Reading

It's currently installing onto the shiny new internal HD that Joe kindly installed for me. I wouldn't have been able to do it myself without major handholding--he ran into some kind of thing with a power adapter and SATA cord and I don't even, plus right now every time I go up or down I get dizzy, which makes crouching down to peer into the guts of a desktop computer case somewhat problematic. ALL THE INSTALL DVDs, yo.

--oh wow, I installed all the DVD content but now I am in UPDATE DOWNLOAD HELL.

I then internet-window-shopped for Kontakt instruments. There's an interesting-looking modeled trumpet, although it also looks like a high learning curve and I'm not convinced that I can't do what I need to with VSE. Plus I want to listen to more demos and contemplate the option, and I avoid doing too-screwy things with my browser while there's a big install going in case something hangs. :-] That being said, I have definitely bookmarked it as a possibility, and I have also wishlisted a pedal doodad on Amazon because I want one anyway; I used to have one with my digital piano but it was the default sucky one AND it's AWOL, and the thought of being able to use pedal for MIDI expression data is really nice.

While I am internet-window-shopping, I also have to think about a keyboard upgrade, which is going to suck. Right now I am suboptimally getting by with the digital piano, which I use with an Uno MIDI USB thing, but unfortunately it has no pitch bend or mod wheels and no other controller whatevers. The WSA1 has pitch bend and mod...but is 61? keys, which screws me over for keyswitching in the lower octaves. (I mean, I might want to keyswitch a piccolo!) Now, you can manually draw in keyswitches but this gets ridiculous. At some point I'm going to have to put the digital piano into storage *sob* (space issue) and swap it out for a USB MIDI controller, 88 keys, semi-weighted because I am too cheap to get fully weighted keys, etc. etc., and I'm probably also too cheap to go for anything but the minimum pitch bend and mod and pedal inputs. Even though a few programmable knobs &c. would be useful. :-/ Okay, off to research controllers.

(Uh, if anyone has reqs for 88-key semi-weighted MIDI controllers with pitch bend and mod and pedal input, other stuff probably optional, please tell me. Yes, I know it will cost.)

(God, why am I not in a nice cheap hobby like writing. Oh wait.)

Anyway, when I finally get to see what the heck is in the default Kontakt 8 (not Ultimate, I was too cheap) library, I will prioritize inventory of any orchestral sounds. I used to do this sort of thing in a text file HA HA HA HA HA but I think I'm going to join the somethingth century and switch to Excel. Basically, name of patch/whatever, brief description of timbre (which doesn't have to make sense to anyone but me), possible uses/genres, that kind of thing. Then update and back up the sucker RELIGIOUSLY.

I have high hopes of being productive with "Talon March" this week! If nothing else, I can take breaks with inventory to work up some flourishes to the intro, and print out a copy of the VSE basic percussion keymap or however that goes.

I'm also hoping I can re-find the stretched music box I was using for one of the pieces that got obliterated when my MBP died (taking my Logic 8 Pro install with it), although I expect I could use a high-sustain pad off some synth in place of it if it came to that.

First world problems, but OTOH the whole point of shelling out for music software was to be able to do this as well as I am able.

Current Mood: jubilant

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/03/09/daylight-savings-sunset/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=24040

Just a few minutes ago. I like having the sun in the sky later in the day again, I have to admit.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/03/09/daylight-savings-sunset/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=24040

strangecharm

Wow, writing an entry all about not giving into self-destructive ideas and then deleting it before posting it. I'm turning into a cliché!

I was asked the other day if I blog about my really bad times so that I can later look back at the entries and see how I got through things that at the time I never feel like I can get through. That's certainly a benefit of writing those things, but I'm never that forward-thinking when I'm in the state I have to be to write them. It's all about the immediate benefit: the possibility of supportive comments, but the certainty that writing it out helps me feel better.

Sometimes it helps enough just to write them; no one else has to see them at all.

chris

OK, I started writing this literally months ago, and got stuck quite early on through the piece. This won't be the version I wanted to write, but if I don't get any version of it it out, I won't get it out at all.

Stranger was a show that billed itself as a life-sized board game, played at the Stockton International Riverside Festival ~~this weekend~~ on the weekend of 3rd-4th August. It was created by Emke Idema from the Netherlands and has seen a fair degree of activity in avant garde theatre festivals in northwestern continental Europe; the Stockton festival may well have been its UK debut.

The show describes itself, accurately, as "a playfull platform that tries to reveal the tension between our social norms and our intuition". I am ~~not~~ aware of it having been booked for any further such festivals or other performances in the UK. (Edit: Salisbury Arts Festival at the end of May.) Having seen the show twice ~~this~~ that weekend, I would strongly recommend getting a ticket if you get the chance at some point in the future. I guess there's probably a higher volatility in show quality between different performances of a not-entirely-scripted show like this than of a completely scripted show, but this is well worth a try.

( A fuller discussion, with minimal spoilers, but definitely a few. )

You'll not often get the chance to see Stranger performed; it's a brave festival that will take a chance on booking something like it. In order to find out if you'll ever get the chance, follow the creator's agenda. It looks like the show is coming to the UK as part of the Salisbury Arts Festival on 31st May and 1st June. You lucky Salisburians; you have a treat coming! Sadly Wiltshire is, near enough, the other end of the country from here. Nevertheless, strongly recommended, and I'm only sorry that this review is being published closer to the 2014 Stockton Festival than the 2013 one at which the event happened.

More excitingly, it looks like Emke Idema has produced a follow-up, RULE, which had previews last year and is getting its official debut performances from Tuesday to Saturday next week in Amsterdam. Hurrah! The description, in translation, suggests "a game about hospitality and border ethics, a game about the boundary between personal values and existing rules", to which I say "papers, please!". Fingers crossed that either show, or Emke's future work, continues to flourish and that we can see it again in this neck of the woods.

Current Mood: late - 6 months late!
Current Location: Stockton-on-Tees

liberal_bureaucracy_feed

Posted by Mark Valladares

http://liberalbureaucracy.blogspot.com/2014/03/collecting-my-thoughts-in-woodbridge.html

It was a lovely day, wasn't it? Here in Suffolk, at least, the sun shone out of a clear blue sky, and the spring warmth drew people out to bask in the best weather we've seen for months. And so, we went to Woodbridge, a gentle drive across country, on the lower reaches of the River Deben.

And as Ros and I walked along the river bank, the world seemed like a nicer place, as dogs splashed in the shallows and a curlew explored the mud for a snack or two with its elegantly curved bill. We were reminded that, despite all the travelling we do, and all the things that we have seen, we are lucky enough to live in a rather lovely corner of the world. Not dramatic, not majestic, but gently attractive nonetheless.

But there was another reason for our trip to Woodbridge - the search for cordial. On a recent trip to Southwold, we had picked up some rather special cordial, which I like to serve warm on a winter's evening, or when I am feeling slightly jaded. And, unfortunately, we were running out, so we popped into the Adnams Cellar and Kitchen store for wine, beer and three sorts of cordial.

And then we went home, where beer and cordial were drunk, chicken casserole eaten, and a newspaper read. All in all, it was a lovely weekend, and as a prelude to a rather more hectic week ahead, it has set us up nicely....

http://liberalbureaucracy.blogspot.com/2014/03/collecting-my-thoughts-in-woodbridge.html

lib_dem_voice_feed

Posted by Caron Lindsay

http://www.libdemvoice.org/my-first-appearance-on-the-proper-bbc1-news-not-perfect-but-in-the-circumstances-weve-done-the-best-we-possibly-could-38498.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=38498

Late at night at that delightfully random end of Conference Glee Club, in between The Land and The 12 days of Coalition (doesn’t Gareth Epps look like he’s going into a wee trance when he sings “B***** all?”, I checked my phone to see if there was a goodnight text from my family. There wasn’t, but there was one from the BBC, asking if I’d do an interview with political correspondent Vicki Young on the Coalition’s record and Nick Clegg’s speech.

I thought I might as well go for it, expecting it to go out on the news channel at 3am as most of my media stuff seems to end up. I was told to go to a cafe near the Minster for 10 am and that I’d be on with my friend Liberal Left’s Linda Jack.

We turned up at the Habit on Goodramgate. If it hadn’t been 10am, I’d have indulged in several pints of the real ales on offer. The menu makes me want to go back there at some point. In fact, the whole of York makes me want to drag my family back there for a weekend at the soonest possible opportunity.

We went upstairs on to the decking which had York’s historic Minster as its backdrop. In the sunshine, it was the perfect location for our interview.

The Final Cut of our interview troubled BBC1 News bulletin viewers for about 10 seconds of their lives. We did, however, film several minutes of conversation. I talked about how we’d built a sustainable recovery and done so much to enable people to get into work, and how Nick Clegg’s priorities had always been around improving the chances of disadvantaged kids and how he’d done that in government. Linda made the point she’d made before that if you’re a vegan, you’d never allow your partner to buy a leather sofa.

It actually took about 20-30 minutes to get all the footage. You film the interview and then they film it again to get the background shots that they need to make it look good.

You can watch the whole clip here but for the sake of ease, here’s what we both said:

Linda Jack:

It is good to see some of our key policies getting enacted but proud overall, no because I actually believe we have been part of a government that has destroyed a lot of lives.

Me:

I think we can be overall proud. I mean nobody’s going to be happy with everything the Coalition has done. Nobody’s ever going to he happy with everything any government has done but I think in the circumstances we inherited we’e done the best we possibly could.

* Caron Lindsay is Co-Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings

http://www.libdemvoice.org/my-first-appearance-on-the-proper-bbc1-news-not-perfect-but-in-the-circumstances-weve-done-the-best-we-possibly-could-38498.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=38498

james_davis_nicoll

The Chesley Awards were established in 1985 by the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists to recognize individual artistic works and achievements during a given year. The Chesleys were initially called the ASFA Awards, but were later renamed to honor famed astronomical artist Chesley Bonestell following his death in 1986.[...] The awards are presented annually, typically at the World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon).[...]

Want to take part?

Chesley Awards Suggestions
This is the official submission form for the Chesley Awards, run by the Association of Science Fiction & Fantasy Artists (ASFA). Anyone may suggest eligible works at this stage; you may suggest as many people/works for each award as you please.

Crossposts: http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/4844824.html

lib_dem_voice_feed

Posted by The Voice

http://www.libdemvoice.org/maybe-38495.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=38495

From the Huffington Post:

A Liberal Democrat MP wore a Nigel Farage mask at the party’s conference as she mocked the Ukip leader’s penchant for beer.

Just before Nick Clegg’s appearance, Lorely Burt also mocked a former-Ukip councillor’s claim that this winter’s floods had been brought on by the introduction of gay marriage.

This was not, shall we say, the funniest thing we have ever seen. It wouldn’t, to be honest, have been funny even at the traditional end of Conference late night sing-a-long the Glee Club.

To be fair, though, after an inauspicious start, Lorely went on to make a serious speech, echoing how bad for business it would be should UKIP get their way.

The HP site has video of the whole thing, but it is a minute of your life you won’t get back.

Lorely is a great constituency MP, and a real expert on business. She can maybe add good sport to that, but she should definitely stick to the day job in future.

http://www.libdemvoice.org/maybe-38495.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=38495

culture_vulture_feed

Posted by LianneMarieMease

http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/featured/pigging-out-at-the-belgrave-music-hall/

http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/?p=37109

Guided by her stomach, as ever @liannemarieb checks out the latest good grub at The Belgrave

http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/featured/pigging-out-at-the-belgrave-music-hall/

http://theculturevulture.co.uk/blog/?p=37109

rmc28

The Zoya Factor is an entertaining read about India, cricket, celebrity culture, and romance. The writing is exuberant, funny, full of Indian English and Hindi slang, and I adored it. I am very grateful to

deepad for introducing me to this book via her Anuja Chauhan Reading Club.

Zoya Singh Solanki works in advertising and ends up having breakfast a couple of times with the Indian cricket team, who have a sponsorship deal with one of her clients ahead of the imminent World Cup. The last time India won the tournament was the moment Zoya was born - this combined with unexpected victories for the team after breakfasting with Zoya leads to some players seeing her as a lucky charm. This leads to the IBCC paying for Zoya to go with the to Australia and bring them luck for the World Cup. Not everyone is convinced, least of all the handsome and famous team captain, Nikhil Khoda.

The romance subplot is ( mild spoilers )
The cricket thread is a lot of fun. I'm a casual fan of cricket and a bad amateur player; Zoya supposedly dislikes cricket but her narration betrays a lot of knowledge of the game anyway. I loved the descriptions of Indian national enthusiasm, especially by comparison with Australia's "cricket fever". The characterisation of the various players is great, several apart from Nikhil are major characters, but even the minor ones are more than just a name to make up the squad, with consistent play and behaviour over a number of matches.

The supporting cast, oh my! The other team members, Zoya's father, brother, aunts horrible and kind, her work colleagues, the player's agent, the IBCC chair ... there's a lot of characters in this book but I had little difficulty keeping them straight, which I think is another sign of Chauhan's skill.

And the language! I've read reviews saying it was offputting, but for me, it was easier than adjusting to Austen's English, or some of the more fiercely historically-accurate Heyers. It's full of slang and code-switching and bits of a language I don't understand, but almost all of it makes sense in context. Occasionally I google-translated some of the Hindi out of interest but I rapidly found I didn't need to. (There is I think just one line in mixed Hindi/English towards the end of the book which does make Zoya's actions a bit more explicable once translated.)

And I found it very funny, and occasionally biting, for example this description of some of the sports agents:

"... sharp dressers with fancy phones and haircuts straight out of the latest Farhan Akhtar film. They always carry books like The Seven Habits of Highly-Effective People with Business-Class boarding pass stubs as bookmarks."

or this bit in Australia

"The organizers had warned us about traffic but Rinku Chachi said, 'What traffic? This whole country and all its cars will fit in our UP state only'"

There's a bit where Zoya is about to arrive in Australia and has a minor panic at being in a strange country:

"But then the fact that I was in another country, a First World country chock-full of unilingual white people, suddenly hit me .... People who knew only one language which was weird. Because, hello, what would they switch to if they started getting pally, or angry, or fell in love? Suddenly I just wanted to jump back into the plane and head home."

As a unilingual white person I felt a bit got-at by this passage; and then I thought maybe it was an intentional inversion of the trope of White People Abroad panicking that they won't understand the language.

Anyway, I haven't even covered the treatment of luck and superstition, or the skewering of celebrity culture, but it's late and I want to get this posted. If you want something fun, entertaining but not completely frivolous to read, I highly recommend The Zoya Factor. I will happily lend out my copy to local people; also Amazon UK has it on Kindle or in paperback for under £3.

bloggerheads_feed

Posted by Tim Ireland

http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2014/03/back-on-deck/

http://www.bloggerheads.com/?p=16552

Hi, folks.

It may surprise some of you to learn that I have experienced a significant change in circumstances since I last blogged with any regularity.

For those who don’t yet know, I will spell it out for you: @humphreycushion and I have entered into a long-term partnership. With smooching and stuff.

me and Humph

I am such a fan of the aforementioned smooching that I have now moved to Mid-Bedfordshire, despite its reputation for having the most appalling MP in Parliament.

Speaking of outspoken narcissists and their spurious narratives, during this period of transition, I’ve remained largely quiet in the hopes that certain people would be discouraged in their attempts to portray me as a danger to themselves and others.

Short version: they weren’t.

It has in fact reached a stage where I see little point in allowing myself to be marginalised any further, so here I am.

In other news, shortly after Jack Straw announced his intention to stand down as an MP, I up and joined the Labour Party. As many regulars will be aware, I was pretty vocal about my opposition to the invasion of Iraq and the Blair government’s complicity in torture, and felt unable to support the Labour Party while Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Miliband played any significant role in it.

Now they’re all out, I’m on board, and looking forward to campaigning locally in the run-up to the European Parliament election.

If you’re local and Labour, I look forward to seeing you at the coal-face.

Cheers all.

http://www.bloggerheads.com/archives/2014/03/back-on-deck/

http://www.bloggerheads.com/?p=16552

james_davis_nicoll

There is a mouse at the place I am babysitting.

Crossposts: http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/4844796.html

neilgaiman_feed

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2014/03/look-quick-one-with-bargains-in-it.html

posted by Neil Gaiman

A Quick One -- over at Amazon they have a Gold Box Special on for Books that Inspired Our Passion For Reading. It's only for today.

They have American Gods in it, and Coraline, but I'm plugging this as they have 36 books altogether, all for under $2.99 and most for $1.99, which are pretty much all books that you'd want on your virtual shelves. Click here to see the full list.

Right. Off to be interviewed.

While I'm gone, enjoy learning what the most popular book is in each of the 50 American States, and ponder what it tells us about the state in question...

Labels: states of mystery, cheap books, Kindle

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2014/03/look-quick-one-with-bargains-in-it.html

lib_dem_voice_feed

Posted by Mary Reid

http://www.libdemvoice.org/what-the-media-say-about-the-york-conference-part-3-38489.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=38489

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/03/09/mehdis-morning-memo_143_n_4928819.html

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/clegg-to-remain-leader-until-2020-30076278.html

* Mary Reid is the Tuesday Editor on Lib Dem Voice.

http://www.libdemvoice.org/what-the-media-say-about-the-york-conference-part-3-38489.html

http://www.libdemvoice.org/?p=38489

supergee

Gender diversity in pictures.

Thanx to Feministing

Crossposts: http://supergee.livejournal.com/3244231.html

james_davis_nicoll

Clarkesworld and Escape will resume tonight.

Crossposts: http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/4844423.html

rmc28

Today was so warm I wore sandals. The children voluntarily went out into the garden. I took them to the playground this morning, an idea greeted with enormous enthusiasm:

[Two children grinning at the camera in bright sunlight, in front of some crocuses]

They were especially keen on the swings, either with me pushing them both:

[Same two children sitting together on a large round swing, one looking up, one looking down]

or with Charles playing big brother:

[The older child is mid-push of the younger in a baby swing; in the background all the play equipment basks in the sun]

kierthos

So, the Ukraine is going to shit, and Rand Paul (who won the coveted "doesn't mean a fucking thing" CPAC straw poll) thinks in response we should drill for oil everywhere we can in the U.S.

Yes, his foreign policy is to drill for more oil here.

Crossposts: http://kierthos.livejournal.com/1176428.html

james_davis_nicoll

Lists courtesy of Andrew Wheeler.

Contents for anthologies and omnibuses from the Locus Index
to Science Fiction www.locusmag.com/index/

( Read more... )

Crossposts: http://james-nicoll.livejournal.com/4844286.html

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by John Scalzi

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/03/09/still-houseguesting/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=24038

Which means more of me not being here! I know! It hardly seems fair. I’ll be back tomorrow.

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2014/03/09/still-houseguesting/

http://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=24038

Profile

Mat Bowles

January 2013

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Page Summary

yhlee - hi, Komplete 9!
scalziwhatever_feed - Daylight Savings Sunset
strangecharm - I was old school before it was old school
chris - Stranger and stranger still
liberal_bureaucracy_feed - Collecting my thoughts in Woodbridge
lib_dem_voice_feed - My first appearance on the proper BBC1 News – “Not perfect – but in the circumstances we’ve done t
james_davis_nicoll - The Chesley Awards
lib_dem_voice_feed - Maybe stick to the day job, Lorely?
culture_vulture_feed - Pigging out at The Belgrave Music Hall
rmc28 - Book review: The Zoya Factor, by Anuja Chauhan
bloggerheads_feed - Back on deck and campaigning for Labour
james_davis_nicoll - IT BEGINS
neilgaiman_feed - Look! A quick one with bargains in it.
lib_dem_voice_feed - What the media say about the York Conference, part 3
supergee - Identity
james_davis_nicoll - Secret project done
rmc28 - Spring makes an appearance
kierthos - I... what?
james_davis_nicoll - The Science Fiction Book Club Reviews Revisited: December 2000
scalziwhatever_feed - Still Houseguesting

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Mat Bowles

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I'm the Chair of the Brighouse branch of the Liberal Democrats & the membership secretary for Calderdale Lib Dems and run the web campaign for the local candidates. I have a job, a stepdaughter and a life.

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hi, Komplete 9!

Daylight Savings Sunset

I was old school before it was old school

Stranger and stranger still

Collecting my thoughts in Woodbridge

My first appearance on the proper BBC1 News – “Not perfect – but in the circumstances we’ve done t

The Chesley Awards

Maybe stick to the day job, Lorely?

Pigging out at The Belgrave Music Hall

Book review: The Zoya Factor, by Anuja Chauhan

Back on deck and campaigning for Labour

IT BEGINS

Look! A quick one with bargains in it.

What the media say about the York Conference, part 3

Identity

Secret project done

Spring makes an appearance

I... what?

The Science Fiction Book Club Reviews Revisited: December 2000

Still Houseguesting

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January 2013

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