shedoon

blue_mai @ 4:26pm:
just killed some time here. most enjoyable: http://kellyoxford.tumblr.com/

blue_mai @ 11:45am: mus
While half-heartedly doing some computer modelling at home yesterday, i was listening to CDs. I used to listen to CDs a lot, and i used to know what i owned and what i didn't, and i used to know what the CDs i owned sounded like. Not anymore. Several years of CD collections blurring at the edges - J's lived in the bedroom with the hifi, most of mine lived in the sitting room that we didn't use, with mobile heaps in the bedroom and kitchen - followed by being boxed up and stacked up and shuffled round and boxed up again. I look in the bags and boxes (now nearly all in my room) and see albums whose songs i know word by word, nestling next to ones that looked interesting but still sit in their plastic wrapper. Whose sounds are completely unknown, with the only clue being the picture on the cover or the name or the cardstock, not a very precise clue, that.

So anyway, yesterday i listened to 3 CDs, and really fine they are: Erland & the Carnival, St Vincent "Actor" and M.Ward "Hold Time". All also have excellent covers, "Actor" being perhaps the most perfect, with the colours picked out in the writing and the spine just wonderful. I'd seen M.Ward live supporting Neko Case, and heard him a few times here and there, and i thought it was nice but it didn't grab me, until i saw Monsters of Folk (which i still haven't written about) and it seemed to elevate him a little. The album i've had a few weeks now, and on first listenings again it seems sort of nice and fuzzy, but after a few plays it really starts to draw you in. Dreamy and hypnotic. Actually Monsters of Folk is one that i'm pretty sure i've bought but i don't think i have it anywhere here. Of course i can't be sure a. that i bought it and b. that it's not here... but i would like to listen to it. I heard "Dear God" on the radio a few days ago and it's just wonderful.

blue_mai @ 8:20pm: zebra finches i love you
or as C said - Hendrix birds -


http://www.barbican.org.uk/artgallery/event-detail.asp?id=9713

blue_mai @ 10:32pm: more computery stuff
on my new little netbook, videos don't play smoothly. even when fully loaded, they're jerky. sound is fine. i'm not really very computer-clued so what is the likely cause of this - a hardware thing or a software thing? the refresh rate is set at 60Hz and it's the only option. the graphics driver is called "Mobile Intel® 945GM Express Chipset Family" and apparently it's current. is it the graphics card? what does that mean? can it be improved?

sorry for the boring questions..

ETA: erm, today it seems to be just HD it doesn't play. I'm sure it used to be other stuff too. ho hum. What is the point of HD on web-videos, anyway?

blue_mai @ 7:25pm: power lead
i'm not going to use the power lead for my Powerbook anymore, it gets really hot and makes evil burning smells. i'm sure it's doing nasty things to my semiconductors and i don't want the poor thing to go into meltdown. it's the bit from the transformer to the computer that's broken, as far as i can tell it's simply poorly made - the connection to the transformer is loose, i think the cable is broken inside partway along (as in, bits of wire touching that shouldn't be) and definitely broken at the connection to the bit that plugs into computer. It's rubbish, i mean it's not like i carry it around much or treat it roughly. Now, given that electronics isn't my strong point, i should just buy another one, right? Anyone have any idea if it's easy to repair? By easy, that would be doable with some clumsy soldering etc, nothing that involves really delicate connections. The broken half of the lead carries 24.5V, 2.64A, has a symbol which is a horizontal line over a broken line.

blue_mai @ 9:06pm: polaroids and other thoughts
nice little blog about photography, some emphasis on polaroids
http://thegentlemanamateur.blogspot.com/

blue_mai @ 1:52am: Bogotá
http://shareable.net/blog/can-we-design-cities-for-happiness

blue_mai @ 1:14am: jewels
some nice eye candy bling at Liberty:
triple heart black gold ring by Jordan Askill (or this one, although the sapphire might be annoying it's a cute design)
also by Jordan Askill, bird pendant is a really gorgeous design (probably better as the matching earrings) although it wouldn't suit me remotely,
bird skull ring by Pamela Love (all her stuff seems bonkers expensive, even for L)
silver spike and beaded bracelets by Giles and Brother
railroad spike bracelet also by Giles and Brother
set of rings by loselliani is a neat idea.
(hmm, i note a surprisingly reasonably-priced bracelet chain by Vivienne Westwood that might be worth checking out in person)

also, Vancouver-based jewelers Pyrrha - a really nice weight and feel to their stuff i think.

blue_mai @ 1:05am: points of view at british library
last day today. have had a quick look round, but not enough. won't be able to now... boo.
but, there it seems to have generated a lot of stuff online and links to other stuff:
http://www.bl.uk/pointsofview/
http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/pointsofview/index.html (online exhib)
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/pointsofview/
http://britishphotohistory.ning.com/

also, kinda impressed that the british library is just bl.uk