Thursday, September 27, 2012
Pelican beach (the one in my head)
This is an image salvaged from the chaff of fading dreams; that point when you're about to wake up and the oneiric weirdness comes flying thick and fast. I was standing on a beach watching this pelican serve bill-pouch-soup to a line of chameleons who changed their levels of transparency rather than their hue:
I have yet to be able to capture the method of transportation by which I arrived at this scene: inside the 6-seater rib cage of a 12-foot skeletal horse. It's a lot harder to draw.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Music Monday - Take IX
Saloon Music:
The first section is just riffing on a G-minor 12 bar blues. In the later half I was going for more of a ragtime feel, using some chord progressions from "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." The first time I played these in front of anybody my uncle said that I belonged in a saloon, so that kinda stuck. Play this track whenever you feel the urge to smash a sugar-glass bottle or a balsa wood chair over someone's head.
The first section is just riffing on a G-minor 12 bar blues. In the later half I was going for more of a ragtime feel, using some chord progressions from "Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear." The first time I played these in front of anybody my uncle said that I belonged in a saloon, so that kinda stuck. Play this track whenever you feel the urge to smash a sugar-glass bottle or a balsa wood chair over someone's head.
Friday, September 21, 2012
Research themed tats FTW!
This is a draft of a sleeve design commissioned by one of the faculty from my M.S. program, Dr. Matt Gifford. He had seen a tattoo design I drew for my roommate Jonathan and asked for a drawing that he could comment on, direct, and then bring to a tattoo artist. The (obviously not-to-scale) salamander is one of his study organisms, Plethodon jordani, and the tree is a hemlock with his daughter's name carved into it.
He really liked the design, but I have yet to hear if he's followed through and gotten it. My favorite part was seeing how excited his wife was with the idea of him getting a bicep half-sleeve: actually 100% super-stoked.
He really liked the design, but I have yet to hear if he's followed through and gotten it. My favorite part was seeing how excited his wife was with the idea of him getting a bicep half-sleeve: actually 100% super-stoked.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Siege weapons
A functional Lego trebuchet from Highschool:
It's outfitted with an adjustable pin that allows for fine tuning of the trajectory. What's really cool is that it will actually fire farther on wheels than if it's laid flush on the ground. It's got something to do with energy being lost in the backlash. Due to scaled proportions, and the low density of Legos, I supplemented the counterweight with downward pulling rubberbands. Cheating? Maybe, but I can still hit your turd of a castle from across the entire living room.
It's outfitted with an adjustable pin that allows for fine tuning of the trajectory. What's really cool is that it will actually fire farther on wheels than if it's laid flush on the ground. It's got something to do with energy being lost in the backlash. Due to scaled proportions, and the low density of Legos, I supplemented the counterweight with downward pulling rubberbands. Cheating? Maybe, but I can still hit your turd of a castle from across the entire living room.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Music Monday - Take VIII
Piano Fragments: TPS-006
The dynamics in this particular recording aren't how I usually want them to be, but I'm finding that I often tense up while recording and I'm pleased to get takes without too many mistakes. I know I should try to be more patient, and I can record as many takes as necessary to get the perfect one, but as soon as I hit the record button I make ten times more errors than when I'm playing normally. I wish someone would come and record me in secret; despite how creepy that would actually be, it might yield great takes.
On the subject of recording, I'm using a really quick setup using nothing but keyboard --> 1/4in cable --> 1/8in adapter --> computer, and though the scope of what I can tweak is more limited this way, it means I'm much more likely to record on a daily basis so my output will be higher. Unfortunately, it does produce a lot of pops at random times, but they go away temporarily when I restart the software, so I don't think it's a cable problem.
For those of you who don't care a lick about the recording process, just listen to the piece. It's got a nice sweeping intensity to it. I hope that makes sense.
The dynamics in this particular recording aren't how I usually want them to be, but I'm finding that I often tense up while recording and I'm pleased to get takes without too many mistakes. I know I should try to be more patient, and I can record as many takes as necessary to get the perfect one, but as soon as I hit the record button I make ten times more errors than when I'm playing normally. I wish someone would come and record me in secret; despite how creepy that would actually be, it might yield great takes.
On the subject of recording, I'm using a really quick setup using nothing but keyboard --> 1/4in cable --> 1/8in adapter --> computer, and though the scope of what I can tweak is more limited this way, it means I'm much more likely to record on a daily basis so my output will be higher. Unfortunately, it does produce a lot of pops at random times, but they go away temporarily when I restart the software, so I don't think it's a cable problem.
For those of you who don't care a lick about the recording process, just listen to the piece. It's got a nice sweeping intensity to it. I hope that makes sense.
Friday, September 14, 2012
Cop-out
I'm slowly running out of material again, and school is picking up so I may be a little less fastidious about posting in the weeks to come. I'll try to keep spans between posts under two years. In the mean time, here's a thing:
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Music Monday - Take VII
Piano excerpt: TPS-003
Another piano composition, this one written over the course of 2008-2009. A lot of what I write comes in scraps which later get refined and sometimes fused. What's recorded here is actually an excerpt of a long string of melodies that I've been stitched together with odd transitions--hence why it clips in and sounds like it's been cut short. The omitted portions have been scrapped and may be used for other works.
The mood starts off forlorn but shifts into something a bit more soothing. I always imagine rain when I play it: it's often associated with melancholy but can be very comforting at times.
The title comes from having worked on ant taxonomy all day. That's usually how temporary morphospecies are labeled.
Another piano composition, this one written over the course of 2008-2009. A lot of what I write comes in scraps which later get refined and sometimes fused. What's recorded here is actually an excerpt of a long string of melodies that I've been stitched together with odd transitions--hence why it clips in and sounds like it's been cut short. The omitted portions have been scrapped and may be used for other works.
The mood starts off forlorn but shifts into something a bit more soothing. I always imagine rain when I play it: it's often associated with melancholy but can be very comforting at times.
The title comes from having worked on ant taxonomy all day. That's usually how temporary morphospecies are labeled.
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