We brought her home on Saturday for her 85th birthday. She let go yesterday.

Goodbye, Gramma Gum. Love you.

amazing poster by the talented Andrea Good

The trick is, to live your days
as if each one may be your last
(for they go fast, and young men lose their lives
in strange and unimaginable ways)
but at the same time, plan long range
(for they go slow; if you survive
the shattered windshield and the bursting shell
you will arrive
at our approximation here below
of heaven or hell).

To be specific, between the peony and the rose
plant squash and spinach, turnips and tomatoes;
beauty is nectar
and nectar, in the desert, saves –
but the stomach craves stronger sustenance
than the honied vine.
Therefore, marry a pretty girl
after seeing her mother;
show your soul to one man,
work with another;
and always serve bread with your wine.
But, son,
Always serve wine.

But! I still would like to use the kennybloggins URL, so I'm-a gonna find another hosting solution before too long. Will advise.

D

Not that I post with any semblance of regularity, ahem.

In any case, I'm going to try to migrate this blog over to Tumblr using that custom domain name. Check it:

Kennybloggins.org

It's my understanding that one cannot simply import blog entries from other platforms into Tumblr, so this project might take a bit of brain-to-web wizardry and/or handholding. In either case, point yr internets there from now on, my friends. At least until I decide that Tumblr is just a clever euphemism for "balls". If that indeed is the case, the above link will still take you to a familiar place in your Heart 2.0™.

YOUR FRIEND,
DANA

Gizmodo riffs on Auto-Tune

The three dudes above (and MANY others, from what I hears on the ol' timey radio) are using the software to create a kind of faux-vocoded sound, which has become a pretty trite pop production trick over the years. The thing that strikes me is that I can't think of another software plug-in that has ever become known by name and referenced everywhere from the New Yorker to Giz to the Washington Post. Antares (developers of Auto-Tune) even capitalized on this press saturation by introducing a stripped-down version of AT that offers none of it's subtleties, just the T-Pain robot wackiness. They basically took a scalpel and marketed it as an axe. Which is fine, if that's what yr looking for (although I can guarantee a production backlash within less than a year).

I remember Pro Tools getting lots of attention as the analog vs. digital wars were fought in the 90's, but that's a DAW, and was often referenced not as a specific instrument or tool, but rather as a method, i.e "That song sounded sooo Pro-Tooled." I wonder if other nearly-ubiquitous, but as yet nameless software plug-ins will have their fifteen minutes of fame at some point in the future. Like the abundance of beat-repeat/instant glitch plugs - they've already become a serious cliche in the electronic music world, but what happens when Kanye gets his stutter on?

Hm. Interesting stuff, at least to me. It's weird when the tools get the spotlight, as opposed to the artist, or the art - see: Photoshop.

Anyway, I fixed the blog - gave up on a Moveable Type 4 upgrade. Ain't broke, don't fix, etc.

YR FRIEND,
DANA

I get a virtual shit-ton of donation requests at the end of the e-year, but I got to thinking about how much I use Ye Olde Wiki and although every appeal has merits, this seemed worthy of what teeny tiny moneys I could muster. How internets of me.

XOX&HNY,
DANER

Via This Isn't Happiness

XOX
YR FRIEND
DANA

via Elias. Thanks man. Penguin Cafe Orch is good musics.

X
D

Via The Grip

Could this be Jack in two years time? We'll see...

XO
D

Via the excellent IO9

Dear God - My mind! Rich and Andi, if yr out there, this one's for you...
XO
D

XO
D