When you blink your eyes...

I've put a fair amount of work into re-configuring my entire photo gallery layout. I had planned on writing my own system, I had a good framework designed but I realized it would take way more development hours than I had time for at the moment. I went ahead and implemented the php Gallery for the time being. Its a big improvement over what I had but there are several features I hope they add in the new version. I tested the Alpha version of Gallery2 for awhile but I found it to be more trouble it was worth attempted to re-write it to fit into my layout. Gallery1 was much easier to hack at this time and also seemed quite a bit more stable. I'm trying to go back and put descriptions and titles in for everything but it will take awhile to get to all of them. I noticed several months back that the way I was saving the photos was destroying the EXIF data. You'll notice that only the new galleries have that information present. I may try to go back and fix that on the old ones some day if I get the time.

I have added a few new sets that were not previously in the old gallery. I added 5 more photos to the last England set. I also added the set of The Decemberists from last October.

I have the search feature implemented where you can search from the main page through all the keywords and captions. Comments are allowed per picture and per gallery. I also have the view count for each gallery and image enabled. Also, I think the slideshow feature is pretty cool.

I have also started updating my current music and concerts again. It still isn't fully complete but I went back and added most things I could think of for the last several months into the database.

Making a mix cd for me is a very important artform. It is a way I can express my musical tastes in terms of my relationship to another person and their musical tastes. I have many self-imposed rules that are often changing and I try to add and break my rules as often as possible. I often think of the line from High Fidelity where Rob is making the mix cd for Laura. He says something about how it is a delicate thing because you are using someone else's art to express your feelings. I also take that very seriously.

You've got to really catch their attention in the first song. Maybe even bring it up a notch in the second song. Third song I like to switch it up a bit. Like Rob says, you don't want to blow you load to quickly. A mix CD is all about the momentum, one false move and you can ruin the entire flow. Even if you have all the right songs you can still ruin it by putting them in the incorrect order. I like to try to make the end of one song flow into the next song. Another technique is to abruptly switch to something with a different tempo or loudness, that helps to keep people's attention.

The most important songs are the first and last song in my opinion. When first coming up with the idea for a compilation I pick the first and last songs pretty close to the beginning, that's how I define the rest of the CD. Sometimes I like to have a strong dichotomy, totally switch it up half way through just like a Stanley Kubrick film.

I like to always try to challenge the listener. I first must know what kind of music they like and what the person is like. I choose several artists that may be somewhat similar to the ones they already listen to. Then I try to throw in some stuff that may be in the same ballbark that I think is really good that they may like to try.

Another important thing is the theme. I often like to have a cohesive theme throughout the compilation, sometimes only loosely followed. Sometimes I first choose a song on its title and see if it will fit into the sound I'm going for, if it does that's a bonus. Also, lyrical content themes are important.

A very important thing to me is the coolness factor. Using older and more obscure material is a bonus if it fits. Putting artists the listener has never heard adds to the exotic nature of receiving the compilation. I try not to put anything on the compilation the listener may already own or have heard often. I also like to try to shock the listener if possible with something weird or unusual.

Recently I've got into just putting excerpts from certain songs that are too long and just have a certain part I want to include into the mix. This helps to tighten up the mix and take out extra stuff that could lose the listener's interest. It can also be cool to take short excerpts from TV shows or movies and use them as segues, this can really help to add to the personal nature.

I will write more about mix cds later when I think of more...

I have read good things about Xiu Xiu for some time but I finally picked up a copy of their Fabulous Muscles release last week. The sound is all over the place but very original. A lot of synth and electronic but still has a garage punk sound at times. Also, a few slower unabashedly personal tracks are on the album, especially the title track. The sound is very fresh to me. At times the lead singer reminds me of David Bowie. I enjoy the juxtaposition of delicate sounds on one track then they loud and brash sounds of a subsequent track. I like artists that keep me guessing as to what they are going to do next.

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I put up 1 more set of photos from the England trip. This one features St. Paul's Cathedral, The Thames river walk, The London Eye, The Tate Modern, and London Bridge. Only 1 more set to go to finish it all off. I've drawn it out long enough and I hope to get that done soon. I'm also working on re-doing my entire photo section to be more database driven and add more features to allow more dynamic display abilities for the photo sets.

I went to another great show at Opolis last night. The Decemberists made their first ever visit to Oklahoma in what turned out to be an outstanding performance.

I've been into the Decemberists for nearly a year now and have grown to really love their album, Her Majesty. Colin Meloy, the lead singer, has a very unique voice and outstanding writing ability. The lyrical content is very smart, intellectual and at times satirical. The dripping sarcasm brings artists such as the Smiths and Belle and Sebastian to mind.

The band turned out to be excellent live. The last concert I saw at Opolis was another great band Spoon which was a very respectable show. This performance I think was as good or possibly even better. I was curious to see what Colin looked like in person. I imagined a short and skinny man to produce what is at times a rather effeminate sounding voice. While he was at or below average height he wasn't as skinny as I thought he might be. He had a head of bushy dark red hair and glasses. His stage presence was very warm and inviting. His delivery was always confident and skilled.

Another performer who really impressed me was the keyboard/organ player. I don't know her name but she didn't strike me as the type you often see in a rock band. She proved to really be a skilled musician and really added to their live sound.

I told my sister before the show my 2 favourite songs by The Decemberists were "Red Right Ankle" and "I Was Meant for the Stage". It turns out those were the 2 songs they played for the encore. I couldn't have asked for a better set list.

I did get some good photos but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I'm trying to work in completing the England photo sets. I was able to get the Liverpool set completed tonight. Look for the Manchester photos and the last of the London photos soon to finish them out.

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I am watching SNL right now and I just saw something hilarious. Ashlee Simpson is the musical performer. She was about to start playing but they totally messed up the sound and started playing her dubbed lip sync vocals right at the beginning before they even started. It made her look like a fool and she started doing a goofy dance, then started laughing and walked of the stage. The band played some generic sounding post-post emo wanna be guitar riffs then they just cut back to a commercial. Good thing I have tivo so I could re-live the humour again. At the end of the show Ashlee claimed "my band starting playing the wrong song, so I just decided to do a ho down".

I just had an epiphany this evening. It was something that never occurred to me before and for some reason it really made something special to link up the third of this trilogy. I had always known that Warwick Davis, the legendary wee actor, skillfully played both Willow and The Leprechaun. Not until only moments ago did I realize he also played Wicket beginning in 1983's Return of the Jedi. This is a trivia fact I feel ashamed not to have discovered until now. But I now feel complete in my Warwick Davis knowledge. I now proclaim Warwick Davis to be the greatest midget actor of this or any other era. In your face Verne Troyer.

I'm sitting here on a beautiful gray and dreary Sunday Oklahoma City evening enjoying the soothing sounds of Miles Davis - Birth of Cool. I've got my balcony door with the sound of rain hitting the city streets as a constant comforting sound in the background. There is an exquisite layer of fog hovering just below the tops of the tallest buildings. The sound of a train in the distance seems to somehow fit in with the with the meandering trumpet. I think this might be one of the more beautiful days I've witnessed from my balcony. I love the rain. Also, its really not very cold at all. The cool breeze is just right.

Earlier today I played in my first soccer game in about 10 years. It was a lot of fun. The first indoor soccer game I've ever played. However, it was brutal. I knew I wasn't quite in condition. Luckily, I wasn't alone as others on my team were the same. Indoor soccer is a lot like hockey. Extremely quick with a lot of substitutions made. I did decent considering how long its been. I knew exactly what I wanted to do in my head but just wasn't quite in shape to make it happen every time. I'm excited to start playing again, hopefully I can continue this will force me to get in really good shape.

I hope it continues to rain.

I've now listened to Antics nearly 10 times in its entirety since I obtained it yesterday and here are my feelings on it. At this point I think it is the perfect follow up to Turn on the Bright Lights. If Turn on the Bright Lights is a dark shade of gray I would say that Antics is still gray but a bit lighter. There is a little more hope here. A little more maturity in the musical expression. In no way have they went to a more pop sound. The album is possibly a bit more accessible on a whole. It is hard for me to be objective on this in that I am so familiar and in tune with Interpol's sound that it seems very accessible to me at this point.

When I first put the disc in driving back from lunch I was singing along as loud as I could not even knowing any of the words. I don't know of many albums I have done that too. Yesterday I felt track #6 "Not Even Jail" might be one of the weakest tracks on the album, today I know think it is one of the stronger tracks. I think that says a lot about the quality of the album as a whole.

I have tried to analyze what is I have liked so much about Interpol over the last 2 years. I think it is their emotional expression is very close to the way I often feel or the way I want to feel. I would say it is kind of an understated and sophisticated sound. At times dark and brooding with flashes of brilliance and light. The sound is often clean. Paul Banks' voice is very soothing to me. He does have an uncanny resemblance to the voice of Ian Curtis yet I find Paul Banks to have a more smooth an pleasing voice. The lyrics are often cryptic yet have subtle and familiar meanings to me.

I almost feel bad and get frustrated at times when talking about how much I like Interpol because the music is so personal to me. I am trying to get over that. I also feel selfish in a way and don't want to share this music with anyone or only certain people. That is probably silly but that just shows how strongly I feel about this music. Overall, I am very happy with this follow up. I was worried that Antics would not be up to the same quality as Turn on the Bright Lights but so far I feel it is at least close to the same quality. I am confident this disc will stay hot on my rotation for some time to come. Turn on the Bright Lights still gets frequent plays even after 2 years.

In the last week I have posted the first two sets from London. I've gone through over half of all the pictures so far but I think there are still some really good ones left to show. It takes me about 30 minutes to an hour to go through each set and crop and adjust the pictures exactly like I want them. I think its worth the effort because it really makes all the pictures better as a whole when you cut out the ones that aren't as spectacular or more mundane. Also, cropping in just the right manner can greatly improve a photograph.

I had started a space on my webserver for my sister Libby's domain where she is going to display pictures and information about her art work. I finally got up a good set up photos I took of her sculptures awhile back. Right now its just the one photo set but are still deciding on the layout for the site. At least you can get a good look at some of her sculptures. I went through my same exhaustive photo editing process with this set and I like the way it turned out. It will be nice to get more sets up there to show what is becoming a respectable body of work.

Well, today is the big day. Interpol's sophomore album Antics drops in the US today. I will be going to pick it up probably at lunch time today. I am very excited about the follow up to what is up on my list as one of the greatest albums ever. I have just seen the video to Slow Hands for the first time a few days ago and it was promising. It was a slightly different sound but still good. I am anxious to see if Antics can live up to the greatness of Turn on the Bright Lights.

I have just posted the third and final installment of my 2004 Reading Music Festival photos. I am very proud of several of these and feel very grateful to have witnessed these performances. We were near the stage in front of a huge crowd of no telling how many thousands of people. By the end of the White Stripes performance we had stood on our feet for I'm sure over 10-11 hours that day. Walked around in these uncomfortable boots in the mud. I was running on adrenaline through the end of this day.

To get the tight shots I used my 75-300mm zoom lens. With the sensor size on my Canon 300D that actually gives me approximately a 480mm zoom on the long end which turned out perfect for this application. The only draw back with the lens is that it doesn't have the greatest aperture so I have to be careful to get good lighting or the shots will be underexposed. Also, I can increase the ISO speed to compensate which actually creates what I think is a cool effect on some of these.

The set starts off with 3 of Franz Ferdinand, then 1 of The Libertines, 4 of Morrissey, 8 of The White Stripes, then 4 of The Others. I was especially happy with the shots of Morrissey and The White Stripes. I tried to capture the energy of The Others performance with the last 4 shots when about 30 people ended up rushing the stage at the end.

That covers photos from approximately 4 days of the 10 day journey. I still have a considerable amount of material to choose from for my subsequent sets. I will try to start getting the London photos up within the next few days.

I've posted sets 1 and 2 of 3 planned sets of photos I took at the Reading Music Festival. These photos only cover 2 of the 3 days at the festival. I have saved some of the best photos for the last set. Keep an eye out for those. After that I will post some sets from the rest of the trip from London, Liverpool and Manchester.