On Social Engineering:

Why you should never just do what someone says to do over the phone.  Stop, think about it….. you know?

This police report says it all.

Wow, simply wow.

CHiKA + BUBBLYFISH

As many of you know, I’m a huge fan of repurposing common objects for new uses, video games, heavy tech-step music, and art in general.

CHiKA + Bubblyfish are two darlings of the New York performance art scene. They work together very well, but are also creating their careers and identities separately.

This last Thursday they performed a free show at The Memorial Union put on as part of the Starlight series hosted by the film committee.  During the introduction, the “Art vs. Starlight” series was announced which will be dedicated to video art.  I’m very excited about this.

The show opened with “To New World,” and “Follow the Red Dots” which was striking, by which I mean overwhelmingly trance-inducing.  An impressive display of their knowledge of EDMR, and Binaural Phase shifting.  After masterfully setting the mood for the show, there was a mishap with one of Bubblyfish’s Gameboys, which wiped out the rest of the show except for one song.  That’s right, I said her GameBoy.

A little bit more about Bubblyfish:  As best I could tell from my vantagepoint, Bubblyfish performs using a Mac Powerbook, two Gameboy Classics, a mixer, and what I’m pretty certain was a KORG Chaos Pad.   This Wikipedia Article covers the technical details of chiptune music stemming from the use of the GameBoy Hardware to produce music.  By observing her during the performance, I would guess that she was using is NanoLoop.

If you know me, you know that as a concept, this pleases me on so many levels.  It’s DIY hardware hacking.  It’s sampling pop culture and spinning it out into something more meaningful.  It’s MUSIC!  It’s not mainstream.  It’s not distorted with the agenda of Madison Avenue.

Side note: An amusing moment for me was when Bubblyfish announced that she was having issues with her Gameboy, a member of the audience in front of me said with a tone of awe, “That was done with a Gameboy?  Awesome!”.

So, to get back on track, due to the Gameboy mishap, there was only one more audio/visual performance to be experienced that night, which was “That Wicked Smile”.  Highly entertaining, and unfortunately, over way too soon.  I hope they can make a trip back to the Midwest sometime soon, I’d love to see a more complete show.  I’m also planning a trip to NYC this summer, and with any luck they will be performing while I’m there.

More Info:
BUBBLYFISH http://www.bubblyfish.com/
CKiKA http://www.facebook.com/pages/CHiKA/57650246179?ref=mf

Does She Love You?

Question: How do I know if a girl loves me or not? —Ajay

Answer: If one night you go out drinking and end up back at her place, pass out together on the bed with your shoes on, and wake up a few hours later only to discover that you’ve peed the bed, which she takes in stride, changes the sheets, and then the next morning has a laugh about it, later leaves some pamphlets from the local health clinic about child bedwetters in your mailbox, and eventually after a few weeks tells your friends but never, ever tells hers: She loves you.

If she knows what song is coming next on the mix CD you made her: She loves you.

If she hides your shoes when you’re late for work, and from a supine position on the couch plays “Hot/Cold,” and, finally, after 15 minutes of you ignoring her screaming, “Boiling! Burning up!” every time you stalk angrily by the dishwasher, gets up, flips it open to reveal the shoes, sitting there among the plates, and hands them over with a kiss and a giggle, and then laughs some more as you tie your laces in a silent rage: She loves you.

If she calls you at work that day to ask, “How are those shoes working out?”: She loves you.

If when you get home you try to hide something of hers, she finds it immediately, shaking her head, and when she pulls whatever it is—oven mitts or stretch pants—from behind the couch, she looks at you and without any attempt to hide her pity, says, “I love you”: She loves you.

If you’re Gael Garcia Bernal: She loves you.

If you’re not Gael Garcia Bernal, but you’re willing to sit through a “GGB” marathon and agree for 10 consecutive hours that he is indeed the most beautiful and talented man alive—and so down-to-earth, too!—and afterward agree that his portrayal of Che Guevara would have earned an Oscar nod were it not for the implicit politics, agree that taking Spanish classes is a great idea, or salsa, or tango, whatever, agree, agree, agree, and that night lying in bed after sex that ends with her screaming, “Si! Si!” wonder aloud, “But you’re happy with me, right?”: She loves you, man—no one can compete with that Latin bastard. Forget about it.

If she puts up with an entire Stars of the Lid album on a long-distance road trip: She loves you.

If she dances with your friends: She loves you.

If at Halloween you’re invited to a TV- and movie-themed party and she dresses up as Winnie Cooper and you dress up as Paul Pfeiffer, mainly because you already have the glasses, and at the party some guy who’s a dead ringer for Fred Savage saunters up, peels off his mole, and says, “Get lost, Paul, Winnie’s mine,” and you’re left standing there while the two of them go off dancing to the soundtrack from Forrest Gump, and when two hours later she finds you sitting by the punch bowl explaining for the umpteenth time that, no, you’re not supposed to be Woody Allen, she holds up a tie stolen from a passed-out Alex P. Keaton to her petticoat and redubs herself Annie Hall, and you Alvy Singer: She loves you. And, to be honest, I sort of love you, too.

If she’s a zombie: She loves you, but only for your brains.

If she says, “I love you” on the roller coaster, right after you’ve puked down your shirt: She loves you.

If you go to a karaoke bar with friends and do a duet of “Endless Love,” and she insists on doing the Lionel Richie part if only so she can really belt out a big “Ooh whoa” near the end, and when you’re done she announces you to the crowd as “Miss Diana Ross, everybody,” and then gives you a high-five: She loves you.

If she plays pointedly with strangers’ babies at the park, intermittently looking over to you with an expression that says, “See?”: She loves you.

If her parents love you: She loves you, probably.

If her parents hate you: She might love you, too.

If she’s the youngest of four sisters, two of whom are lesbians, the third a nun, and the first time you meet her father he pulls you away from his wife’s gingersnaps and homemade iced tea to check out the vintage “titty mags” he keeps hidden underneath a bench in the six-by-four corner of the basement he calls his workshop, the only place in the house not painted lavender and decorated with images of kittens and/or sunflowers, and every few pages he points out a particularly luxuriant pubis, and when you concur—“Sweet”—he smacks you heartily on the back and before you know it he’s calling you “Son” and have you ever fished for pike up north? Because he’s got a cabin. What of this? Well, her dad sure as hell loves you. Welcome to the family!

If she ever says the words, “I hate you”: She loves you. Or she did at one point, anyway.

If she loves you, if she really loves you, you’ll know it. If you can wake up to her staring at you and it’s not even mildly creepy, if you catch her smelling the shoulder of the hooded sweatshirt you lent her for an autumn walk at the beach, and not for B.O., if she makes you a pancake in the shape of a shark, if she calls you drunkenly at four in the morning “to talk,” if she laughs at your jokes when they’re funny and makes fun of you when they’re not, if she keeps her fridge stocked with Guinness tallboys for when you come over, if she tells you how she wishes she were closer to her sister and that her dad makes her sad: She loves you, of course she loves you.

And with a love like that, you know you should be glad.

—Published September 23, 2005
- PASHA MALLA

xkcd – A Webcomic – The End is Not for a While

xkcd – A Webcomic – The End is Not for a While

Seth Green – Heroes Crossover?

I noticed when watching the most recent episode of Robot Chicken that there was at last a parody of Heroes!  I looked around online, and apparently some major news leaked out under my nose, and I missed it.

Seth Green to appear in a multi-episode arc of Heroes?  This December?

” It might have something to do with yet another rumoured guest appearance on the show. Last August, it was leaked that Seth Green and Breckin Meyer were in talks to play comic book geeks – ahem, we mean experts – who crossed paths with one of the heroes.
 Green has been busy with a variety of television and movie work over the years including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Italian Job, Austin Powers in Goldmember, and Robot Chicken. Meyer, who just happens to be Green’s real-life buddy and Robot Chicken collaborator, has also run the gamut from television – Married to the Kellys and King of the Hill – to film – billed just under a cat for the two Garfield movies.Although the deal has yet to be confirmed, the addition of this hilarious duo, even for just an episode or two, could be the boost that Heroes’ struggling season three needs.

TB Television“

xkcd – A Webcomic – Cautionary

xkcd – A Webcomic – Cautionary

Tags: chrisisageek, linux, comic,

Free Music Studio Means No More Excuses

Virtual instruments may be going the way of recorded music: free and online. We’ve seen plenty of sites that let you make or mix music in a rudimentary way, but none that offer the deep feature set of Hobnox AudioTool. This free online electronic music studio lets you compose…

read more | digg story

Earth and the Solar System (Sol) in Spore

Tomorrow is Day Four of the WI Book Festival

My phone is off right now, so everyone please PM me confirmations of whether or not we can meet/ hang out.  I’ll be going to the Farmer’s Market from roughly 10-Noon.  Then I’m going to be attending the following talks tomorrow.

Saturday, October 18

12:00 – 6:00 PM Madison Zine Fest 2008: Underground Publishing Fair Art & Visual / Writing & Publishing Majestic Theatre (I’ll be here until about 1:30)

2:00 – 3:30 PM Conversation Circle: Bibliomorphia Society & Politics / Writing & Publishing Promenade Lounge/Overture

4:00 – 5:30 PM Brandalism! Mocketing!: Anne Elizabeth Moore Challenges a Changing Underground Culture History Orpheum Theatre: Stage Door

7:00 – 8:30 PM The Coming Water Crisis: Maude Barlow International / Land & Home Wisconsin Studio/Overture

Tags: Wisconsin, Madison, Book Festival, 2008, chrisisageek, Chris Benson

There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.

Tags: democracy, war, soldier, chrisisageek, dissent