robot action boy

moving on up...

2007-04-26T14:35:00.000+08:00

i've moved my blog over to wordpress. they have a free basic service which seems simple enough to use. and at least i have comments again. please update your bookmarks(for those that have them), eventually i'll probably kill the blogger version of robot action boy.

camera cards make me happy

2007-04-25T17:09:00.000+08:00

this is by far the best card i've gotten from postcrossing. it makes me want to run out and send off some more postcards. i'm planning to hit another diy market this weekend, so i'm hoping to find some worthy cards for postcrossing adventures.

things have been pretty sporadic around here. i still haven't managed to get comments to work again. blogger seems pretty unhelpful so i'm looking at moving the blog. right now i'm considering both wordpress and moveable type. either of these options will require a lot more work(at least initially) on my end. but hopefully in the end they'd make things much better. if anyone has other suggestions feel free to email me about it.

pop songs 07

2007-04-19T14:30:00.000+08:00

pop songs 07. a blogger decides to write about every rem song eventually. he's not doing it chronologically, but jumping around throughout the discography which is nice. it's got me making me want to listen to early rem again, but unfortunately, the only rem i have on cd is the newer stuff which i don't really care for as much. via quiddity.

mousetrap!

2007-04-18T17:42:00.000+08:00

man, if i was in california i'd so be going to this event. a lifesize mousetrap:

The unique design of this giant, Rube Goldberg-style contraption was cleverly gleaned from the memories of childhood, twisted out of scale, then sketched beyond life size. It features an enormous construct of crazy stairs, a flame-throwing lamppost, careening bowling balls, and a hand-built, 30-foot-tall crane capable of lifting and dropping 5 tons! The object of this vaudevillian encounter is to "accomplish by complex means what seemingly could be done simply"! So our lucky players get to lift a 400-lb cast-iron bathtub 13 feet into the air, crank cranks, load springs and turn impossibly huge gears, all in a supreme effort to crush a trinket of meaning (say, a 1,200 lb pumpkin) under a falling 2-ton bank safe! The Mousetrap is impressive as a static sculpture, but it is the motion, started by a human, that is the heart of its existence.

i've heard that some libraries in taipei actually carry make magazine. i should check and see if any of the ones down here do. via stone cold pimpin'.

the super 8 itch

2007-04-18T12:15:00.000+08:00

i ran across this nifty site on super 8. as a result, i'm really itching to pick up a super 8 camera and make some super 8 films. i wonder where i can get super 8 processed in taiwan?

antichrist and barcodes

2007-04-15T02:25:00.000+08:00

from one of those live current 93 performances i'm always wishing i lived close enough to to attend. i love the fact that david tibet looks like some mad 70s preacher - which in someways is probably not too far from the truth. if you crave more a gothic love song can be seen here.

love play diy market again

2007-04-09T00:04:00.000+08:00

today peter and i went to the love play diy market again. it seemed a bit smaller than last time, but i suspect some people may be down in kenting for the big music festival down there. some of the vendors i was hoping would be here this time weren't, but i still managed to find some cool stuff.

this card by nutn(actually, i don't know the name of the designer, but that's the name of their photo album so it'll have to do) is cool and i'm pretty sure it's not just a card but some sort of woodblock print which makes it even more special.

also i really loved this polaroid camera inspired card by room design:

it even comes with a little card that you can put a photo on like it's a real polaroid(and pull it through a slit in the camera card). they had the camera it's based on sitting on their table. i couldn't help but stare at it. i guess this is just another confirmation of what a camera geek i've become.

in the meantime...

2007-04-06T22:05:00.000+08:00

well, still no word on when the comments will be back. i have however, gotten two form letters from blogger letting me know that they are backlogged with problems since forcing people to switch to the new blogger. i think it may be time to check the help forums again and see if anyone has posted a way to solve this problem(there wasn't last time i checked). but anyway, comments or no i'm back to blogging.

and my first post since being back? a quick tour of phone cam shots of tainan:

good hygeine is a good thing.

a poster telling you what to do if your car breaks down on the train tracks:

in case of a breakdown or obstacle at a railway crossing, please carry out these three safety tips:

1.press 2.push 3.run

press the buttons first, push your car next and run away when train approaches!

does anything on this sign seem vaguely familiar? could it be kfc? i'd heard that all of these klg shops had gone out of business or been forced out, but there are still a few left in southern taiwan. haven't tried their chicken yet though.

a hello kitty hardrive. just what every computer savvy hello kitty nut needs. on closer inspection i'm not sure this is a hardrive. do hardrives usually come with a remote control?

the comment blues

2007-03-22T14:39:00.000+08:00

i'm having some problems with the comments. until blogger can fix the problem i'm going to be taking a short(hopefully) break from posting.

2007-03-20T00:15:00.001+08:00

i'm going to be doing some work on the template. so if things look a bit off or just plain different you'll know why.

2007-03-19T13:09:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. a mix of new, old and older.

2007-03-17T21:38:00.000+08:00

today i got up before god so i could catch the early train up to taichung(1.5 - 2 hour trip) to take in the flea market up there. the flea market was smaller than the ones in taipei and kaohsiung, but still nice. i didn't find any old pictures for sale, but lots of old vinyl, some toys and a variety of old asian stuff along with the usual assortment of power tools and sex toys. i took quite a few snapshots but i'm not sure how well they'll turn out as most of the flea market is in a covered area.

the only thing i bought while there were these postcards(they may look like originals but i'm sure their not. oh, and if you click on the thumbnails you'll be taken to a page to view them bigger). i bought them with the intention of sending them to a friend in the states.

one seller even had the magazine about old toys on hand(i blogged about it here - for some reason i expected that post to be more popular than it was). he was selling stuff that could be found in there - or things very similiar. but rather pricey. a little plastic boy on a tin tricycle for about 15 bucks u.s. ouch. some other sellers were selling the tatung mascot banks. but at (u.s.) 15 bucks and 25 bucks i won't be buying them anytime soon.

one seller talked to me in english and wasn't too happy that i took a picture of his wares without asking him first. seemed really odd to me. i then asked if i could take a picture of him and he said no.

there was one seller selling old cameras. among them a seagull and a rolleicord. i was afraid to ask how much the rollei was going for as cameras in taiwan tend to be expensive. they liked my brownie starflex, and were even more impressed when i told them i was shooting 35mm with it. i'm sure i'll regret not asking the price on that camera.

2007-03-16T11:01:00.000+08:00

in that last set of dvds that arrived - along with the kenneth anger came this disc of films by mike kuchar. sins of the fleshapoids is often heralded as some sort of underground masterpiece and john waters is on record as stating its major influence on him. it is a fine bit of kooky sci-fi b-movieness, but i found i preferred the other two films on this disc more(the secret of wendel samson and the craven sluck). aside from the visual elements in the film, what stands out is the sound. on the surface it has similiarities to what nurse with wound, tipsy or messerchups may do with thrift store records, but here the mix up is used to illustrate characters mood/state of mind.

the disc comes with trailers with two more films that i'm pretty certain i'm going to have to add to my collection in the not too distant future: the 70s dimension and tribulation 99. they aren't by mike kuchar, but i hope there will be more kuchar releases in the future.

2007-03-16T10:50:00.000+08:00

monsanto house of the future. i'm still dreaming of living in such a place. the 21st century has been such a disappointment. but at least there are things like this to remind us of what it could have been like.

the inside is pretty swanky too:

via junkyard clubhouse which is fast becoming one of my favourite blogs.

2007-03-15T23:05:00.000+08:00

when i was down in kaohsiung at the lomo.tw meet up i met someone that suggested that the problem i had with my sx-70 polaroid camera may be dead batteries(it mysteriously stopped working) - he turned out to be right. then today i found this thread on flickr about how to mod the camera so it could take 600 film without adding filters(actually by taking one away, and very simply at that). i tried it and it works! this is my first test featuring the ansco readyflash. a camera my parents gave me shortly after xmas. speaking of which, they've just informed me that they have more cameras to send me. is it possible to have too many cameras?

2007-03-13T23:50:00.000+08:00

for all those theremin fans out there. wfmu's beware of the blog has posted a bunch of theremin videos. cool. via the mediaburn radio weblog.

2007-03-12T13:10:00.000+08:00

this is really cool. animal cut-up cakes. scans of an old booklet on how to make cakes in the shapes of various animals. i love the illustrations and the pictures of the cakes even if i hate coconut. via junkyard clubhouse.

2007-03-12T12:58:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. i found myself in a madness mood this week and listened to their first three albums a few times. it'd been awhile since i'd done that.

2007-03-11T20:12:00.000+08:00

today peter and i went to the tainan diy market. apparently it's held every second sunday at the tainan municipal cultural center. i wish i would have known about it sooner. it was pretty crowded while we were there, but it was much better than the diy market we attended during the lunar new year holiday. lots of postcards and other funky goods for sale. a few of the vendors i recognized from other diy markets. i think there were even some high school students selling stuff they've made. there's something really nice about wandering around looking at diy stuff while a live punk band wails in the background.

of course i bought a bunch of postcards. i feel like the postcards are getting a little more expensive. i really like the cards by old new lady. all the cards have been burned around the edges(and really burnt as far as i can tell, so each one was a little different). i also dug the animal cards by p714. how could i resist cards that look like lost images from some children's book? always nice to pick up more fodder for my postcrossing activities.

if this diy market is always like this i may have no use for campo. it seems that there are alot of problems with campo lately and maybe they've lost sight of what made it special. i've heard stories that alot of the designers just do it because they want to become famous, not for the fun element like it was before. the funky and quirky art element has been missing from the last couple of campos i've been able to attend. it's just been a straight diy market, which in and of itself is fine, but campo used to be more.

2007-03-11T18:51:00.000+08:00

yesterday i went to kaohsiung. of course i had to stop by the flea market. this day i found something i'd never seen at a flea market in taiwan before - film! and 120 film at that. i bought all the man had for sale. all of it expired(some from 1982 it looks like!).

my friend james is always finding cool old pictures at one of the taipei flea markets and other places. but i don't find them very often at the one in kaohsiung. but yesterday there was a lot of different people selling old photos. one picture i wanted was 50nt(about u.s. $1.50) so i passed on it. i think it had someone famous in it, but i just wanted it as it looked like some man at a hostess bar with some woman in an afro wig. another person had these small albums(like the size of a wallet but a bit smaller than that) of old pictures. i was really tempted by this one full of vacation shots, but 300 nt(around 10 bucks u.s.) was more than i really wanted to spend. and do i really need more things to scan? i'm not sure.

my main purpose for going to kaoshiung was to meet up with my friend keith. he'd invited me to attend the kaohsiung lomo.tw meet up. if i could type in chinese i'd probably participate in the forum there, but since my chinese just isn't that good i don't. everyone i met were super cool and friendly. they were most impressed with my staplebox pinhole. they invited me to go out on a group shoot today but i couldn't as i already had plans. hopefully they'll ask me next time as i'd really like to and it's not very often that i get to meet people who are crazy about taking pictures too.

2007-03-09T12:08:00.000+08:00

yesterday i got a bunch of dvds in the mail. the one i was the most excited to finally have is the films of kenneth anger volume I. when it comes to experimental cinema the three names that tend to get mentioned over and over again(and rightfully so) are maya deren, stan brakhage and of course kenneth anger. the booklet for the anger collection has an introduction by martin scorsese. it's a little funny that he talks about what an impression scorpio rising made on him, when it's not even featured on this collection. hopefully we won't have to wait too long for volume two.

2007-03-08T09:32:00.000+08:00

last weekend i picked up this special edition magazine(or book?) devoted to old toys in taiwan(that is toys available in taiwan, not neccesarily designed and created here). mainly toys from the 1960s-1980s. it's chock full of great images. seeing the cap guns and the caps gave me the most nostalgia for some reason.

i couldn't resist scanning some of the stuff. i think this is a coloring book:

i'm not sure what kind of book this is. but i love the 60s style illustration:

there is a section on bendable toys, and this donald and mickey are just plain freaky!

this one is also a bit freaky. party toy? stress reliever? or tool of satan?

two plastic dollies. there is a third in the magazine, but the scan didn't turn out well so you just have two of the three.

and finally, some wacky speed racer cards. whenever i ask people about speed racer here and if it was ever shown people don't seem to know what i'm talking about. but when i showed peter these images he said he remembered it. i was starting to wonder if it had only been shown in the west.

at the back of the magazine/book it mentions where to look for old things. they list the two flea markets in taipei(one of which i've been to many times and another i never got to since it was far from where i was living), one in kaohsiung i've been to a few times, and one in taichung i plan to go to soon.

2007-03-07T10:46:00.000+08:00

sometime last week i got this issue of jpg magazine in the mail. i originally wanted to order this copy from them on line but it appears that they only offer subscriptions but not individual copies for sale. i couldn't find it locally so asked my sister if she could pick it up for me which she did. after she did, i discovered on a trip to taipei that they stock it at the eslite bookstore. i was shocked(and am still a little in shock), but i've not seen it at the eslite down here in tainan, so it may just be the dunnan branch that is getting it. still cool to know it's available somewhere in taiwan even if it's not all that close to tainan.

the magazine was much larger than i expected. i like the images in it, but i wish they would have included information on cameras. it's like going to a museum and being given no information about what a piece was made with.

the articles i found for the most part to be too short. the one on the diana(and her clones) was nice. the article on hacking a holga to use on a digital camera was pretty pointless as far as i'm concerned. the interview with randy at holgamods was way too short. the article is surrounded by lots of white space and small pictures. it just felt like a missed opportunity. overall the magazine was ok, but i'm not sure if i'll buy it again or not(i think it'll depend on the issue/theme). lightleaks and shots magazines are much more in line with my way of thinking i guess, but i am happy a magazine like this has managed to become this succesful without a lot of corporate interference.

2007-03-07T00:40:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. i don't think i've pulled out micromars since when i first bought it. i think i like it now more than then. of course it's hard to resist an album that contains a song titled why didn't my parents buy me a casio.

2007-03-05T23:09:00.000+08:00

last night peter and i went out to this giant matsu temple to check out the fireworks display they were having. when we got there we had to sit(well, stand really) through a bunch of boring politicians giving speeches. luckily, there were people launching skylanterns to keep us amused while waiting:

once the politicians were done boring us, the fireworks started in earnest. first up was the gate of the temple exploding in a nice display. we were practically underneath it so it was quite a sight.

after that people suddenly moved away quite quickly from where we were standing. we did too once we saw the vehicle of fireworks being pulled our way. some people pulled out plastic tarps, others put on motorcycle helmets - all to protect themselves from what was coming up next. the vehicle of fireworks didn't just shoot vertically but also out the four horizontal sides. some poor camphone footage:

it was one of the most amazing and crazy things i've ever experienced. and the show didn't end after this one vehicle. there were 5 or 6. each a little different. with each one the crowd moved a little further back and in our case to an angle not directly facing one of the side "holes"(more poor camphone footage here).

at some point there was an announcement that if anyone got hurt they should go to the hospital and the temple would pay for it. there were ambulances and emergency crews on hand as well as the police.

after the vehcile works had taken place there was a traditional fireworks show up in the air. fireworks from japan and switzerland apparently(some of which looked suspiciously like hello kitty). and after that they brought out more vehicle fireworks.

after the first of the second set of vehicles we decided to get some ice cream(there were vendors around the temple courtyard). we'd just started to eat it when they wheeled out the next vehicle. with each new vehcile there was a sense of excitment and dread. it's sort of like that feeling when you are standing in line to get on a giant roller coaster, or when you are going up that first hill and keep thinking to yourself "oh god what have i done..."

when this one went off we had to rush to protect our ice cream from falling debris. just after that finished and we thought we were safe a man appeared near us brandishing a box of rockets and a lighter. he'd turn around and in any direction people would scream and duck. we couldn't back up anymore as the vendors were behind us. then he lit the fuse and off shot the rockets in various directions.

after this bit of excitement peter and i decided to head up to the third floor of the temple to see the view from there. there were a ton of photographers lined up with their tripods and cameras. from that safe distance we watched the rest of the vehicles wheeled out(each getting bigger and more powerful).

after the final vehicle of fireworks went off there was another big fireworks display up in the sky. all in all over 2 hours of back to back fireworks. there was also music blaring from speakers during the show(a loose accompaniment i guess). i heard "new york new york" and "what a wonderful world" twice and something that sounded like hooked on classics, but the piece that brought the biggest smile to my face was hearing "rock you like a hurricane".

the funny thing is this isn't even the biggest of the shows. there's another temple that has fireworks for 24 hours and people attend wearing heavy clothing and protective gear because the fireworks are much more serious and chances are that something will hit the audience. peter and i are talking about trying to take that in next year.

2007-03-03T23:48:00.000+08:00

tonight peter and i drove out to gold beach to see the view at night and to watch people setting off fireworks. after we arrived, peter suggested we get something to drink.

along the pavement at the edge of the beach are a string of makeshift coffee stands. when we reached the first one i noticed that they had karaoke set up outside. we didn't stop at that one luckily as i really don't want to have to hear people singing bad pop songs. the rest of the stands weren't much better. most blaring bland pop music in chinese.

finally we reached the last one and it was like they knew we were coming. no bad pop music - but andy williams! i got a caramel waffle and hot chocolate and peter got some sort of ice coffee. there were tables with umbrellas set up, but the nice thing was that the umbrellas were all set on their side so that each table was it's own private little bubble. it was quite nice to sit there eating and drinking and watching the waves and listening to andy.

after we ate we headed back to the scooter as we walked we saw a few people on the beach launching sky lanterns(those lanterns that float up into the sky with wishes written on them). it's something i don't get to see much of, but always love when i do.

2007-03-02T21:16:00.000+08:00

over the lunar new year holiday there was a diy market in tainan. so one day peter and i checked it out. it was pretty small, and a bit disappointing. almost no postcards, and most of the vendors were selling things i wasn't interested in(ie jewelry or things that weren't even handmade). it was definately no campo.

i did find one vendor selling some postcards i liked and bought some from her. i recognized one vendor from the kaohsiung campo. there was supposed to be a campo in tainan this month, but apparently it's been cancelled. i've been told that they cancelled it because there will be too many diy markets in tainan this year. sounds like a lame excuse considering there are an awful lot of diy markets in taipei too. of course campo ideally should be more than just a diy market. if the one we went to is what most diy markets in tainan are like, they are a far cry from campo.

2007-02-28T13:26:00.000+08:00

today i got a rather late birthday/christmas package from my friend erin. it was definately worth the wait. she sent me some peanuts books, a toy robot(!), an autographed comic book by ellen forney, chocolate(which won't last long at all), and these cool 70s hallmark stickers. i'd never heard of ellen forney before, but i'm loving the book of comics.

2007-02-27T13:47:00.000+08:00

this is possibly the greatest response to homophobia i've ever seen. way to go george takei. via milk and cookies. quiddity posted a youtube link to the same thing. interestingly, the milk and cookies version cuts off the intro before the psa starts, but the you tube versions clips off the very end.

2007-02-24T23:14:00.000+08:00

for those that have always wanted to see the early todd haynes film superstar: the karen carpenter story well, now's your chance. i was lucky enough to see it in college but as far as i know it still has not been officially released(or re-released) due to objections of the carpenter estate. is it the use of barbie dolls to depict the carpenters that has the estate upset or would they rather karen's eating disorders not be addressed? via quiddity.

2007-02-23T18:04:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. that patti smith appearance on kids are people too put me in the mood for more patti smith. also while working on the mix tape project i pulled out some old favourites. i think the plasma twins may be one of the greatest pop songs ever written. besides, how many songs can you think of about plasma?

2007-02-23T17:02:00.000+08:00

sorry for the lack of updates around here. this last week has been the lunar new year holidays. so for part of it peter and i went up to taipei. we took the highspeed rail up there(under two hours from tainan to taipei compared to the 4-5 hours by bus). the train isn't very convenient from where we live(the station being way outside tainan city), but i may take it again.

while in taipei i went on a small cd binge:

a few of these i picked up because they were in the discount bin. the selection of cds up in taipei is different from down here so i couldn't resist a few of these. the chinese cd(won fu) came with 100 nt inside! apparently some of the cds had money inside. i guess i was lucky. i'll probably just keep the money inside as part of the packaging.

while in taipei i got to spend some time with my friends james and sarah. they were wonderful hosts and even had a bbq with most of my favourite colleagues from when i worked up in taipei. most of these people i hadn't seen in close to six months. an innocent comment about a bowlcut ended up in a mild transformation of one of my colleagues into ed asner/danny devito. well, that's how i see at any rate.

after taipei, peter and i went to taichung county to visit one of his sisters. they live out in the country surrounded by guava and mango fields. we spent the night and lunch the next day ended up being a big deal. the entire extended family came for a catered meal. there were round banquet tables set up and people went around toasting people at the differnt tables just like at a chinese wedding. as a result peter's sister's husband was a bit too drunk to drive us to the bus station so we didn't get back to tainan as early as we would have liked to.

2007-02-21T19:26:00.001+08:00

a week or so ago i got issue five of lightleaks magazine. my first since subscribing(also i think the first offered to be able to get via a subscription). it's a bit sad seeing this issue as i had a shot accepted for this issue, and then screwed up and missed the deadline. looks like i'm not the only one either judging by a statement in the magazine. despite that there is some cool stuff in here. an interview with a pinhole photographer, an article on doing tintypes(which i found a little hard to follow as it's not a straight forward how to article) and other goodies.

the reader's gallery was one of the best i've seen, but the showcase section(where one photographer showcases some of their work) seemed a bit on the weak side. i have a feeling part of this may be due to the size of the images being too small(some images work well small - others do not) or just work that doesn't appeal to me. there was at least one image that looked like it was just taken of a poster/advertising and another shot of a picture hanging on a wall - both of which felt rather flat and uninteresting. some of this problem(especially the colour/flatness) could be the result of going from rgb to cmyk, but i'd still have liked to see stronger work.

2007-02-13T02:10:00.000+08:00

my sister just told me about this:

i had no idea this even existed. patti smith on kids are people too singing you light up my life? does life get much better than this? i think not.

oh, and we're having some server issues so if you aren't seeing images that is why.

2007-02-11T21:31:00.000+08:00

today peter and i went to one of the matsu temples in the area. this is the largest temple in taiwan. when we got there peter commented it was the size of a shopping mall. well, maybe not that big, but still pretty big. we both took a ton of pictures and i shot this crappy camphone stuff from the top of the temple. it gives you a slight idea of how big it is.

right next to the temple was this small abandoned waterpark. it was all fenced in or we'd have been inside taking pictures. as it was i took more crappy camphone from the top of the temple.

2007-02-10T19:39:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. pulled out some syd barrett. read a post about him somewhere that made me feel like listening to him again. there's been some changes over at audioscrobbler again. the first one was a change from quite awhile back, mainly that now they show how far an artist/track/album has moved up or down compared to the week before. more recently it looks like you have play buttons that i think will allow you to listen to tracks on demand. i've not really explored the buttons, but apparently a gold button means you can listen to the entire track, whereas a blue button just gives you a sample of the track.

2007-02-10T19:23:00.000+08:00

how to make a plastic bag eating giraffe. just what every town needs. more plastic bag eating giraffes. i know i'd be insanely happy if i was walking down the street and ran into one of these. via everlasting blort.

2007-02-10T19:15:00.000+08:00

my life in frosting. a cool selection of decorated birthday cakes. this lo-fi decorated asteroids cake was my favourite of them. worth perusing all of them just to see the birthday boy sporting a fantastic pirate hat. via quiddity.

2007-02-10T01:22:00.000+08:00

an interesting article here on how to make kallitypes using a digital negative. the best thing is you don't need a darkroom to do the process.

2007-02-10T01:01:00.000+08:00

not too long ago i got this issue of shots photography magazine in the mail. it's amazing how many of these little publications exist and how few of them i know about. this issue has an interview with one of my favourite photographers, susan burnstine. but the whole magazine is great. there are interviews with all those featured in the magazine about the work they had published in this issue which is really nice. it's made me wish there was more writing in lightleaks. when i get some money together i think it'll be the next magazine i send in a subscription for.

2007-02-06T12:10:00.000+08:00

nominations for the photobloggies are open. nominations will be open until the 15th. so get out there and do some nominating. i'm happy to see there is a toy camera category, but the illustration they are using for the nominations - am i the only one that finds it rather ugly? via photoblogs.org

2007-02-05T12:58:00.000+08:00

well, looks like yahoo is at it again. this time they've been caught stealing copyrighted images off of flickr. there's a flickr thread on it here and a very good overview on why people are upset about the yahoo forced id issue and the yahoo stealing of images here.

2007-02-04T12:35:00.000+08:00

the hello kitty tarot. rather low-fi. when i was looking at these i was surprised that sanrio hadn't gone after them for violating their copyright, but when you click on the link to buy them there's a message that this deck has been removed from the database. perhaps someone did get to them afterall. i'm surprised sanrio hasn't put out their own tarot deck already. via everlasting blort.

2007-02-02T21:45:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. needless to say i've been giving those cure discs i bought last weekend a few spins. also been digging out some jazz and things i hadn't listened to in quite awhile like momus. there was a time when i thought everyone needed to hear i want you, but i don't need you.

2007-02-02T21:23:00.000+08:00

7-11 here in taiwan is having a peanuts promotion. when you spend over a certain amount of money you get these 3-d sort of cards of snoopy in various locations(when you move it, the image moves/changes). also included with those are a coupon for some product 7-11 sells. there's probably some bigger prize you can win if you get a lucky card, but i've not bothered to figure out what it is. as part of this promotion certain products come with little square reliefs of various peanuts characters. here are the four i've gotten so far with the 7-11 brand water.

taiwan tends to be the land of cheap promotions. aside from the usual toy promos you get when ordering a kids meal at various fast food restaurants, you sometimes are given the option to spend a little extra money and just buy the special promo product(i have a doraemon radio that was gotten this way). nearly all the credit card applications i've seen(on the street at least) offer some sort of gift(often toys/stuffed animals).

on one hand it seems pretty cool. but i suspect at some point a lot of this crap is just going to end up in a landfill somewhere.

2007-02-01T22:35:00.000+08:00

on sunday i went to kaohsiung to check out this show on vintage cameras they are having at the national science and technology museum. the show was fantastic. rows and rows of vintage cameras. surprisingly only one or two did i own. lots of box cameras and early 35mm cameras even some polaroids. it looks like a large portion of the show originated in japan, as most of the text on sample photos included some japanese and there was mention of some japanese film society as well. there was also some shots of an early film society in kaoshiung that looked pretty cool. a few interesting things i learned from the show: in the 1930s kodak gave away 50,000 boxcameras to children to help expand who took pictures and they also released box cameras in candy colours to attract women to photography(it's a camera - but it's also a colour coordinated accessory). sadly, there was no catalogue for the show, but i'm starting to think i should hunt down a book on vintage cameras if i can find one.

2007-02-01T00:23:00.000+08:00

today i got an email from flickr stating in part:

On March 15th we'll be discontinuing the old email-based
Flickr sign in system. From that point on, everyone will
have to use a Yahoo! ID to sign in to Flickr.

when i'd heard that yahoo had bought flickr i felt like it was very bad news as just about everything yahoo touches gets heavily screwed up. typically there's lots of bitching and moaning going on about being forced to use a yahoo i.d. to sign in(something i'm very unhappy about myself). a less cynical person would find it nice that they opened a place to give feedback. but i can't help wondering if it's just some ploy to make it look like people have a say when in fact they do not. there are a lot of great people using flickr and some great things about it, but it's also home to lots of censorship and admins on power trips. luckily, i'm usually able to avoid such things.

what is it with these companies wanting people to use one user name/password to log into various websites? isn't that a huge risk to your personal information? there's this situation with flickr, there's blogger wanting everyone to switch and start using their new version which requires a google email account to log into. orkut did the same thing. i'm usually very reluctant to do such things. so i've been holding onto old blogger as long as i can, and won't be merging my flickr account to a yahoo account until the final deadline.

2007-01-30T12:21:00.000+08:00

on saturday peter and i got out of the house a little earlier than usual so we could hit the hsimenting flea market one of my students had told me out(larger pictures can be found here here and here).

this marks the third flea market in taiwan i've been to and it's the first one in tainan i've been to. it was pretty small, but still fun to look at the junk for sale. surprisingly i didn't buy anything. i think concerns about space are making me more picky about what i pick up at flea markets and the such.

eventhough the flea market was small i still saw a few cool cameras. a seagull and a polaroid camera used to take passport pictures among others. there were records for sale too, but i didn't really spend much time looking through them. i'm still thinking about this toolcraft box. i'm really curious if it was empty, if so maybe i should have gotten it. i'm sure i could have found something to store in it. hmm.

while i was taking one of these shots an old man with blood red teeth(a sign of chewing betel nut) came up to me very curious about my brownie hawkeye flash. i told him it was a camera(in chinese). he didn't seem to understand what i said until another old man repeated what i said. his red teeth were sort of freaking me out so after that i wandered off to find peter. of course now i'm wishing i would have taken his picture.

the flea market is on bei an road and yude road just before you cross bei an bridge.

2007-01-29T11:05:00.000+08:00

The year was 1965...

Irwin Allen's hit TV series, "Lost in Space", had captured the imagination of future "space colonists" across America. Every boy dreamed of being William Robinson... and why not? Never before had "Space" been so cool.

It is now 40 years later and we still dream of having our very own Robot!

It is with this same enthusiasm that B9Creations is excited to announce our production and sale of Full Size, Limited Edition, Fully Licensed Replicas of this amazing TV Icon!

if i had an extra $24,500 burning a hole in my pocket i'd be getting one of these for sure. via teamdroid.

2007-01-27T22:19:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. a cd shop near my work had a sale recently so i picked up a compilation by magazine, a live cd by public image ltd. and the soundtrack to pecker among other things. it's nice to hear old public image ltd. again. magazine were one of those bands that i was aware of but never really explored in the 80s and now i'm not sure why. of course pecker is just chock full of wacky john waters wonderness.

2007-01-26T22:25:00.000+08:00

this is crazy. this christian site has a list of bands that may turn your kids gay. the warning on the site reads:

One of the most dangerous ways homosexuality invades family life is through popular music. Parents should keep careful watch over their children's listening habits, especially in this Internet Age of MP3 piracy.

the band list is pretty crazy. i mean ted nugent is on the list!??! apparently seeing ted in a loincloth can turn people gay. morrissey on the otherhand is "questionable". i'm not sure i understand how frank sinatra ended up on the list. maybe i'm missing something, or was he having some sort of clandestine affair with sammy all those years? boy george gets an asterdisk after his name, but no mention of what said asterdisk means.

the top of the page has a quote from oscar wilde and after his name they say "reformed homosexual". weird.

the "safe" band list is a little less perplexing. though surely it's some mistake, the dresden dolls are safe? do they know about this? if i was in a band i'd be insulted to be included on the safe list. via pcl linkdump.

2007-01-25T15:00:00.000+08:00

more photographic insanity. harrassed and assaulted for taking a picture of a building. sounds very suspicious. especially since the "police officer" refused to show i.d. proving whether he was indeed a police officer. it happened back in june, i wonder what the final outcome of this all was?

2007-01-24T11:06:00.000+08:00

what's the highest pitch you can hear? this japanese site plays you different pitches so you can see at what level you stop hearing. just click on the cat to start the test. i stop hearing at 14,000Hz. via chipple.

2007-01-22T23:48:00.000+08:00

spent the weekend in taipei. had a sort of reunion with some of my old students who at this point are really more like friends. we spent the afternoon at a fun little cafe/shop near shida called zabu. some fun stuff for sale there by local designers and wind up robots too! i had most of the robots so wasn't too tempted except by the ones a bit out of my price range.

after zabu, we headed up north to san zhi to go to one of the many funky coffee shops out there. the boss seemed really curious about me(maybe not many foreigners come to his shop) we left around 10:30 pm, but took the long way home. we passed the abandoned resort i took pictures of before, and the dragon outside the resort is much more frightening at night.

around 12:30 i finally got to my friend's james' and sarah's where i was crashing that night. once i got there we stayed up talking until nearly 5 am.

i had a mental note of cds i wanted to look for while i was back, but in the end just picked up two of those remastered cure discs(these are priced much cheaper than the first ones i'm not sure if the price has come down or if the shop just has them mismarked). the other disc is an offshoot of one of my favourite defunct taiwanese bands natural q. the packaging is pretty fun. the outer sleeve is sewn shut, so you have to unsew it to get the package open. something i have yet to do.

it's been a good 4 months or so since i'd been in taipei. it was definately a bit strange to be back. i don't really miss the city, but i do like it for its ease of finding indie music and the museums and my friends of course. i guess in the end, it's just a city, not home like it was before. oddly i didn't take any photos at all while i was back.

2007-01-19T22:16:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. went on a slight jeff greinke binge this last week. i always preferred jeff greinke to most of the more popular seattle bands. probably because he wasn't a rock band(or a band for that matter) and was quite different from what people thought of as the "seattle scene"(i suspect a lot of people into music from seattle weren't even aware of his music to begin with) plus when you went to see him you never knew what he'd do(how many electronic based performers would take the time to jump off their synth platform to attack the audience with their trombone? come to that, how many electronic musicians even play the trombone?).

2007-01-19T22:02:00.000+08:00

plagiarise or take on loan. further proof that there is a group for just about everything on flickr. this one for those smiths fans out there. the info on the group states:

Are you among a special breed of flickr-ists? Those who often have Smiths and Morrissey lyrics on the tip of the tongue?

If so, welcome home.

This group is the place for photos titled with words of the Smiths and Moz, whether those words are lyrics, song titles, or album names. Please note that your picture need not have anything whatsoever to do with the Smiths or Morrissey (although it certainly may). However, please do make sure that there is at least some reasonable connection between the title and the photo.

Have fun, and enjoy exploring "the harsh truth of the camera eye..."

of course i couldn't help but join. and i added this shot to the pool. i usually try to avoid song titles as picture titles, but this group may just get me to make an exception to that rule.

2007-01-18T14:07:00.000+08:00

while doing a search on howard devoto(how is it i never really listened to magazine back in the 80s?) i came across this old post from momus on yximalloo. a japanese lo-fi artist. part harry partch and part jandek and maybe a little on-u sound thrown in for good measure. his my space site has some songs you can listen to. there's also a small write up on him here(where i stole the picture above from). i'm definately intriqued.

2007-01-18T13:30:00.000+08:00

well, i can't say this is surprising, but still scary. police in seattle hassling someone for taking pictures largely due to the colour of his skin. just one more reason i'm happy to not be currently living in the united states of paranoia. what was it burroughs said? ah yes:

Thanks for a country where
nobody's allowed to mind their
own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

that sadly seems to sum it up nicely.

2007-01-17T11:28:00.000+08:00

from this flickr thread about a photographer that wasn't allowed to take a picture of a seattle escalator i found this interesting article on photographers' rights. i especially found this part interesting:

You can take photos any place that's open to the public, whether or not it's private property. A mall, for example, is open to the public. So are most office buildings (at least the lobbies). You don't need permission; if you have permission to enter, you have permission to shoot.

i'd heard this before, but nice to hear it again. most of the articles i've read about this subject tend to talk about the u.s. but i often wonder what the rules are in other countries?

2007-01-14T23:33:00.000+08:00

awhile back i gave away some inkjet transfer "postcards" on flickr to whoever said they wanted on. one of the people i sent a card to asked for my address so he could send something in return. i'd just about forgotten about it when a packaged arrived from him. in the package was a cool polaroid and a dvd!

the dvd is called the run up and profiles different contemporary artists. it's really cool. most of the artists came up through the graffiti scene. there are definately artists i'd like to learn more about as well as artists i don't really care much about. but the majority i was pretty impressed with.

some of the vignettes could have easily been expanded into a full length in-depth documentary. one of my art professors at college used to tell us that it was important to be able to talk about your work. some of the artists here were able to really talk about their work, while others weren't as good at it.

one thing that i would have liked to have seen was more discussion about technique and influence. it's my usual gripe that without some sort of historical context things that are not really new, may appear so to the ignorant. a lack of history/influence discussion often makes me wonder if the artists are even aware of what went on before or do they truly believe what they are doing is somehow new and original when in fact it may not be?

the other problem was the lack of women artists. the propaganda on the box says featuring 26 of the most eminent artists of today, but only 2 or 3 of the 26 were women. and the women artists were some of my favourite sections. i just wish there were more.

but aside from these problems it's really worth seeing.

2007-01-11T15:54:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. recently had a discussion with a friend about twee and indie-pop and what qualifies as such. so as a result i ended up pulling out some of what i consider indie-pop(along with some other stuff). who do you consider indie-pop or twee?

2007-01-11T14:06:00.000+08:00

the sketchblog of ryan luikens. some really nice things here. i've spent the better part of the last hour just perusing the sketches he's posted. can't remember the last time that happened. makes me wish i could draw, or had the patience to sit down and try to draw.

2007-01-09T23:05:00.000+08:00

the boston typewriter orchestra. fascinating. music created by typing on different typewriters, not merely by sampling the sound and processing it which would probably be the more obvious choice. they remind me a bit metatphonics, a seattle industrial band from the 80s. via yip yop.

2007-01-08T21:35:00.000+08:00

forget all those emulators for atari, here's the real deal. new games for the atari 2600. yes, as in a physical cartridge you put into the game console. makes me want to go out and buy a console. of course atari is unknown in taiwan. via teamdroid.

2007-01-07T10:56:00.000+08:00

yesterday i took the train to kaohsiung to meet up with my flickr friend joplin who is back in taiwan visiting his family. while waiting for him to show up i hit the train station gift shop and bought some of these old style postcards. i can't get enough of these - and how can you go wrong with one with cute kids and a camera?

once joplin showed up, we drove to a flea market one of my students had told me about. i wasn't sure if it would even be there(my student wasn't sure), but it was and quite large too! i don't know what it is about flea markets - but they almost always make me extremely happy.

we spent the day wandering around the market chatting and taking in the goods for sale. i saw quite a few cameras, including two seagulls and one yashica. i didn't ask for prices on them, but they weren't in the best condition. there was even a big stall of old records and a few turntables. in addition to the regular flea market booths there were two or three auctions going on. there was a big set up for snakes too(that is the killing and then eating of them), but it looked like they were taking a break when we passed it by, which is just as well, as i'm not really fond of being that close to cobras.

surprisngly, i didn't buy anything. but had a good time just looking at all the funky old stuff. the flea market is on shihchuan 3rd road near tongmen 3rd road. a bit northwest of the kaohsiung train station.

another student told me about a flea market in taichung which i hope to check out in the near future, and yet another thought there was one here in tainan. i may soon be in flea market heaven - even better some of these are open 7 days a week, not just in the wee hours of the weekend.

2007-01-06T23:52:00.000+08:00

a real nice write up here by someone who attended james brown's homecoming. go read.

2007-01-04T14:23:00.000+08:00

it's been about two years since i started using audioscrobbler to keep track of my listening habits:

have things changed much from a year ago? not particulary, and for the main part i'm still listening to the certain same bands over and over again. the song chart would look a bit different but i sort of went on a dolly's pillbox binge right at the end of the year. last year i didn't have an album chart but this year i do. it's not particularly accurate as there are alot of albums missing from their database, especially things in foreign(non-english) languages. i've added some of the albums they are missing when i have a chance, but it's not always an easy process. on top of that sometimes people input wrong information into cddb so my player thinks i'm listening to the happy ballon instead of the happy balloon.

2007-01-02T14:02:00.000+08:00

a look inside wet magazine from 1981. be sure to check out the double interview of david lee roth and john lydon, especially note what david lee roth was listening to. lucky number indeed. via eye of the goof.

2007-01-01T17:23:00.000+08:00

as i mentioned in the previous post, on saturday i went to kaohsiung to go to campo(note this is a long post - just scroll down if you get bored). campo is part diy market, part art event, part music event and part flea market. this was the first time i'd gone to campo outside of taipei and wasn't sure what to expect. it was also the first time i'd noticed that the government has sponsored it in part. as the webpage of information here is a government page.

when i arrived and started checking out some of the stalls all the little things i like about campo came back to me. looking at the different way people are being creative, talking to the designers, it all makes for an enjoyable event.

i didn't recognize many if any of the vendors from taipei campo, though that doesn't mean there weren't any. i mainly bought postcards:

if you click on the thumbnails they'll take you to another page with a larger image and in some cases more postcards by that same designer.

one vendor had some really cool little toys for sale. the hair, legs and arms were bendable. i have no idea what the material was, but i was digging them. unfortunately, they were selling for 450 nt(almost 15 bucks u.s.). too rich for my blood. if they'd been priced at half that i would have bought some for sure.

one vendor was selling rock and roll decorated scooter helmets. one said on the back "jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine" with pictures of patti smith stenciled on it. i don't know why, but seeing a patti smith decorated scooter helmet made me incredibly happy.

as i was leaving after buying a postcard from a vendor, i saw one of the sellers turn to his partner and exclaim "he can speak chinese!" or something like that. it's funny how often people will be surprised at any foreigner that can speak even the smallest amount of chinese. and of course i was the only foreigner i saw there that day.

one of the last things i bought was the ferris wheel postcard. the woman told me that it's from an amusement park in taipei that closed down. i told her i knew the place as i used to live in taipei. then she asked if she could take my picture with her and the postcard i bought. i said yes, so somewhere out there is a bad picture of me with the ferris wheel postcard. i then took a picture of her and her partner with my lc-a. i didn't take many pictures that day as the light wasn't very good(it was raining off and on) and lately my lc-a doesn't always register the light correctly so the shutter won't stay open as long as it should in low light situations.

one main drawback to the kaohsiung campo was that it was really more like any other diy market, the art event/flea market aspect was really missing. the space they were in wasn't that great. i'm not sure why they didn't try to do something near love river or in the art space near the ferry port. but regardless, i was happy just to have the opportunity to hang out at campo again. apparently, sometime in the next couple of months there'll be a campo here in tainan.

for those interested here's a short list of vendors i bought cards from:

ab yougurt cat
chen co-min
123 ' bu
heidi doll
bon
toour

2007-01-01T16:46:00.000+08:00

yesterday was new year's eve. peter's and my friend edward came down from taipei to spend the holiday with us. after driving all the way down here from taipei, he drove us to kaohsiung to attend the main festivities there. before going to the park we went to dinner. we walked into a teppanaki(sp?) restaurant. usually, i'm not very fond of going into restaurants that don't have their prices openly on display as it usually means they are out of my price range. this time we made an exception and it was indeed expensive(25-30 u.s. per person), but the service was pretty decent and the food was plentiful(too much for me in fact).

after eating we headed to the park. i usually avoid these big new year events as the music is usually something i don't want to suffer through. well, when we finally found a place to stand to watch one of the big screens, i was soon wishing i could kill those on stage. bad idol singers galore, most of whom i'm pretty certain were lipsynching. at one point i was so bored i took out my cell phone and started to play tetris. the highlight of waiting for the big countdown was watching the grandma standing in front of us cutting the rug to the faster numbers. when the countdown came i was expecting a good fireworks show. well, there were a few fireworks, but rather wimpy and disappointing. i think we saw better fireworks at peter's sister's wedding a few months ago. ironically in another part of the city campo was having their own new year celebrations with a few bands i'd actually like to see. but seeing as i'd been at campo the day before(more on that to come in the next post)i didn't really feel like going again, plus at the time i went to campo we hadn't made firm plans for what we'd do.

despite the disappointment, it was fun to go somewhere new. so how'd you spend your holiday?

2006-12-28T13:02:00.000+08:00

well, as most people know we had quite a strong earthquake a few days ago. i was teaching a class when it hit. funny thing about earthquakes is you usually hear them before you feel them. i was unusually calm during this one. just stood around chatting with my students as the lights above us swayed and shook.

last night i was watching the local news, and for some reason they were airing a cnn report on the earthquake. the cnn newcaster had someone on the phone in taiwan to report on the quake. the person was in taipei(far from the quake) and started talking about the fact that the mrt(subway) in taipei had been shut down for a few minutes for safety checks. why is he talking about taipei??! taipei wasn't anywhere near the epicenter. this would be like there being an earthquake in new york city, but a news anchor calling someone in boston to report on the damage in nyc and then not even mentioning nyc. crazy. needless to say as soon as he started reporting on taipei i changed the channel.

these were the only victims in my house from the quake:

ok, so really that was just an excuse to take crappy camphone shots of some of my toys.

2006-12-28T12:22:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. i somehow missed last week's. there's a certain lack of christmas music on the chart, mainly because i couldn't find where i'd put my christmas music until practically christmas day. one day i'll finish getting my cds back in their rightful places.

2006-12-27T14:03:00.000+08:00

this is pretty cool. a bbc documentary on lomo and lomography has been put up on youtube. i'm not a big fan of lomography, i like the promotion they give for film photography and toy cameras or more lo-fi cameras, but i hate their inflated prices and the selling of a "lifestyle". the documentary doesn't exactly ask any tough questions, but it isn't as big of a fluff piece as it might have been. plus you get to learn about the history of the lomo factory from people working there.

2006-12-27T00:31:00.000+08:00

christmas cameras. this year, christmas was all about photography. box cameras, polaroids, even a slide printer! now to just find the time to shoot most of these new cameras.

2006-12-24T13:04:00.000+08:00

recohan. a site that details one persons music collection. lots of new wave and fun japanese stuff in their collection. i especially like the little part where they write little reviews about stuff in their collection and how easy or difficult it was to find them. via chipple.net.

2006-12-24T12:48:00.000+08:00

nothing. the latest collaborative gallery from members of the filmwasters photography forum are up. some interesting work here. and of course, one of my shots is included as well.

2006-12-22T21:12:00.000+08:00

this is an interesting. an article on how vince guaraldi's music for the peanuts christmas special may be the most succesful jazz recording of all time. i wouldn't doubut that - just because most people think of it as the soundtrack to the special not as "jazz". i found it odd in the article that there was no mention of henry mancini. surely his jazz was gracing tv soundtracks about the same time, but the article might lead you to believe the only jazz on tv was this special. maybe the year it aired it was, but i somehow doubt it. via the sound-scavengers list.

2006-12-20T22:13:00.000+08:00

last year for christmas peter and i had gone back to seattle. on one of our first days in seattle we were sitting in a diner having breakfast or lunch and i remember looking around and noticing how people dressed. it was like some old foggy memory coming back "oh yeah, people dress like this here..." i can't put my finger on the difference aside from the obvious one of tempreature and location. but now if i ever feel like i'm missing out on how people are dressing in my hometown i can check out pike/pine. a blog that posts pictures of seattle street fashion. i'm not a big fan of fashion in general, but i like the lowkeyness of this fashion blog.

2006-12-19T13:54:00.000+08:00

my sister's been posting a christmas song a day of youtube goodness, pcl linkdump has its insane list of christmas music download links, and not to be left out i give you crappy video of christmas stuff here in tainan:

this is part of a series of 5 i shot. this being number three. you tube has been really sucky as to letting me upload so part five isn't up yet. i would have liked to have edited them, but premiere won't recognize the 3gp files and eventhough everything i've read says it should, mine still won't. even after doing what has been suggested for solving such a problem. arrgh. anyway the other videos can be found here:

part one
part two
part four
part five

2006-12-16T22:29:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. been digging into some exotica classics as well as some 80s fun. i'd forgotten how much i love bauhaus' a god in an alcove. i really need to get around to rebuying all their albums on cd.

2006-12-16T13:39:00.000+08:00

some more godzilla for you. a proposal/idea that a giant godzilla building be constructed in tokyo. of course i love the idea. what the world needs is more buildings shaped like creatures, not these boring boxes they keep building...via teamdroid.

2006-12-16T13:27:00.000+08:00

godzilla conquers the globe. a show featuring international godzilla posters. this one makes godzilla look a bit too cute, and this one looks like he's walked out of some 70s animated film. he doesn't even seem to be the focus of the poster. crazy. via internet weekly.

2006-12-15T23:27:00.000+08:00

radiophonic workshop - alchemist of sound. i haven't had the chance to check this out but it sounds wonderful. a documentary on the radiophonic workshop. they were responsible for the sound of dr. who and basically did some wonderful electronic experiments before the bbc pulled the plug. the fact that such a thing existed at all sponsored by any government i still find amazing. via the sound scavengers list.

2006-12-11T12:57:00.000+08:00

on saturday we all drove out to some big temple in tainan county. it was pretty interesting. in one of the back passages they were constructing a giant centipede. not sure what the meaning of that is, but it was almost like walking into a burroughs novel. only a lot less strange. there also was this sort of temple game. where you throw a coin to try to hit a bell. if you hit the bell the wheel lights up and below the wheel a lotus opens. i took a really crappy phonecam video of it:

2006-12-09T21:08:00.000+08:00

coolness. i just found out my photoblog was selected as blog of the week over on bloggers in taiwan. it's kind of funny as i usually feel that no one really pays attention to the photoblog. bloggers in taiwan looks to be a good place to find english language taiwan blogs. i've just discovered lomicus dorkus from it. a blog where someone documents their life using a lomo fisheye camera. pretty fun.

2006-12-09T20:36:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. i pulled out that siouxsie and the banshees b-side set and have been listening to it quite a bit. some really wonderful stuff on there. for some reason i forget how much i like some of those b-sides until i pull this set out. i think "girl talk" is fast becoming one of my favourite chris montez' songs. there's just something i really like about the way he sings after girl talk, talk to me...

2006-12-09T13:16:00.000+08:00

a time for lists. the 50 greatest commercials from the 80s and 50 more 80s commercials. all with you tube goodness. i wish they wouldn't have included movie ads. that could be its own seperate list. some of the selections i'm not certain were really from the 80s. like this one, it must be borderline. feels more 70s to me:

and if top commercials aren't enough for you here's a list of top ten computer servers in the movies. i have a sneaking suspicion that they are missing alot from the backlog of sci-fi b-movies. but still, i was happy to see the mcp from tron listed. via yip yop and quiddity.

2006-12-08T12:36:00.000+08:00

does anyone know what happened to thinkblanks's secret santa project? i participated last year, but this year i can't find any mention of it. did they just give up on it? it was always nice to get some small gift from someone you don't know..

2006-12-08T12:29:00.000+08:00

the religions of superheroes. strange. who would have thought that superman was methodist or that spiderman was protestant or that the hulk was a lapsed catholic? via gravity lens

2006-12-08T01:09:00.000+08:00

coolness. an audio advent calendar. click on the picture for the current date(or previous dates) and you get sent to a page with a picture of the featured album(of the thriftscore variety) and a choice mp3 to download. via pcl linkdump.

2006-12-07T00:05:00.000+08:00

sid krofft of hr pufnstuf fame is set to open a restaurant in los angeles. i'm very curious as to what the end result will be.

2006-12-03T23:03:00.000+08:00

paintings by mike egan. it's been awhile since i've seen work that has struck me as much as these paintings do. reminds me a bit of georges rouault - if he'd been inspired by the day of the dead. i'd love to see the work in person or to have a book of the work. but it doesn't appear that there is a book so this online gallery will have to do. via i want your skull.

2006-12-02T12:23:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. needless to say i've been spinning dirk wears white sox quite a bit again. i think it's time for me to hunt down the rest of the adam and the ants stuff i'm missing. i seriously doubt casiotone for the painfully alone will ever record a song i love more than "toby take a bow". with lyrics like:

i've never seen you so awful
i found you at the bottom of a russian novel
gold medal & a crown
a cardigan & a frown
all maladjusted & clever
the greatest smiths fan ever

what's not to love?

2006-12-01T11:51:00.000+08:00

ever wondered what happens when you are nominated for an oscar? well, now you can find out. ward-o-matic has an in depth interview with john canemaker who won for best animated short(part one here and part two here). sounds like a a whirlwind of parties and inane interviews. i thought this bit was pretty interesting:

All the animation nominees were seated together near the back. A crew member with an earphone named “Heath” came by and told us that during the second commercial break, he would move us to seats right in front of the stage. And “extras”—beautifully dressed unknown actors and actresses—would fill in our seats, so the theatre would always look full on camera.

but does that mean they just have seats set aside for all the nominees? and after the winner is announced they have you move? who sits in those seats before?

2006-11-30T16:16:00.000+08:00

the hype machine. my friend ted told me about this awhile back, but i'm just getting around to checking it out. basically, it searches blogs and forms a list of what bands(mp3s) are being posted on the net. it's even set up so you can listen to the mp3s with various players as a sort of random playlist. i haven't tried out that function as i usually have too much to listen to anyway. there is also a search function so you can see who is posting about pizzicato five, madness, martin denny, etc.

2006-11-28T00:30:00.000+08:00

the ward-o-matic has posted some choice pages from a fallout shelter handbook. fascinating and a bit scary at the same time. via scrubbles.

2006-11-27T23:49:00.000+08:00

i really need to visit the swapatorium more often. whenever i'm there it's always chock full of such great and interesting things. like this small set of 30s photos from the macy's thanksgiving parade. via everlasting blort.

2006-11-27T00:19:00.000+08:00

thanks to my friend keith i've learned how to do inkjet photo transfers.

the process is pretty simple. first you need some of that label paper used to print out labels at home on. remove the labels so all that is left is the wax paper underneath. print your photo on your printer using that paper(i set my printer to glossy photo paper for this since it seemed somewhat close to what was needed).

take the paper you want to do the transfer on(i used some from an old sketch book i had laying around) and soak it in water. dry it a little so that it's damp and then either place it on top of the wax paper print out or vice versa. carefully peel them apart and you'll have your transfer.

if the paper is too wet you'll end up with just abstract smudges but if it's damp you should have smudges plus the image. you can either let the air dry it or use a hairdryer. i'm impatient so of course i used a hairdryer.

once you've done the transfer, you can wipe off the excess ink on the wax paper and use it again.

above on the left is the transfer while on the right is the original photo it came from. i have a small set here of the transfers i've done so far. there'll be more added as i do more. i'm already itching to try my hand at a set of postcards using this technique.

2006-11-25T19:38:00.000+08:00

this week's audioscrobbler chart. been in a bit of an 80s mood i guess. but that's not that unusual for me anyway.

2006-11-25T19:18:00.000+08:00

i've been hoping someone would do this for awhile. a comp of all(or nearly all) the incidental music used on the ren and stimpy show available as a free download. while you're over at secret fun blog downloading - you might want to check out this little post on the evolution of snuffleupagus. via eye of the goof.