do it in the next couple weeks or pay (you get a year to do free updates when you buy their software). Actually, if I didn’t LIKE some of the Waves stuff so much (both sonically and in terms of very well designed interfaces, as opposed to “fake” knobs on a screen), I would stay away from them like the plague. They have an elaborate copy-protection scheme on their software (based on the expectation — probably correct — that lots of people will try to pirate it) which means that, essentially, if they ever go out of business or if I update beyond a certain point (new machine, new OS), I will no longer have access to the plugins I have legally purchased. I don’t use Kracks mainly because I want everything to work as perfectly as possible and I want tech support when I have a problem (it’s a hobby — I’d prefer not to have to tinker more than necessary), but Waves just begs for it. Their copy protection scheme essentially punishes users for buying the product legally. You can imagine that I’m pretty hostile to Digital Rights Management in mp3s, but that’s another story. . . .
Anyway, after all the maintenance and learning a new secret-weapon plugin (it was complicated enough that I had to actually spend a few hours doing their tutorial), I have “finished” a song, and I’m now planning to focus on recording for the next week or two to try and get this lo-boy CD fully drafted. Then Mike can have a listen, I can make changes, go get it mastered (time to acquaint myself with the top mastering engineers within driving distance) and then we decide how to release it.
Moving/Canada Day Addendum
Walking in the neighborhood Friday night and Saturday, we saw lots of people in the process of setting up or taking down a new home. In several cases, it looked like new tenants had to throw out objects left by old tenants: chairs, couches, beds, and even a few appliances. There is a new tenant in our building, or at least evidence of one — a fragment of a cardboard box outside our door, and the doormat had been placed up against the wall, probably so someone didn’t slip while carrying a heavy object up to the 4th floor. Desperation, exhaustion, abandonment. That’s why it was almost exclusively large objects and little pieces of things, and almost nothing inbetween. As I know well from last year, moving is the time when you consider your relationship to objects.
It’s Canada Day. And Moving Day. Carrie just looked out the window and exclaimed “Look! There are people moving!”
Another week, another loss. At least our ERA is consistent. However, it’s not how you win or lose, but how you play the game.
Coach Greg gets kudos for two homers, some awesome fielding and excellent moral support. Heidi was also MVP calibre, with outstanding fielding and a bunch of hits. Other notables include two singles each by Andrea and Tamara, Greg’s cousin Peter’s left fielding and massive hits, and another spectacular catch by Carrie in the outfield (from the shortstop position). She was a woman in the right place at the right time. Vera and I both hope to catch foul balls next game. We both came close. Greg and Dana joined us as a spousal team.
As for me, a single and zero errors at first base. Gotta work on the hitting, though. I’m swinging early and getting under the ball.
The Isotopes were really cool. Physicists. They were in good humor the whole game and several guys chatted me up at first base. Gotta like that.
But the real story of this game for me, anyway, was pain. Somehow I didn’t notice how years away from team sports affected my body, but this week the chickens came home to roost. Academics talk all the time about psychic pain, but physical pain has not been a big part of my world for a long time apart from a sore back from moving and so forth. Earlier this week, I pulled a muscle in my leg and though it felt fine to walk, bend, etc., it hurt like hell to run. Holy shit, I had no idea how much it was going to hurt. In true meathead sports fashion, I played through the injury, though I was really slow on the base running. There was one throw I would have beaten last week.
It wasn’t just me. Heidi was limping for a good part of the game and had similar issues (though she seemed faster than me). Poor Jessica stopped at least one ball with her leg for the second week in a row. Andrea was wearing knee braces.
I too am sore in weird places. Less so than last week, though. And it feels kind of good. It’s almost like it means something different when it’s connected with team sports.
Muscle pain is old-school. There is an exquisiteness to its sophistication and variety. This must be how wine enthusiasts feel about wine.
One week, two countries. How cool is that?
My Bad Subjects oped on the subject can be read here. Also stop by the main page for a new oped by Fred Aldama on the politics of academic freedom in the U.S.
