no blog

free music/new blog

2009-10-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

I've decided to start publishing my arrangements on the internet for free, starting with a Minuet in G that's transposed to F, making the title totally confusing. That's what you get for choosing such a generic title, Johann.

For more on this nerdly musical adventure, click here

Good Question

2009-10-26T19:22:00.000-07:00

Oh, Yahoo Answers. I'm so happy that Henry put you to some good use.

Maxwell's Silver Hammer

2009-10-19T08:51:00.000-07:00

Entry from Wikipedia:

"The song took three days of overdubbing because McCartney imagined that it could be a future single. John Lennon later recalled, "he did everything to make it into a single, and it never was and it never could have been."
According to Lennon, the band spent more money on that song than any other on Abbey Road, and he derided the song at the time as a prime example of McCartney's "granny-style" writing.
George Harrison described it in 1969 as "one of those instant whistle-along tunes which some people hate, and other people really like. It's a fun song, but it's kind of a drag because Maxwell keeps on destroying everyone like his girlfriend then the school teacher, and then, finally, the judge." In 1977, Harrison would be less charitable, stating "I mean, my God, 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' was so fruity."
Even Ringo Starr recalled in an interview in early 2008: "The worst session ever was 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer.' It was the worst track we ever had to record. It went on for fucking weeks. I thought it was mad."

zombie cats

2009-10-05T10:15:00.000-07:00

For the first time ever, the cat actually slept all night, curled up by either my shoulder or elbow. And he only woke me up ONCE in the night, and only because he was muttering in his sleep. Sooooo cute.

Last night I saw Zombieland. It was a thoroughly enjoyable, terrible movie. The beginning was slow. They hired a guy who looked and acted like Michael Cera for the lead role. There were portions of it that went on for too long without any zombies and a lot of mushy heartfelt dialog disguised as plot development. The girls were terribly written, two-dimentional useless characters with too much eyeliner.

But at the half way point things picked up, and it ended up being worth watching. I wouldn't buy the movie or anything, but it made me laugh, and I was glad to have seen it.

So, late last night I had a dream that I lived on the first floor of a building (above the main floor, that is), and could therefore only be friends with other inhabitants of that floor, which were all jellybean coloured zombie cats. But then I discovered that there were zombie cats on stilts outside with whom I could also be friends, because they were tall enough to reach the first floor.

uhhh... yeah.

Bread Pudding

2009-10-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

Doesn't this look delicious? hmmmmm.... It's soy milk and eggs. and sugar.

And this is buttered bread, covered in that oh-so-tasty mixture, and layered with thin slices of sweet apple from the neighbour's tree.

Sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg,

raaaaaisins... This is the second layer.

and more bread and goopy mixture. And then it sits until the whole thing is super soggy.

1 hour and 10 minutes in the oven.

vanilla pecan ice cream.

yes.

an important message from Patrick Stewart

2009-09-14T13:23:00.001-07:00

Don't worry. This isn't a star trek blog.

I'll have something more interesting another day.

not much to say

2009-08-27T23:07:00.000-07:00

what it's really like to serve on the star ship Enterprise:

Each of these cats has 3 names.

2009-05-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

Box: Fish, and plankton, and sea greens, and protein from the sea!

Dave: Wouldn't it be great if he had a little drawer in the front that dispensed fish and chips?

Em: One gun would shoot lasers, and the other would dispense tartar sauce?

Dave: And sometimes he'd accidentally shoot from the wrong gun?

Em: But then he'd just want to shoot from that gun first, anyway. "First I will season you. Then, I will kill you!"

Me: He'd be the perfect bond villain that way!

Dave: Fish, plankton,

Em: And protein, Mr. Bond!

accurate product descriptions

2009-05-14T13:12:00.000-07:00

They are made with powdered milk product.
They are in biscuit form.
They taste like sand.

New Adventures in Tea Obsessions

2009-05-13T21:50:00.000-07:00

This is Chapter 2 regarding my interest Gong Fu Cha. That's right. I got a tea making set. And by me, I mean somebody else whose kitchen items I have weekly access to.

This is Yun Nan Ming Zhu Pu Erh. (third tea down on the link) It was dried in the moonlight, and its flavour gets better with age. This one can age for 10-20 years.

The same bowl with a lid for straining. This was a cheap mildly chipped set. This strainer is Ching Dynasty.

Using the grill as a water catching table is a stroke of genius, no?
Well, I was impressed.

Click the 'tea' tag to see the previous post and learn how to make tea. Keep in mind that the guy in the video is CRAZY.
And that listening to Chinese folk music is one of the steps.

Marlon Brando

2009-03-30T21:22:00.001-07:00

sleeps on his head, clutching his tail.

He's fat, too.

lessons in music theory

2009-03-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

I found an amazing site today with full scores of Chinese music. I'm a hack when it comes to playing Chinese music, and the only way I have to play in an ensemble is to play with other people who don't know what they're doing. That's why I'm really excited about this site; it gives me the opportunity to rewrite the scores and share them with people who don't actually play Chinese instruments, and wouldn't otherwise be able to play the music. Plus it gives me real music to practice on my gu zheng, instead of all these Christmas carols my teacher keeps giving me.

That's right. I can play Silent Night on the zheng.

So, here's how it works. This is the score I read from. It reads just like regular music: left to right, top to bottom. The 0's at the beginning mean that I don't have to play. Up at the top, it tells me that it's in 2/4 time and G=1. If G=1, then A=2, B=3, C=4 and so on. It's a musical code!

Of course, I always read D=1, because that's the key my instrument is tuned to, and I refuse to attempt playing in a different key until I'm a better player.

When the numbers have dots underneath them, you play the note an octave lower. When there is a dot on top, you play the note an octave higher. If there are two dots, you play two octaves higher, etc.

Just like eighth notes in Western music have flags that attach them to eachother, the numbers that are only an eighth note long have a line underneath them. If there are two lines, then they are sixteenth notes. If there is a dot beside it, then it's a dotted note.

The rest of it is pretty standard. (The er hu part even has 'arco' and 'pizz' written in.) Once you start playing it, it's a breeze to read. However, now that I've come this far, the prospect of trying to learn this on zheng hurts my head.

I'm going to re-write the parts for plucked instruments as guitar and banjo tab. It's going to rock.

I'm not obsessed. It just happened.

2009-02-16T22:28:00.001-08:00

Yes, I've been watching Sailor Moon. Yes, I find it mesmerizing. Yes, if I found a Sailor Moon sweatshirt in the men's section at Value Village, I would probably have to buy it regardless of whether it fit me or not. Which is what I might have done about a month ago.

But I'll have you know that I would have bought it at ANY point in my life, not just now that I've downloaded the later seasons and started watching them in Japanese. Which is much better than English, by the way. The English version is unbearable.

Anyway, I'm not crazy enough to wear the sweatshirt as pictured above. Furthermore, the inside felt like plastic against my skin, so at the very least it would have to be lined. See that blue sweatshirt I was wearing? That's where I'd get the lining from. It was perfect.

For the arms, I used a pair of HIDEOUS sweat pants. I was not going to take pictures of them. They had a zipper at the crotch. Sweatpants. With a zipper.

I got the mini Sailor Moon logo from the arms of the sweatshirt.

I got the hood and the edging from the blue sweatshirt, and I used some spare felt to make the arms of the lining, as I'd run out of fabric.
After sewing it all together, I realized that the front pieces weren't as long as the back, and that the edging wasn't going to be able to lengthen it enough. Also, these pockets were way too high. I sewed the whole thing together, picked it apart, and sewed it again. This meant 2 extra days spent fixing mistakes, and that there were crazy patchwork seams everywhere.

The lining was so easy. I remembered, once I had sewed everything to the zipper, to flip the entire thing inside out and sew along the neckline, so that there are no visible seams on this sucker. It's the most beautiful inside I've done, even though it ended up being patchy, too. I did cheat on the sleeves. But you can't tell, can you?

hott. Plus, it's the fuzziest, coziest, warmest sweatshirt ever.

Em says I look like the eighties. But it's all good. As long as I don't wear them with my running shoes.

Sailor Moon Sweatshirt = $10
blue sweatshirt, red sweatpants, notions = $10

My next sweatshirt is going to be made from two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirts. I have a colourful picture for the back, and a small white outline and logo for the front. I'll just have to buy an ooze-green sweatshirt for the sleeves and hood. whee!

more records

2009-02-13T12:05:00.001-08:00

These came in a box from the university. Mostly 78's. Some 45's

Rosemary Clooney. Sweet.

Most of the titles are bizarre.

There was one record by a ukulele playing comedienne. I'm going to record it once I find it again.

My mum has a different edition of this album on 10" 33!

Some good covers, too. Look! Liberace's first ever album! That's got to be worth a MINT. ha ha ha. ha.

But seriously, Nat King Cole? That's pretty sweet.

Highlights from Sailor Moon, seasons 1-3

2009-01-20T20:44:00.001-08:00

Highlights from Sailor Moon part 2

2009-01-20T20:43:00.001-08:00

The true identity of Santa Clause.

the ultimate Christmas tradition: Cookie Painting

2009-01-04T23:21:00.000-08:00

Every year, at my house, we bake gingerbread, spread white icing on top, and paint pictures using special food colouring.
Every year my mum says something along the lines of, "oh good. This year we'll have nice pictures. Do a nice job so that I can take the cookies to peoples houses this season."
Every year we draw pictures unrelated to Christmas, or too ugly for gift giving, and the few cookies that are appropriate for guests are too nice to be eaten, and are often eaten stale by their creators a month later.
This year was no exception. Though this time around there were considerably less severed legs and bullet wounds, we did come up with some new ideas. First off, there were complaints from people who felt that their artistic skill was lacking. Monochromatic cookies with catchphrases were therefore quite popular.

See the funny man in the girl guide outfit? That was my cousin's work. She had painted a bell green to be his 'pants', but I decided to give him a more colourful skirt to wear. Next year if we have more cookies, we'll continue this theme and make cookie dolls. (fish man in the corner is amazing. Seriously, what does my mother have against these non-winter themed masterpieces!?)

Notice the obese and anorexic reindeer? There was one with a leg bitten off with the speech bubble, "where's my other leg?" It was almost monochromatic, too. Classic.

At some point, we decided to have a guitar painting competition.

Unfortunately, there were only two entrants in the competition who completed their guitars: tree guitar,

and the "tea pot" guitar that inspired the competition in the first place.

The winner received a well deserved photo opp.

Happily, there was once again self-portraiture.

Sadly, there were no comical portraits of others at the table, and no puppet show involving said portraits giving eachother smooches.

Dang. Who has that video, anyway!?

Merry Christmas

2008-12-30T00:04:00.001-08:00

When you're surrounded by snow drifts and bad weather, and your power goes out for over 12 hours, there's only one way to entertain yourself and your guests. That's right: Chrismtas showtunes sightread by candle light!
Hear Jake fail at the keychange! Hear me fail at counterpoint! Turn off the video half way through when the lack of dynamic range drives you insane!

I really didn't know how to flip the video, either. At least this piece had a discernible melody.

Snowed In

2008-12-29T22:51:00.001-08:00

Our crazy new roof dumps snow almost as fast as it collects it, which means 6 foot snow drifts outside our house. Andrea was our gofer, demonstrating the height of the snow outside for the camera:

She went out voluntarily, I swear.

Poor little barbecue

I can't reach the top of the trellis when there isn't any snow. That has to be at least 5 feet of snow out there.

Then we went inside to play my new headline card game.

Not a bad hand. Wish it had been mine.

R2D-Tuque

2008-12-25T12:12:00.001-08:00

We decided that when he goes back to work, he's going to swivel in his swivel chair going "beep beep boop", and repeatedly download the blueprints to the office.

He's so getting fired.

the ghost of project past

2008-12-15T00:11:00.000-08:00

I've been doing so many Christmas crafts, but they're all presents, so I can't post them. It's driving me crazy.

So instead, I'm doing a creepy headless shot of a dress I made eons ago, and never posted. Not even on an older blog.

It's made from sari fabric, so it's got little gold things embroidered and painted all over it, and it's super shiny, too. I made up the pattern a bit, because the original was just a straight 6 piece dress. I gave it an empire waistline, cut the front open and put a skirt of a different colour underneath, and totally made up that whole red dress neckline thing. The blue was too low, and I couldn't figure out the pattern without reading the instructions, and couldn't be bothered to read the instructions in the first place... oh, how lazy I am.

Things I learned: Sari fabric frays like nothing else. Like brocade, I guess, actually, because they're both woven. So you need to do a zigzag stitch along the edge of each piece. I wasn't aware of that fact until after I made the dress, because it was a rush job and I did it in a week. It's now falling apart in the bottom of a closet. The fabric catches easily. If you have to unpick, you'll end up with giant holes where the needle went through. The dye runs when it gets wet, too. At least it only cost me $20 all told. Ha.

I have so many dresses that are hanging half finished in that same closet. Once Christmas is over I HAVE TO START ON THEM. *sad face here*

Oh, commercialism.

2008-11-29T23:01:00.000-08:00

Alan: Teacher, at home I have a robot that's... pirate ship, pirate space ship, hat with Spiderman, hat and gloves, that's what I want for Christmas. I asked Santa.

more compulsive internet shopping

2008-11-24T10:48:00.000-08:00

First, the rhinestone glasses:

(sparkles added with photoshop, but they DO actually sparkle like that. For real.)

Then I saw these and thought, "man, I could sooo rock librarian glasses."

Yes. that's right. Red zebra print and gold arms. Why not?

These cow print glasses were ordered for someone else.

as were the space glasses.

Unfortunately, after we placed the order, they came out with a whole bunch of new designs, including these:

Damn you, Zenni Optical! I'm going to be so poor. Unless my cousin buys these first.

Brubeck teaches you music composition

2008-11-17T07:52:00.000-08:00

I bought a book the other day by David Brubeck without having actually looked at the music much. Turns out there's a perfect gem of a song right in the middle of the book. It speaks to me.

I See, Satie

(words and music by Dave Brubeck)

When I sing a twelve tone row, I always think, "How strange.
(strange music.)
Must the notes stay in a row, and never, never change?"
(such music.)
Bela Bartok, Anton Webern, in the modern school,
wrote some melodies enchanting breaking every rule.
And Milhaud said, "We need not care.
Write music any way you dare.
Erik Satie shaped his music oval as a pear."
(what perfect form! I see, Satie.)

Happy Halloween

2008-10-31T23:16:00.001-07:00