07/01/09: Updates
I forgot to mention Chris Carter's cone in the last bit. He's the creator of the very first gristleizer, a founding member of Throbbing Gristle, an incredible musician, a great photographer, and a nice guy too.
Quite a few folks liked the post about mental illness anthems, O emailed and petitioned have these two added to the list:
Keith suggested that the song 'I'm Crazy' by Starbuck (a band of mustachioed 70's sex masters) be added as well.
Also, I'm working on getting the movie night posts to work in Explorer and Firefox explorer compatibility mode. I hope to have that figured out by Saturday when we'll all be enjoying a sweet animated treat.
06/30/09: My Nerds, Let Me Show You Them.
I had to get up stupid early this morning to go rig the Lights and PA for the Emmylou Harris show at Oaks Park. It was a really mellow set up and kind of mindless too. As a result I had plenty of time to let my mind wander. I ended up thinking about the nature of accumulated knowledge. I've got a tendency to visualize abstract concepts, so follow along if you will. We'll start with waffles.
With the advent of the internet, wikipedia, smartphones, and other assorted information gathering devices folks are being exposed to all sorts information, ideas, and concepts that they otherwise would never encounter. Lets call this information your knowledge waffle. As you gain cursory exposure to a wide range of unrelated concepts and realities, the diameter of your knowledge waffle increases without a corresponding increase in thickness. Taking a look at the above photo, you can see that increasing diameters will eventually cause a great deal of overlap. This overlap results in a great deal of commonality amongst many people's waffles. As you gain specialized knowledge in a specific field of study, you can increase the thickness of your waffle but you sacrifice a bit of diameter expansion. Continued pursuit of increasingly specific knowledge eventually leads to cone shaped waffle.
As you can see in the above photo: as the waffle cone of knowledge increases in height the distance between waffles increases denoting an exponential decrease in commonality. An easy way to think of it is like this: Knowledge of the existence of a big furry movie character named Chewbacca is damn near universal for people my age. We can conclude that this specific nugget of chewbacca knowledge lies near the thickest and most common piece of the waffle. Knowing that Chewbacca's home planet is Kashyyk lies higher up the cone where there is less commonality.
Everyone got that so far? Good. I could probably explain it more clearly if I had a day or two to contemplate, but I'm kind of in a hurry to get it out. So, you're asking "whats the point?" My point is this: I tend to relate the height, not the content, of an individual's cone to his or her interestingness. To sum up, if you've got a tall cone, I'm more than likely going to be stoked on it.
The real upside of the internet is the ability to get a peek at the tips of other people's cones. I try to salute a good cone when I get the chance (incidentally, that might be the best pick-up line ever). You're probably familiar with most of my favorites, but here are a few that I've been digging recently:
James aka Meatchip. Consummate food nerd. You can cook, right? Compared to James, you don't know shit about food. He'd probably argue for the contrary, but he's a really modest guy.
In addition to being a shoe whore, Aaron is an underground pop culture nerd. He'll deny it until the moon falls out of the sky, but he lives for pop art and fashion. Be sure to have a look at his flickr stream, but beware... apparently it's not cool to tag or label your photos.
Hal probably knows more about alternative music from the 70's and 80's than anyone you'll ever meet. Coincidentally, he's got a thing for nerds too.
Devon is a guitar nerd. Also, being a modest fellow, he'll never admit that the guitar he just built for a couple hundred bucks plays and sounds better than most $2000 guitars.
Just a day ago I reconnected with my friend Keith. You might know him as 'the dude that painted that giant awesome Burt Reynolds triptych in Justin's living room'. Have a gander at his etsy store, you'll see that his waffle cone is full of painting knowledge.
So, who's cone are you enjoying at the moment?
06/29/09: Gristleize It, Don't Criticize It
I've just about finished the circuit board for the Gristleizer. It's a good looking and well made board, but the layout leaves a bit to be desired. There was much lead bending involved to get all the components to nest in their respective holes. Alas, that's usually how it goes with a first version of anything.
More? ...
06/27/09: Whence it Came
Another great documentary. This time around We'll be exploring the history of southern California gang violence.
Click here to open it up in a new window.
**** Sad news for folks using Explorer. I can't seem to get the flash player working for you guys. Everything is super peachy with Firefox and it looks to be a go with safari too. Firefox in Explorer emulation mode is all wonky too. Looks like it's a trip to the netflix queue for you.*****
06/26/09: We Must Go To Kobe
Why? Because the city of Kobe is building a 1:1 scale model of Tetsujin 28 (thats Gigantor to us English speaking folks) right in the middle of the city. 18 Meters of awesome in an action pose.
Check out the official site here and have a look at this informational film:
And the original opening theme song:
And the English theme song:
And since you know you want it so bad, It's the Dickies doing the Engish Gigantor theme. There are a few versions of it available. This is the Flipside Vinyl flexi-disc version. I think it's the best.
I know, Stan Lee is a completely incredible guitar player. Hands down, world's best pick slides.
06/20/09: Great Happiness Space
This one is a real treat. Lonely people looking for companionship and healing in a modern context. The streets and high rises of Osaka can leave a person feeling run down and lonely. It's up to the hosts and hostesses of the city's many clubs to make it all better. A genuinely moving documentary.
Click here to open it up in a new window.
06/14/09: ... And Just For the Record:
Goldar is all up in this bitch.
He's just about ready to fuck up your Moleasaurus.
