Siriusly. The last time i had this much fun on my berfday? Maybe when Alien Sex Fiend played the Lakefront in 1985?! (or was it 84?) Today was full of cookies topped w/awesomesauce and a big fat WIN on top. And its all cuz i live in a wonderful, beautiful, *supportive* arts community.
First, the day: i can literally count on one hand the number of birthdays i've had when the weather wasn't shite. Its rare enuf to be over 50 out, but to be 70 AND sunny?? This just Does Not Happen in Cleveland in March. But it did today, so i made it my inaugural bike ride of the season. Decided on a whim to put my squeezebox on my back and bike downtown for the parade.. which could have been trouble with a capital 'T', but it actually worked out. And that's despite the fact that as i got to the Detroit-Superior bridge (which spans the river dividing east from west) my bike chain got jammed between gears. So what?
i walked my bike over the bridge and down to the new Phoenix Coffee on W. 9th. They're my Twitter friends, had to check them out, lol. (Sweet little place; might be worth some daytime rides for wi-fi'n'chai this spring). Tried texting my pal who is also my birthday twin.. well, we did text; just never connected. Downtown was pagan revelry.. everybody's Irish in Cleveland on St. Padrec's, but today everyone was *heathen* Irish. No woad that i saw, but wtf. Another pal called it Green Halloween and i think she's right. Imagine the flipside of Halloween; instead of preparing for winter, this is opening up to spring. Costumes EVERYWHERE.. of course most of them were drunk suburban White People, but hey. Everyone was smiling, maybe too drunk but in early afternoon almost all still happy.
i walked east to go south; Superior to E.12th to E.9th to Euclid to E.4th. Stopped on E.4th a while to break out the squeezebox. i could have busked but i'm still too shy at it so just played quietly in open spots - well as quiet as an accordion gets. There was a girl who played a fullsize in front of Erie St. Coffee; she & i jammed a couple tunes. Then a fellow came up who knew her.. i'm looking at him, thinking he looks familiar - and omg its a guy i've known thru open mic scenes first, then the vortex a couple years ago when everything got - strange. He dropped out of sight and i haven't seen or spoken to him since, but there he was, looking good and SO good to see him!
From there i went on to Public Square. Met my best pal, who works in the old Higbee bldg, scene of visiting Santa in the Christmas Story movie. We cut thru Tower City, came out back near W.9th. People asking me to play again, so i did. She had to go back to work and i headed home, thinking i'd have to walk the bike. i was able to coast once past the hump in the bridge, then discovered i could pedal half a cycle forward, backpedal, another half a cycle.. was slow going but i made it home that way. W/the squeezebox in a backpack and my tophat on my head. Once home i set the bicycle upside down out back and banged at it til i got the chain free. i'll need to put new gears on it - anybody know anything about the Ohio City Bike Co-op? i think i need their help!
At home for a minute then.. did some cleaning and got changed out of indie bike clothes. i Luv bike culture.. when i was headed down, i got passed by three vegan bike messenger kidz, one of whom had a trailer attached: in which an older hippie gent was riding, ponytail and fancy hat and all. He waved and smiled and i waved and smiled back. When you're out on a bike, you make personal contact w/others who bike, and its not like passing people walking. Bike people smile and wave and say hey, coz we Recognize other people who are Choosing this way of transport over fossil fuels.
Got myself some Chinese carryout on the way to rehearsal, coz i <3 it and i knew they weren't doing any business (no corned beef, lol). Ate out on the porch at the theater in beautiful weather. Had a decent run-thru of second act of Mineola Twins, and a nice chat w/Clyde, our director/paterfamilias after. One more quick change later - i needed boots, not ballet flats once it was dark - and i was off to open mic.
i'm having my "official" party Friday, but it'll have a hard time topping tonight, coz this was a gather of my heart family, and SO many of them(you?) came out. Shawn, our longtime open mic MC, gave me a painting he'd done, w/special sekrit writing on the back. All sorts of folks bought me drinks, played me songs, danced in a ring etc.. but perhaps the best was Chrissie, Chrissy & Cynthia, who brought a bag full of home-made paper plate masks and tinsel streamers to hand out to the crowd.. AND put together a choreographed routine to Nine Inch Nails (and maybe Sublime? i don't know), which they performed in my honor. *snif*.
This was so so perfect i can't begin to tell you. i don't even know what was best.. watching these girls get up, put on silly sparkly lacy costumes and do a routine they put together AND REHEARSED.. or seeing everyone at open mic sporting masks w/flowers and leaves and tinsel streamers - ?! =:o Fairie Fest peeps&tweeps know the sort of energie i'm talkin'bout. Everyone shedding their winter blahs, out in finery, having fun, spontaneously dressed up. Yes, that was it! It was an authentic Temporary Autonomous Zone, the sort of things that happen in my Dreams. But here, now, in the waking world.
It filtered down as the evening wore on, but my Particular Friend whose band i work with played a solo version of my favorite of their songs (Blue Absynthe)for me, and then wound up with a rousing version of 'Shambones and Monkeyjaws', which he used to play with his old band, Screwtractor. Everyone was stomping or clapping or drumming on the tables along with the rhythm at the end, all of us together. And then! The original open mic MC from years ago played me 'Gary Floyd' by the Butthole Surfers, and to cap the night, our current MC played my favoritest Kimya Dawson song whose name i can't remember without looking it up.. um.. 'Loose Lips', that's it. i know about half the lyrics, so he had me come up and sing it along with him.
*whew*.
i'm sure i've forgotten half of what went on, tho i WAS good and did not get dr00nk (tho i easily could have!) It *stayed* nice out, even more impressive, tho the sky is still clear. i gave one more lovely crafty friend a ride home and came home dancing with rainbows in my head. But they will be on my wall soon enuf, so i stop now.. just want to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to everyone who came out tonite, because you made this a Fo'Real Milestone Birthday for me. And if you missed it and are in Clevo and are free Fri. night, come on down to Pat's in the Flats and with any luck we'll do it all over again. Only different. i LOVE you my vortex Rainbow family of laughing light, and i don't even care if i sound like an old hippie because i AM! Ha!!! *smooch*
18 March 2009
14 March 2009
the same deep water as me
Damn. Do you know how close i came to starting this entry, 'It's happened again' - ?? It's happened again all over again. Only this time "it" isn't some website offending me with its drab-n-creary color scheme. No, this time "it" is far worse. That Question. You know, the one no girl ever wants to be asked.
"Have you ever thought of writing a book?"
Waauugghh. Please, ask me my age - i'm happy to tell you i'm days shy of fifty. And still rockin', dammit, even if i am a bit wheezy at the moment - hurr! Ask me about adventures with much younger men - there aren't any, not because the opportunity isn't there, but because i have not yet fully embraced my inner Maude, thereby allowing me to welcome in any potential Harolds. But write a book? Eek.
Its not that the words don't dribble from my fingers with a rather annoying regularity :::wipes surreptitiously on the tablecloth::: It's not even that i haven't already DONE this. Well - ok, 'Goddess of the Crucifixion' isn't ~my~ book precisely, but i put so damn much work into the thing i can claim about a third of it. And no you've never heard of it because it's languishing in a hard-drive of holding until some future day when i feel i might be ready to try and Do Something With It. (for late arrivals: GotC is my ex-husband's masterwork. It's fantasy, albeit Tolkien as retold by Lovecraft and Anne Roquelaure, in which the main characters undergo several incarnations. Ate the winter of 2002-3. Husband drama ensured i've sat on it ever since). Then there's Digital Aeon, which once in a while will tell itself to me in bits and pieces, but has been doing so for about fifteen years, now, and hasn't deigned to let me know how all the Point A stuff might eventually connect to Point B.
Of course, when the question arises, people don't usually have fiction in mind. They mean Damn, girl, with the life you've lived? Why don't you write a book?! It is just this very minute occurring to me that part of my reluctance might be that to stop and write about it tacitly acknowledges that i'm no longer actively *living* it. Which i still very much am, thanks just the same, so not ready to pen any memoirs just yet.
On another hand - i'm down with Kali, there will be several hands - what would be the point? Sure, i've had Adventures. Plan to keep on havin' 'em for a while yet, if perhaps not at the level i usedta could. But i'm hardly alone in that. i might be a medium-size fish, but this isn't *that* big a pond.. honestly, i've met folks who've done/been/seen more things than me. Sure, none of 'em have quite had my particular viewpoint, but - eh. It just doesn't seem relevant much beyond my social circle, yanno?
But yet again again, perhaps that's what this blog is for. i'm still casting about with this one, i'm sure you couldn't tell ha ha. This isn't my personal journal that i happen to share with several dozen of closest intimate friends many of whom i've not even met out here in meatspace. This isn't a column of reviews; i considered that, but i don't go to a lot of "things" anymore. Not like the late 80s/early 90s when i was seeing/meeting/feeding some great underground band every other week (insert story of Steve Albini and the highchair here - i could, yet its really not all that interesting. Beyond the fact that Steve Albini was over at my house, w00).
i know what it is i Do out in the world.. not just the promobitch networking stuff or the stagecrew-ing or being a crafter or any of that. Actually it IS networking, but on a different level. i am, in part, a synthesist - please see previous blog for references to Stand On Zanzibar. But i don't just abstract patterns from the data i collect; i make connections BASED on that data. Whoa. Hm. Not sure i've ever formulated that into words before.
So it would make sense to me to do that thru the blog somehow, but how? Oh hai Person A in Town 2; meet Person B in Town 5, you're both into X. Would that become, "met Person A for wi-fi'n'chai today, showed them Person B's website, promised to tweet about their project". Hrm? i suppose it could, but that seems so - soulless. Yet nor do i wish to fall into the "based on my past lives as an Atlantean shaman/princess/tamer of sea-unicorns, i realize that my True Path is to help beclouded souls out of their occlusion from the Ascended Way" - even though - o dear, i cannot say it - but i must - even though that one's closer to the truth.
This is why Twitter is my new favorite site TLA4Eva. Because no matter what is flitting thru my branez, i have to fit it into 140 characters or forever hold my peace. This post brought to you by #UNFollowFriday, the letter kratkoye and the numeral pi.
"Have you ever thought of writing a book?"
Waauugghh. Please, ask me my age - i'm happy to tell you i'm days shy of fifty. And still rockin', dammit, even if i am a bit wheezy at the moment - hurr! Ask me about adventures with much younger men - there aren't any, not because the opportunity isn't there, but because i have not yet fully embraced my inner Maude, thereby allowing me to welcome in any potential Harolds. But write a book? Eek.
Its not that the words don't dribble from my fingers with a rather annoying regularity :::wipes surreptitiously on the tablecloth::: It's not even that i haven't already DONE this. Well - ok, 'Goddess of the Crucifixion' isn't ~my~ book precisely, but i put so damn much work into the thing i can claim about a third of it. And no you've never heard of it because it's languishing in a hard-drive of holding until some future day when i feel i might be ready to try and Do Something With It. (for late arrivals: GotC is my ex-husband's masterwork. It's fantasy, albeit Tolkien as retold by Lovecraft and Anne Roquelaure, in which the main characters undergo several incarnations. Ate the winter of 2002-3. Husband drama ensured i've sat on it ever since). Then there's Digital Aeon, which once in a while will tell itself to me in bits and pieces, but has been doing so for about fifteen years, now, and hasn't deigned to let me know how all the Point A stuff might eventually connect to Point B.
Of course, when the question arises, people don't usually have fiction in mind. They mean Damn, girl, with the life you've lived? Why don't you write a book?! It is just this very minute occurring to me that part of my reluctance might be that to stop and write about it tacitly acknowledges that i'm no longer actively *living* it. Which i still very much am, thanks just the same, so not ready to pen any memoirs just yet.
On another hand - i'm down with Kali, there will be several hands - what would be the point? Sure, i've had Adventures. Plan to keep on havin' 'em for a while yet, if perhaps not at the level i usedta could. But i'm hardly alone in that. i might be a medium-size fish, but this isn't *that* big a pond.. honestly, i've met folks who've done/been/seen more things than me. Sure, none of 'em have quite had my particular viewpoint, but - eh. It just doesn't seem relevant much beyond my social circle, yanno?
But yet again again, perhaps that's what this blog is for. i'm still casting about with this one, i'm sure you couldn't tell ha ha. This isn't my personal journal that i happen to share with several dozen of closest intimate friends many of whom i've not even met out here in meatspace. This isn't a column of reviews; i considered that, but i don't go to a lot of "things" anymore. Not like the late 80s/early 90s when i was seeing/meeting/feeding some great underground band every other week (insert story of Steve Albini and the highchair here - i could, yet its really not all that interesting. Beyond the fact that Steve Albini was over at my house, w00).
i know what it is i Do out in the world.. not just the promobitch networking stuff or the stagecrew-ing or being a crafter or any of that. Actually it IS networking, but on a different level. i am, in part, a synthesist - please see previous blog for references to Stand On Zanzibar. But i don't just abstract patterns from the data i collect; i make connections BASED on that data. Whoa. Hm. Not sure i've ever formulated that into words before.
So it would make sense to me to do that thru the blog somehow, but how? Oh hai Person A in Town 2; meet Person B in Town 5, you're both into X. Would that become, "met Person A for wi-fi'n'chai today, showed them Person B's website, promised to tweet about their project". Hrm? i suppose it could, but that seems so - soulless. Yet nor do i wish to fall into the "based on my past lives as an Atlantean shaman/princess/tamer of sea-unicorns, i realize that my True Path is to help beclouded souls out of their occlusion from the Ascended Way" - even though - o dear, i cannot say it - but i must - even though that one's closer to the truth.
This is why Twitter is my new favorite site TLA4Eva. Because no matter what is flitting thru my branez, i have to fit it into 140 characters or forever hold my peace. This post brought to you by #UNFollowFriday, the letter kratkoye and the numeral pi.
09 March 2009
How come some people | They don't like nothing at all?
Its happened again. A popular, maybe even potentially useful service (in this case Google Reader) has ensured i won't be using it by providing me with an absolutely butt-ugly page interface and no way to change it *sigh*. Not that i'm Teh Expert when it comes to page design, and no snickering behind your hands, now. i'm using the only template i've gotten to WORK on this blog - found others i liked better, but Blogger didn't, and i don't know enuf CSS or whatever templates are in to tweak til it does. i still don't grasp why programs like Dreamweaver think you need to apply font coding separately to each and every paragraph, for instance, instead of once to the entire page which still seems to work just fine. And is why your old granny is writing this entry in TextEdit, not the Blogger editor - well, one reason.
The other being where i started, and that's the plague of horrendous boiler-plate social media sites who think nothing could be more appealing than some sort of greyish-blue header on a blank white page - when in fact the word they want is 'appalling', not appealing. Yech blech poison doglips. One of many reasons i'd drop Facebook like a Bush administration policy decision if all the same people were active on myspace. i hated myspz too, until they got smart enuf to offer custom templates for their user interface pages, not just public profiles. Now you can judge someone's net savvy by whether they've a customized profile, much as you can by whether their Twitter icon looks like this: o_O Facebook's rubberstamp generic profile deprives you of that information.
Yahoo is another site that has allowed color customization for years. Think its a coincidence i've been a loyal yahoo user for years? Their my.yahoo.com page has all sorts of great templates available (tho you have to be logged in and choose one to see it). Yahoo is my start page of choice precisely *because* its in warm, inviting colors, i can pretty much drag things where i want them on the page and (within limits, which are dwindling) decide what the elements on my page will be.
Google Reader, on the other hand, is barren and ugly. i didn't bookmark it. i won't be using it or going back to it. If it has anything to offer me i can't find other places - like, say, right in the sidebar of this blog - their institutionalized interface made certain i wouldn't stick around long enough to find it. Hell, i paid such scant heed i can't even link to it; i have no idea what the URL is and can't be bothered to find out.
Ditto FriendFeed, which at least has the right idea - consolidate all my social media sites into one reader - but fails to implement it in a workable way. Their biggest offense isn't the uglyblues, because not only is their idea good enough to make that almost worth putting up with, but a prototype version exists that isn't ~ideal~ but isn't cookiecutter either. No, the problem with FriendFeed is it only feeds me *other people on FriendFeed* - if i can't see ALL my Twitter streams, Facebook updates, LJ friends list etc., then there's just no point. i'm going to wind up going to the original sites for the complete feed, so why bother with yours for a glimpse of it?
Lest you think i am nothing but a cranky old woodnymph, however, let me tell you about the site that made GoogleReader even more of an eyesore by comparison tonight: Filttr. OK the name is clunky, but whatever. Its WARM and INVITING and FUNCTIONAL too! It went immediately into my bookmarks, and just may replace Twitter itself as the place i keep up with tweets. Twitter probably earned a high place in my estimation by allowing me to customize it from the get-go (currently tinkering with a background there, but any place that allows me to make my own i <3). Filttr, tho, autorefreshes and threads topics - even if i can't have 'my' background, its usefulness combined with a better colorscheme means its a tool i'll be coming back to. (Should you care, i haven't had the chance to try TweetDeck or similar programs - AdobeAir doesn't want to install on my poor old gumdrop, without which they won't work. i've got Chirp as a widget if i need browser-free updates or updating - but i seldom do).
Oh look. A blog, i has it. Perhaps now i can shift my butt and get a shower too. Coz Sid - i don't feel so good today..
The other being where i started, and that's the plague of horrendous boiler-plate social media sites who think nothing could be more appealing than some sort of greyish-blue header on a blank white page - when in fact the word they want is 'appalling', not appealing. Yech blech poison doglips. One of many reasons i'd drop Facebook like a Bush administration policy decision if all the same people were active on myspace. i hated myspz too, until they got smart enuf to offer custom templates for their user interface pages, not just public profiles. Now you can judge someone's net savvy by whether they've a customized profile, much as you can by whether their Twitter icon looks like this: o_O Facebook's rubberstamp generic profile deprives you of that information.
Yahoo is another site that has allowed color customization for years. Think its a coincidence i've been a loyal yahoo user for years? Their my.yahoo.com page has all sorts of great templates available (tho you have to be logged in and choose one to see it). Yahoo is my start page of choice precisely *because* its in warm, inviting colors, i can pretty much drag things where i want them on the page and (within limits, which are dwindling) decide what the elements on my page will be.
Google Reader, on the other hand, is barren and ugly. i didn't bookmark it. i won't be using it or going back to it. If it has anything to offer me i can't find other places - like, say, right in the sidebar of this blog - their institutionalized interface made certain i wouldn't stick around long enough to find it. Hell, i paid such scant heed i can't even link to it; i have no idea what the URL is and can't be bothered to find out.
Ditto FriendFeed, which at least has the right idea - consolidate all my social media sites into one reader - but fails to implement it in a workable way. Their biggest offense isn't the uglyblues, because not only is their idea good enough to make that almost worth putting up with, but a prototype version exists that isn't ~ideal~ but isn't cookiecutter either. No, the problem with FriendFeed is it only feeds me *other people on FriendFeed* - if i can't see ALL my Twitter streams, Facebook updates, LJ friends list etc., then there's just no point. i'm going to wind up going to the original sites for the complete feed, so why bother with yours for a glimpse of it?
Lest you think i am nothing but a cranky old woodnymph, however, let me tell you about the site that made GoogleReader even more of an eyesore by comparison tonight: Filttr. OK the name is clunky, but whatever. Its WARM and INVITING and FUNCTIONAL too! It went immediately into my bookmarks, and just may replace Twitter itself as the place i keep up with tweets. Twitter probably earned a high place in my estimation by allowing me to customize it from the get-go (currently tinkering with a background there, but any place that allows me to make my own i <3). Filttr, tho, autorefreshes and threads topics - even if i can't have 'my' background, its usefulness combined with a better colorscheme means its a tool i'll be coming back to. (Should you care, i haven't had the chance to try TweetDeck or similar programs - AdobeAir doesn't want to install on my poor old gumdrop, without which they won't work. i've got Chirp as a widget if i need browser-free updates or updating - but i seldom do).
Oh look. A blog, i has it. Perhaps now i can shift my butt and get a shower too. Coz Sid - i don't feel so good today..
05 March 2009
It's supposed to be automatic but actually you have to press the button.
Soo, as often happens, this is not the post i intended to write. i may get back to that one - it'll keep. Well, this one would keep too, but it jumped into my brain last night and almost kept me from sleeping, so to prevent any recurrence of THAT, this one's getting written. In which i shall discuss Web 2.0 Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones, or perhaps why Twitter is the real-life equivalent of Scanalyzer. (since i won't be referencing the Delaney story again, you might want to read about it over there. The two are closely linked in my head, however).
Depending on your inherent Sci-Fi Geek Quotient, you're either saying Yes, Do Go On, or, WTF wufkitn, you've lost me again. For the latter group: Scanalyzer is a concept employed by John Brunner in one of my favorite SF books, "Stand On Zanzibar". Which i shall be re-reading starting an hour or three ago, its been too long. Brunner refers to SoZ as a 'non-novel', composed using "Spicers Plus Fabric Bond and Commercial Bank interleaved with Serillo carbons in a Smith Corona electric typewriter fitted with a Kolok black-record ribbon." i quote that to give you an idea of the quantum leaps we've made since he wrote it - the book was published in 1968, but is set 42 years (!) in the (then) future.
Scanalyzer is something like a news program (i'm drawing from memory, and haven't read it in a few years), that is customizable to the viewer using a 'homimage' attachment so that Mr. and Mrs. Everywhere ("or Mr. and Miss, or Miss and Miss, or Mister and Mister, take your pick hah hah!") appear on the screen bearing the viewer's own face. "The INdepth, INdependent, INmediate, INterface between you and your world!" Starting to see why i pulled this off the shelf just now?
We may not yet be to the point where you can see yourself and your significant other sitting prominently in the audience at the Oscars, for instance; but are we really that far behind? We've still got almost two years to catch up to Brunner's projected future, anyway. Instead, we can has INstant updates and commentary, which we can participate directly in. 'Way to ruin a song #idol'. Should someone decide my snide remarks are Worthy and re-tweet me, i could potentially make that observation to an eighth of a million people, according to Twitalyzer.. whose name is starting to sound eerily familiar.
Ah social media, how i love to hate thee. Only a few short months ago, your dear old granny wufkitn hadn't even heard the term 'social media'; now i'm immersed in studying and participating in it on a daily basis. And i've made some interesting discoveries here in twenty-oh-nine.
For one, despite the notion of Web 2.0 making us all participants, i'm finding that i spend MUCH less time contributing to 'net life, and much more consuming it. Perhaps i'm simply out of step with the curve on this one, i don't know. Ten-plus years ago, i spent nearly every evening online, answering emails and participating in (on?) e-lists. A year or so before that and newsgroups were my favored activity; a few years later and i became active on LiveJournal, then MySpace. Now its Facebook and Twitter.
i really liked Twitter once i discovered LoudTwitter, as i could make brief notes as the day went along and then have them gathered and posted to my journal. w00, instant blog update! But after a few months, i started seeing friends posts asking if there was a way to block people's Twitter feeds from their friends list, observing it will be a sad day when all that's left of LJ are feeds - one friend mournfully noted that all they see of me now are scraps, like gnawing shreds of meat off a chicken bone. Facebook's status updates aren't much better - true, they allow threaded comments, a semblance of the discussions that used to occur on the old lists. But the nature of the beast means you'll never get the sort of in-depth conversations going that we had back in my day, when we had to connect using a 9600baud modem on dial-up and we LIKED it, by gum!
That sounds horrifically antique, now, though not so much as the idea that when i worked the First College computer lab, our *hot* Mac had a whopping 1mb HD and could run System ~6~. And a version of Photoshop that fit on a single floppy disk. Yes, i am a geezer, why do you ask? Heh. Seriously, tho, things are moving so fast now that i feel like the Twitter i'd gotten to know and love last month is already an outdated concept. Which i didn't really know, because i'm old and slow to grasp such things, until i started reading blogs and websites that told me just how behind i am.
Imagine - four weeks ago, i thought Twitter was for keeping up with my friends and some interesting strangers. How quaint! i had no idea that i was 'supposed' to be re-tweeting, and using #hashtags, and increasing my *influence*. According to one of these websites - i've already lost track of which - the average power-tweeter has something like 550 friends. Your old granny only follows about a quarter of that. And while i've been grumbly about the fact that my cheapie minute phone doesn't participate in SMS services (so no updates when i'm offline), i'm starting to be grateful i CAN'T get Twitter updates sent to my phone. Somehow, i'm 'supposed' to read updates from over 500 people whose posting velocity oustrips my own, check out their links, participate in conversations via @replies and DMs, find more friends, attract more followers and.. um, i forget what else. Cause i'm old. Oh yeah - write a blog.
But since i'm not a "pro-blogger", larding my posts with cleverly 'shopped photo montages of the life i find time to lead in _between_ all these updates, i do at times commit the heresy of getting off the computer. To do horribly old-fashioned things like read books, or meet real people, in real time, in real places. However, i'm starting to wonder if the fabulous world of 'Twenty-TEN come AGAIN!' really *is* where we're headed. Why ever move my arse from this chair, when i can just stream video chat with people around the world, eager to share their observations on the program we're all tuned in to, of course, because that's what good little lemmings do, right? Look, there i am, front row center! Wow! i guess its just like being there.. assuming there IS a there, There.. Why actually bother going out and living life, when you can stay at home and tweet about your virtual one?
#LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipSex. Why should i bother to explain myself when you can google it? (Relax, David. Open your eyes.)
Depending on your inherent Sci-Fi Geek Quotient, you're either saying Yes, Do Go On, or, WTF wufkitn, you've lost me again. For the latter group: Scanalyzer is a concept employed by John Brunner in one of my favorite SF books, "Stand On Zanzibar". Which i shall be re-reading starting an hour or three ago, its been too long. Brunner refers to SoZ as a 'non-novel', composed using "Spicers Plus Fabric Bond and Commercial Bank interleaved with Serillo carbons in a Smith Corona electric typewriter fitted with a Kolok black-record ribbon." i quote that to give you an idea of the quantum leaps we've made since he wrote it - the book was published in 1968, but is set 42 years (!) in the (then) future.
Scanalyzer is something like a news program (i'm drawing from memory, and haven't read it in a few years), that is customizable to the viewer using a 'homimage' attachment so that Mr. and Mrs. Everywhere ("or Mr. and Miss, or Miss and Miss, or Mister and Mister, take your pick hah hah!") appear on the screen bearing the viewer's own face. "The INdepth, INdependent, INmediate, INterface between you and your world!" Starting to see why i pulled this off the shelf just now?
We may not yet be to the point where you can see yourself and your significant other sitting prominently in the audience at the Oscars, for instance; but are we really that far behind? We've still got almost two years to catch up to Brunner's projected future, anyway. Instead, we can has INstant updates and commentary, which we can participate directly in. 'Way to ruin a song #idol'. Should someone decide my snide remarks are Worthy and re-tweet me, i could potentially make that observation to an eighth of a million people, according to Twitalyzer.. whose name is starting to sound eerily familiar.
Ah social media, how i love to hate thee. Only a few short months ago, your dear old granny wufkitn hadn't even heard the term 'social media'; now i'm immersed in studying and participating in it on a daily basis. And i've made some interesting discoveries here in twenty-oh-nine.
For one, despite the notion of Web 2.0 making us all participants, i'm finding that i spend MUCH less time contributing to 'net life, and much more consuming it. Perhaps i'm simply out of step with the curve on this one, i don't know. Ten-plus years ago, i spent nearly every evening online, answering emails and participating in (on?) e-lists. A year or so before that and newsgroups were my favored activity; a few years later and i became active on LiveJournal, then MySpace. Now its Facebook and Twitter.
i really liked Twitter once i discovered LoudTwitter, as i could make brief notes as the day went along and then have them gathered and posted to my journal. w00, instant blog update! But after a few months, i started seeing friends posts asking if there was a way to block people's Twitter feeds from their friends list, observing it will be a sad day when all that's left of LJ are feeds - one friend mournfully noted that all they see of me now are scraps, like gnawing shreds of meat off a chicken bone. Facebook's status updates aren't much better - true, they allow threaded comments, a semblance of the discussions that used to occur on the old lists. But the nature of the beast means you'll never get the sort of in-depth conversations going that we had back in my day, when we had to connect using a 9600baud modem on dial-up and we LIKED it, by gum!
That sounds horrifically antique, now, though not so much as the idea that when i worked the First College computer lab, our *hot* Mac had a whopping 1mb HD and could run System ~6~. And a version of Photoshop that fit on a single floppy disk. Yes, i am a geezer, why do you ask? Heh. Seriously, tho, things are moving so fast now that i feel like the Twitter i'd gotten to know and love last month is already an outdated concept. Which i didn't really know, because i'm old and slow to grasp such things, until i started reading blogs and websites that told me just how behind i am.
Imagine - four weeks ago, i thought Twitter was for keeping up with my friends and some interesting strangers. How quaint! i had no idea that i was 'supposed' to be re-tweeting, and using #hashtags, and increasing my *influence*. According to one of these websites - i've already lost track of which - the average power-tweeter has something like 550 friends. Your old granny only follows about a quarter of that. And while i've been grumbly about the fact that my cheapie minute phone doesn't participate in SMS services (so no updates when i'm offline), i'm starting to be grateful i CAN'T get Twitter updates sent to my phone. Somehow, i'm 'supposed' to read updates from over 500 people whose posting velocity oustrips my own, check out their links, participate in conversations via @replies and DMs, find more friends, attract more followers and.. um, i forget what else. Cause i'm old. Oh yeah - write a blog.
But since i'm not a "pro-blogger", larding my posts with cleverly 'shopped photo montages of the life i find time to lead in _between_ all these updates, i do at times commit the heresy of getting off the computer. To do horribly old-fashioned things like read books, or meet real people, in real time, in real places. However, i'm starting to wonder if the fabulous world of 'Twenty-TEN come AGAIN!' really *is* where we're headed. Why ever move my arse from this chair, when i can just stream video chat with people around the world, eager to share their observations on the program we're all tuned in to, of course, because that's what good little lemmings do, right? Look, there i am, front row center! Wow! i guess its just like being there.. assuming there IS a there, There.. Why actually bother going out and living life, when you can stay at home and tweet about your virtual one?
#LoveHateDreamsLifeWorkPlayFriendshipSex. Why should i bother to explain myself when you can google it? (Relax, David. Open your eyes.)
02 March 2009
knew it was a chance i had to take
Saturday then. i believe that Saturday day i did what is traditionally known as fuck-all. Friday having been quite the night and all that. i, um, i - oh, i made Mock Chicken Noodle Soup! Can't think now what inspired me but i realized i had everything i needed. This is a vegan variation on chicken noodle that i made up years ago to substitute for the poultry-based while still giving you the basic warm soothing broth when you're sick effect. Its since become one of my favorites.. much like real chicken noodle there's something nicely grounding and homey about it.
Saturday Morticia's Chair was playing at the Beachland Ballroom, for the first time in so long (and ever with this line-up) we were calling it a debut. i often wear my 'pirate'-y vest&blouse-in-one for their shows, but it really doesn't fit properly anymore, not to mention the sleeve parts are a bit worse for wear. Opted instead for an old white poufy-sleeve blouse that ties at the midriff, my black pleather 'biker' vest w/crow bling on the shoulder, striped denim-blue leggings w/an overskirt of black velour yoke and sheer/sparkly black flounce. And the top hat i've been rocking lately, of course. [Belated Warning: i like clothes. i like to play dress-up. i write about playing dress-up. Sometimes i even get off my duff and make clothes. Expect regular reports on my ridiculous streetwear. That is all].
Managed to get myself fed, showered, dressed, primped, and to the practice space by about six. Decided we only needed two cars for four people and gear, so i stowed my craft bag and purple tablecloth in the back of Dax the truck and we were off to the Beachland. Made load-in just as the event was getting underway. This was a benefit for a musician who'd played with various Clevo luminaries like The Choir and The Raspberries, but whose longest-running band (i believe) was The Secret. In their last incarnation, The Secret had the same drummer that Morticia's Chair has now, which is how they got on the bill - most of the rest of the night was classic rock covers, with a LOT of Beatles.
We really weren't sure what to expect in terms of turn-out, but it was much better than we were afraid it would be (ticket prices seemed steep, to us). Definitely an older crowd, and i say that as a half-century dowager - tho granted i seldom get pegged as old as i am. i felt a bit shiney coming out to the merch tables in the front hall.. we've got an almost pro merch set-up now, a case that has all the CDs, promo cards, a light, stickers, etc. The one thing i DIDN'T have, and really should know better by now, is a cash box. Gotta gotta gotta remember to bring mine next time!
i spent most of the rest of the night sitting in that hallway, ho hum. Had a pal working the back bar, so i snuck off to chat with him once or twice, but mostly i sat behind the table or stood and watched the bands thru the ballroom doors. Most of the folks i knew in the building were at the show next door; got to see a few faces when i kipped out front for a smoke. i had thought i'd planned for being stuck up there all night, and brought my craft bag; alas, this is the first craft bag outing in many a moon so i didn't have quite what i needed to really make use of the time.
i'll be vending for the 9th year at Spoutwood Farm's Fairie Festival at the beginning of May, so its really time i started building up my stock again. My main item are those little floral headwreaths you see girls wearing at Renn Faires. The white 'Bride' ones i make sell like crazy, with the black 'Sorceress' coming a close second. Last year i added brown ones w/green leaves & no flowers for the boys and those did all right too. i got a lot of wreath blanks twisted up, but didn't have the right box of flowers with me to do the full wreath. Alas, as i could have made some real progress but twas not to be.
The band sounded good, though, nice and tight, and the audience seemed to like them. The MC gave them a ~really~ nice intro.. i didn't realize they'd been invited to play after she saw them at the private party out in Kirtland we did at the end of last summer (the one where i ran into my ex-s ex-, who still thinks she has to be catty to me fifteen years later - get over it chica, he dumped you, effing deal *thibbit*). We also got to talk to the booking guy there and are looking at putting a show together to tie into the player on the Positively Cleveland page - which you can check out here. Our homegrrls Hot Cha Cha are on there too!
Had another lesson on the new lighting system for the band at the end of the night. i've been a lightboard operator for the Liminis Theater for about four years now, but i've never done any lighting *design*; i just hit the cues. This is a whole order or three of complexity above what i do at the theater. i still only barely know a gobo from a par can, little say what to do with all those swirly spinny any color you like so long as its RGB things at our disposal now. And the big sooper-sekrit Center for Rock Research show coming up in June is going to require a LOT of lighting. Not to mention i intend to have a lot to do with making the event a success - it has the potential to be one of those Man, You Shoulda Been There moments - or a debacle. Aiming for the former, obviously.
Nightcap at Eds and some pleasant and productive conversation out front afterwards. i've got several band projects to follow up on between now and practice tomorrow night, not to mention, you know, *life*. So let's see if i can wrap this without requiring yet a third entry.
Tonight was the Recycled Rainbow Ladies Bellydancing Guild meetup - which actually isn't so formally named, tho perhaps it should be! RR isn't an official regional burn, but it plays one on TV - i.e., if you know what regional burns are, you'll have at least some clue what goes on there. So a handful of women associated with the fest got together at a house out in SW Bumfuck to try out a few moves. Something less than a formal class but more than a dance jam. i miss taking real classes.. i can shimmy and do some basic moves, but i've forgotten SO much. i really ought to get into a regular class again - coz, you know, i've got SO much spare time on my hands. Still, there was some agreement that a Lincoln Park drum circle would be not only desirable but potentially do-able this summer, and that's something i've been trying to get off the ground for a couple years now so its all good.
Aanndd that's the movie, folks. i'm out for now. Not sure if i've anything to report on during the week but i'll be back, you can put your pretty little head at ease on that account..
Saturday Morticia's Chair was playing at the Beachland Ballroom, for the first time in so long (and ever with this line-up) we were calling it a debut. i often wear my 'pirate'-y vest&blouse-in-one for their shows, but it really doesn't fit properly anymore, not to mention the sleeve parts are a bit worse for wear. Opted instead for an old white poufy-sleeve blouse that ties at the midriff, my black pleather 'biker' vest w/crow bling on the shoulder, striped denim-blue leggings w/an overskirt of black velour yoke and sheer/sparkly black flounce. And the top hat i've been rocking lately, of course. [Belated Warning: i like clothes. i like to play dress-up. i write about playing dress-up. Sometimes i even get off my duff and make clothes. Expect regular reports on my ridiculous streetwear. That is all].
Managed to get myself fed, showered, dressed, primped, and to the practice space by about six. Decided we only needed two cars for four people and gear, so i stowed my craft bag and purple tablecloth in the back of Dax the truck and we were off to the Beachland. Made load-in just as the event was getting underway. This was a benefit for a musician who'd played with various Clevo luminaries like The Choir and The Raspberries, but whose longest-running band (i believe) was The Secret. In their last incarnation, The Secret had the same drummer that Morticia's Chair has now, which is how they got on the bill - most of the rest of the night was classic rock covers, with a LOT of Beatles.
We really weren't sure what to expect in terms of turn-out, but it was much better than we were afraid it would be (ticket prices seemed steep, to us). Definitely an older crowd, and i say that as a half-century dowager - tho granted i seldom get pegged as old as i am. i felt a bit shiney coming out to the merch tables in the front hall.. we've got an almost pro merch set-up now, a case that has all the CDs, promo cards, a light, stickers, etc. The one thing i DIDN'T have, and really should know better by now, is a cash box. Gotta gotta gotta remember to bring mine next time!
i spent most of the rest of the night sitting in that hallway, ho hum. Had a pal working the back bar, so i snuck off to chat with him once or twice, but mostly i sat behind the table or stood and watched the bands thru the ballroom doors. Most of the folks i knew in the building were at the show next door; got to see a few faces when i kipped out front for a smoke. i had thought i'd planned for being stuck up there all night, and brought my craft bag; alas, this is the first craft bag outing in many a moon so i didn't have quite what i needed to really make use of the time.
i'll be vending for the 9th year at Spoutwood Farm's Fairie Festival at the beginning of May, so its really time i started building up my stock again. My main item are those little floral headwreaths you see girls wearing at Renn Faires. The white 'Bride' ones i make sell like crazy, with the black 'Sorceress' coming a close second. Last year i added brown ones w/green leaves & no flowers for the boys and those did all right too. i got a lot of wreath blanks twisted up, but didn't have the right box of flowers with me to do the full wreath. Alas, as i could have made some real progress but twas not to be.
The band sounded good, though, nice and tight, and the audience seemed to like them. The MC gave them a ~really~ nice intro.. i didn't realize they'd been invited to play after she saw them at the private party out in Kirtland we did at the end of last summer (the one where i ran into my ex-s ex-, who still thinks she has to be catty to me fifteen years later - get over it chica, he dumped you, effing deal *thibbit*). We also got to talk to the booking guy there and are looking at putting a show together to tie into the player on the Positively Cleveland page - which you can check out here. Our homegrrls Hot Cha Cha are on there too!
Had another lesson on the new lighting system for the band at the end of the night. i've been a lightboard operator for the Liminis Theater for about four years now, but i've never done any lighting *design*; i just hit the cues. This is a whole order or three of complexity above what i do at the theater. i still only barely know a gobo from a par can, little say what to do with all those swirly spinny any color you like so long as its RGB things at our disposal now. And the big sooper-sekrit Center for Rock Research show coming up in June is going to require a LOT of lighting. Not to mention i intend to have a lot to do with making the event a success - it has the potential to be one of those Man, You Shoulda Been There moments - or a debacle. Aiming for the former, obviously.
Nightcap at Eds and some pleasant and productive conversation out front afterwards. i've got several band projects to follow up on between now and practice tomorrow night, not to mention, you know, *life*. So let's see if i can wrap this without requiring yet a third entry.
Tonight was the Recycled Rainbow Ladies Bellydancing Guild meetup - which actually isn't so formally named, tho perhaps it should be! RR isn't an official regional burn, but it plays one on TV - i.e., if you know what regional burns are, you'll have at least some clue what goes on there. So a handful of women associated with the fest got together at a house out in SW Bumfuck to try out a few moves. Something less than a formal class but more than a dance jam. i miss taking real classes.. i can shimmy and do some basic moves, but i've forgotten SO much. i really ought to get into a regular class again - coz, you know, i've got SO much spare time on my hands. Still, there was some agreement that a Lincoln Park drum circle would be not only desirable but potentially do-able this summer, and that's something i've been trying to get off the ground for a couple years now so its all good.
Aanndd that's the movie, folks. i'm out for now. Not sure if i've anything to report on during the week but i'll be back, you can put your pretty little head at ease on that account..
Rats and Bats and Tastes Like Chicken for Candy
Well. So much for 'soonest'. Its taken so long (read: i got too busy) that i decided to make this a separate blog, as the first was long enough. In fact i'll probably put up at least two tonight, to break the weekend into semi-manageable chunks. Not how i ~lived~ it of course. But then we can't all be the Fabulous Sascha Peppercorn. In fact, none of you can, because i already am. Heh.
i believe our intrepid heroine was last seen entering Duck Island Friday night. i love the Duck; its grimy and yet artsy, nothing works properly, and some of the crowd really DO lead sordid lives. Plus its not in an obvious location, almost in Tremont but not quite, so that you don't often have to worry about the plague of touristas that regularly infects some place like Edison's.
Friday was the one bartender's last night, so they were having a Sordid Lives party as her going-away. i've only seen the movie once, under rather dubious circumstances involving a drunken pilot and a pan of lasagna (don't ask). Friends of mine, however, are BIG S.L. fans, so i can recite "Why, Dr. Eve, you're not wearing any panties!" with the best of them. And there *was* tuna noodle casserole. Fried chicken. And apple pie. This was a good thing, because while i probably did eat before i'd left for the play, that would've been hours before and i was perhaps just a weeee bit woozy by then.
Ah, i nearly forgot! There were also three girls who came in late and sat side-by-side on one of the couches in front, hoovering up whatever food was left at that point. Gobble gobble gobble. My one friend said they looked like three dogs, their faces in the bowl. i didn't quite see that, but it *was* kind of funny how they were scrunched together, bent over the coffee table stuffing their dear little faces. Not even sure if they knew anyone there. Gotta love the Duck.
The rest of the night was - typical. Tag-team DJs (MC Cornflake, DJ Wednesday, DJ Slade - then also Jack Smiley, whose girlfriend was having a birthday party there, at the same time as the going-away). Clove cigarets. Dancing in the smoky back room. Wednesday played 48 Crash! How can you not love that?? Et cetera. The Duck is rather like a 9-volt battery.. eh, no, let's not make that analogy, shall we? You know its a dive, you know you don't *want* to know what all is in that couch, but you keep going back because..
Which i believe is about how Friday ended. That makes this a short-ish blog post, but then, i can do that sometimes, can't i? Of course i can. Really. Just watch me, watc-
i believe our intrepid heroine was last seen entering Duck Island Friday night. i love the Duck; its grimy and yet artsy, nothing works properly, and some of the crowd really DO lead sordid lives. Plus its not in an obvious location, almost in Tremont but not quite, so that you don't often have to worry about the plague of touristas that regularly infects some place like Edison's.
Friday was the one bartender's last night, so they were having a Sordid Lives party as her going-away. i've only seen the movie once, under rather dubious circumstances involving a drunken pilot and a pan of lasagna (don't ask). Friends of mine, however, are BIG S.L. fans, so i can recite "Why, Dr. Eve, you're not wearing any panties!" with the best of them. And there *was* tuna noodle casserole. Fried chicken. And apple pie. This was a good thing, because while i probably did eat before i'd left for the play, that would've been hours before and i was perhaps just a weeee bit woozy by then.
Ah, i nearly forgot! There were also three girls who came in late and sat side-by-side on one of the couches in front, hoovering up whatever food was left at that point. Gobble gobble gobble. My one friend said they looked like three dogs, their faces in the bowl. i didn't quite see that, but it *was* kind of funny how they were scrunched together, bent over the coffee table stuffing their dear little faces. Not even sure if they knew anyone there. Gotta love the Duck.
The rest of the night was - typical. Tag-team DJs (MC Cornflake, DJ Wednesday, DJ Slade - then also Jack Smiley, whose girlfriend was having a birthday party there, at the same time as the going-away). Clove cigarets. Dancing in the smoky back room. Wednesday played 48 Crash! How can you not love that?? Et cetera. The Duck is rather like a 9-volt battery.. eh, no, let's not make that analogy, shall we? You know its a dive, you know you don't *want* to know what all is in that couch, but you keep going back because..
Which i believe is about how Friday ended. That makes this a short-ish blog post, but then, i can do that sometimes, can't i? Of course i can. Really. Just watch me, watc-
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