Hell Below / Stars Above

I've had the urge to start listening to albums again; It lead me to try Toadies's Hell Below / Stars Above.

Listening to the first track was not inspiring. Plane Crash, forgive the vague descriptions, almost felt like party pop music. It's too heavy for most pop, and most wouldn't try dancing to it, but it still feels free of the grit that makes the Toadies one of my all time favorites. Luckily Push The Hand comes along to save the day. Here's a track with the Lisa Umbarger bass lines that I crave. A song with excellent builds, and we all know how I feel about a good build. Little Sin drives home the dichotomy of the album for me. It returns to the pop sounds of Plane Crash, but without trying to be party anthem. Does the fourth track swing us back into a more ferocious territory, maintaining the pop / rock alternating? No. It gets weirder. A weird pop chant that descends into noise. WTF Toadies? Finally we're at Heel. This is the menacing sound and imagery of a Toadies. If weren't for some weak lyrical repetition the album would be worth it for this song alone, but as is it still falls short of Rubberneck.

There are seven more tracks, and I won't review them each but to say the album continues to jump from intensely menacing to desperately trying to get radio play. This is an album worth having but knowing in advance Rubberneck makes a better follow up album to Hell Below / Stars Above than the other way around.



Soundtrack: Toadies - Sweetness
Cat: Futon Warming

For Twenty Cents An Hour

Have you heard of Amazon's Mechanical Turk?

I recently signed up for a Mechanical Turk account, having heard of it over a year ago but having never checked it out. It revealed itself to be a broker of microtransactions for digital information services, a sort of classified ads for mind numbing tasks that can't yet be done by computer alone. The account I created was that of a worker: someone who scans the list of tasks created by Requesters, and accepts those of interest.

I discovered, unsurprisingly, most of the job offerings were crap, unless you're a master of the 400 word essay. Assignments, or Human Intelligence Tasks, range mostly from five dollars to a penny per task. The high paying work rewards "answer simple questions on a 'mom advice' site" and "transcribe 10 minutes of audio," while the low end runs towards "fill out this survey" or "Digg my site." A note of caution: Although most of the easy jobs are surveys or Requesters using you to artificially generate hits, a number of them ask you to enter your personal information on another site. Don't take those. Clever tricks by scammers and spammers.

All in all I'd say the site is for essayists and the bored. The average Worker would be hard pressed to make even five dollars an hour with any regularity, but if you're awake at two in the morning there are worse ways to waste your time.



Soundtrack: The Beatles - Lady Madonna
Cat: On the futon

Need To Jump Back On This Thing

sam, ben, nick, and geoff at the farmers' market

Between workin' out, watchin' Ben, goin' to work, makin' kodama, spendin' time with Sam, doin' chores, visitin' with guests, and general life arranging, I have not been very good at writing or posting. I have over a hundred pictures left to edit from Ohio visitors, but once I get that done one or two will probably make it up here.



Soundtrack: The rain
Cat: Sleepin' on the futon

One Day I Will Figure Out Landscapes

like photographing dreams

depth?

depth

Soundtrack: Better Than Ezra - Good
Cat: Exploring futon

Had To Sneak One In To Finish Out August

A customer asked me what prompted me to lose weight. When I told him it was to set a good example for Ben, he said "more Americans should follow your example. My hat's off to you."

It made me happy.



Soundtrack: Monitor hiss
Cat: Under the futon

A Ranconteur I Am Not

you know how i feel about reflections

a church top reflected in the window

a shot everyone has taken

Soundtrack: Flyleaf - I'm so sick
Cat:?

You Can Really See How My Writing Has Improved

you know how i feel about reflections

Soundtrack: Alanis Morissette - Uninvited
Cat: Eating

PA pt.2

ben walking while sam sashays sexily down the sidewalk

will and jen

mom and ben explore the art of drinking from a juice box
taken by sam

uncle marty as mizaru, uncle ted as kikazaru, dad as iwazaru, while grandma lotte looks on
taken by sam

The wedding was around 200 people, the largest gathering family in my life, and the first time the three brothers and all their children gathered since I was in elementary school. Baby Ben was popular with all but the other grandchildren. It was overwhelming at first, but as the day wound down I grew more comfortable with everyone. I spoke some with Hilla, Grandma Lotte's cousin, and the only member of the German side of the family I had met before. It was good. I had planned to write more about it, but I'm crazy tired.



Soundtrack: Splender - But, anyway
Cat: Snoring on the back of the couch

PA

sam took this in the airport

We went to a wedding last weekend in Pennsylvania. We flew into the Harrisburg International Airport, which must be near Hershey, because the in airport store was filled to the brim with Hershey merchandise. It's intense when you're on a diet.

From there my parents drove us to the Marriott in Lancaster. While the wedding was somewhere to the west, we spent most of our PA time in Lancaster.

the view from our hotel room

just some bird chillin' on a bridge by an awesome ivy wall

We forgot to take the camera to the wedding, which is a bit of a bummer, because it was family filled and beautiful; At the same time, we had a ton to do, and it's probably ok that we took a camera break. Walking around Lancaster gave me some time to think about urban photography, and now I'm spending a lot of time thinking about how I edit.

a neat little public parking shack

a neat little public parking shack next to a hole in the ground

a sign that feels intensely about where you park

a sign that feels intensely about where you park guarding an abyss

I normally try not to post pictures taken by Sam, but she did most of the shooting on our trip. I've done the editing on all the pictures I've posted so far. The next two continue the theme of two edits of one photo, this time taken by Sam.

a random face on a wall

a face on a wall guarding a door

Soundtrack(start): Tuscadero - Just my size
Soundtrack(end): MC Frontalot - Goth girls
Cat(start): ?
Cat(end): Holding me down so I don't fall off the couch

Wow.

I just saw Transformers 2. It was everything I ever wanted in a movie when I was twelve. It was four movies made into a huge movie. It was a crappy John Turturro buddy movie, plus a terrible Megan Fox love story, added to a mediocre military movie, and then blended into an average robot action movie. It was surreal. The best review is probably from io9.



Soundtrack: The Used - Burning down the house
Cat: ?

Beavercreek For Wisconsinites

my beer barn

rob's beer barn: fine wine, beer, and lottery ticket drive thru

behold the wasteland!

Scenes from Beavercreek. I thought it important not only to illustrate what a beer barn is, but that I have one named after me. This, of course, is not a true beer barn, because it is of the drive up to variety, not the drive into variety.



Soundtrack: Nick
Cat: Smashing his face into my arm

In Ohio

Sadly without Wifi, so no posting of pictures. All my documenting is on the laptop. Still, I'll throw some stuff up if there is time Thursday night or Friday morning.

Recently added under Things I Think About: Camera Labs, a site of excellent camera reviews and comparisons, and B&H Photo, a trusted purveyor of photographic equipment.


Soundtrack: Whir of computer fan
Cat: Far, far away

Here In Kentucky pt.3

sam feeding ben

pappaw, ben, and skeeter

skeeter

bobo

Everyone's at church while I pack and do laundry. I just downloaded these from the camera onto the laptop and then shot them on up to the blogosphere.



Soundtrack: Washingmachine
Cat: Probably sleeping

Here In Kentucky pt.2

bobo chillaxin'

some sketchin' i've done on the road

Sam bought me a children's decorate-your-own cup for shaking my shakes in while we're on the road. It came with several blanks to to draw on, so I might do some sketching while we're on the road. And what does alamost every artist have the most experience drawing? Themselves!

Soundtrack: Whiny dogs
Cat: ?

Here In Kentucky

a livingroom built for chillaxin'

Travel entries may be short entries, but they're picturiffic.

sickly rob

We're in Kentucky, first full day of vacation, and Ben and I are sick. Lame! Still, I slept in, and Sam's had two naps, so it's still vacation-y. The diet does not help. I've granted myself an extra bar a day, even though I probably won't get any exercise. I don't want a cold to take advantage of me because I'm running on empty.


Soundtrack: Ben's screams
Cat: In a different state

Fearless

ben is so hardcore he goes hippo baiting

Soundtrack: Baby snoring
Cat: ?

Our Town

where i come from

things seem prettier from far away

Aaron asked me about Dayton's skyline once. Skylines are not part of a rated system in my head. They are given the next size up from absolutely never thought of.



Soundtrack: Siouxsie & The Banshees - The Killing Jar
Cat: Eating

I Hate Poop

Seriously. I hate poop. Seeing makes me uneasy. Smelling it makes me nauseous. Cleaning it up is an exercise in will power to keep myself from plunging my hands into bleach.

I just had to dump cat litter out of my shoe for the second time, and I really want to set it on fire. Sweet cleansing fire.

Just had to get that out there.



Soundtrack: Mary Prankster - New Tricks
Cat: Leaning on my left leg

Just Do It OR Boing Boing

Time to start talking about the Things I Think about section of my blog. Since I think about them, I should write about them. Or at least that's my story since I'm trying to get the blog rolling again.

Boing Boing, my interwebs news filter.
Boing Boing is a link based blog, covering news, gadgets, projects, movies, books, events, and other geekery. They have a definite liberalness to what they cover, but not in a way that freaks me out. They're willing to correct posts with updates and corrections. I keep saying they because there are five main bloggers, and normally a weekly guest blogger. They had constant in depth coverage of Iran, including links to websites to help anonymize internet users in Iran to protect them from the government. Boing Boing has at various times linked to Instructables, Make Magazine, io9, Curious Expeditions, and TED, all of which are in my Things I Think About Section.

While not staggering in its scope, my political activeness is largely inspired by Boing Boing articles. Laws on copyright and laws on technology are of great concern to me and a frequent feature on Boing Boing. Thru their posts I have sent emails to our senators on multiple occasions. It's a geeky thing to do, but I feel like I've done more than nothing by voicing my views to senator.

My email signature is from a Boing Boing post:

READ CAREFULLY. By accepting this email you agree, on behalf of your
employer, to release me from all obligations and waivers arising from
any and all NON-NEGOTIATED agreements, licenses, terms-of-service,
shrinkwrap, clickwrap, browsewrap, confidentiality, non-disclosure,
non-compete and acceptable use policies ("BOGUS AGREEMENTS") that I
have entered into with your employer, its partners, licensors, agents
and assigns, in perpetuity, without prejudice to my ongoing rights and
privileges. You further represent that you have the authority to
release me from any BOGUS AGREEMENTS on behalf of your employer.

Geeky, but if you've ever actually read a EULA, they can just be crammed full of bulls**t. A common EULA boils down to "if you use this you agree that anything bad that happens is your fault, you don't own this software you're just borrowing it and so you can only do with it what we intended you to, don't share this with anyone, and we can use this program to spy on you." Is hasn't been as much of an issue lately, but Boing Boing is good for pointing out unusually abusive EULAs so more people can be informed on what they're getting themselves into. Bad DRM is another popular target.

Boing Boing is not the end all be all of news, but it is a good place to keep an eye on things and be amused while you're there.

Two recent posts:

Scientists tour the Creationism Museum

"Recently, a group of paleontologists were in town for the North American Paleontological Convention at the University of Cincinnati, and decided to take a field trip to the Creation Museum just across the river, in Kentucky. My aunt went to cover it for AFP, and I had the doubly good fortune of living just a stone's throw away, so I tagged along to see what these guys were up to. It was an eyeful, to say the least."

CIA's former Bin Laden expert
A grand piece of thinking from ex-CIA Michael Scheuer who told Glenn Beck: "The only chance we have as a country right now is for Osama bin Laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the United States." Scheuer is the former head of the Bin Laden unit at the CIA under Clinton and Bush.

Soundtrack(start): Splender - But, Anyway
Soundtrack(end): Tuscadero - Just My Size
Cat(start): Post vomit gorging
Cat(end): Stretched out on the floor

Madison = Capitol

Sam and I are considering our next show, and I was thinking maybe pictures of Madison. It led me to dig up this, one of my favorite pictures I've taken.

pretty sweet, eh?

Soundtrack: Rustling on the monitor
Cat: Just sittin' on the floor

Precision Eludes Me

It's true. Precision is not my thing. You can see it in my art. Mine is not the art of someone trying to create an exacting thing. The art term for this is organic. My work is organic. My work is organic in the bullshit sense that anything sloppy is organic, but also in the genuine sense that there is an unpredictable flow in its creation. I set out to make something specificish, and thru my mistakes and whims the piece evolves. The more controlled I hope to be the more frustrated my creations become. A reflection of my life?

I need a team of art minions to make my precision based ideas.

I've started exploring furniture making. Furniture making traditionally requires a great deal of precision. Hopefully I either learn to get it together or learn to create decent looking / functioning organic furniture. No one without a statement looks to make ugly ass furniture.



Soundtrack(start): 311 - Beautiful Disaster
Soundtrack(end): Bran Van 3000 - Speed
Cat(start): On couch
Cat(end): ?

This Is A Lot Like Practicing Writing

So I started this blog to get my groove back in writing, but today you get pictures!

despite the clues, I don't know where this is

it's good to just chill with a friend some times

Lisa took these for me. She's a very talented photographer and kindly adventurer. Hopefully she'll have another show up at Starbucks this year.

I should be staining right now.



Soundtrack: Action Design - City Committee
Cat: Lounging next to me

Adventure Is Important

kb, james, sam, rob, and ben = adventure

Soundtrack: Dusty Springfield - Son of a Preacher Man
Cat: Fishing in his water bowl

Worst Night In Recent Memory?

Yes.



Sountrack: Cat eating
Cat: Eating

Awesomesauce

A customer handed me a fiver "for perfect foam" in his nonfat cappuccino. I added it to the store's tips, but in my head I know it was for me.

It's All Connected

You know?

More On Bulls**t

Talking about it with a valued sounding board and coworker, I realize having a critical thinking class is not really practical. That doesn't mean I don't still occasionally yearn for one to exist. A yearly emphasis in existing classes is more practical.

Emphasis is important. I feel that in the classes I took in high school and college it was assumed I was picking up critical thinking techniques thru my normal course work. We never talked about, but it was assumed I had learned it or would learn it somewhere. That's not enough.
My history classes tested to see if I knew when something happened, but not why. I was never asked to speculate, or to compare similar events from different periods. The same sort of thing from other classes. I was taught how to fill out a scantron.

I'm having trouble articulating my thoughts on this, but I keep drifting back to memories of classmates who, at the time, baffled me with their inability to guess anything. They could repeat back anything taught to them, but there was no synthesis, no pattern recognition. I can still see the faces of teachers desperately trying to get the class to my a logical leap from what we just to learn to what we were about to learn. I'm searching for solution to that desperation.
I want to see more people master "A=B B=C C=?"



Soundtrack(start): Action Design - Connect Disconnect
Soundtrack(end): Bracket - Can't Make Me
Cat(start): Trying to sit on the keyboard
Cat(end): Lying on the back of the couch

Scott Is Awesome

It's true. I was there.


Soundtrack: The breeze
Cat: Starin' down the hallway

Ben's Intense

One day Ben is going to cause one of us to need an eye patch.

took down a wandering ship full of pirates and all I got was this awesome scar

Soundtrack: Hiss of the baby monitor
Cat: Staring out the door

Had To Swear Somewhere

Some f***er outbid me in the last five seconds on ebay. 170 metal gears, all with the same size teeth, gone.



They were even clock sized. Do you know how hard it is to find gears bigger than watch size?



I am going to go to the shop and angrily saw some stuff.

Soundtrack: Rain
Cat: Curled up on a towel

Bulls**t: Its Detection And Handling

Ever since I don't remember when, I've been thinking about critical thinking and logic. It's something that's been even more on my mind since Ben was born. Politicians and news anchors covering politics do almost nothing but spew bullsh*t. Ads are full of bullsh*t. Your average person's reactionary argument: bullsh*t. I won't even claim that I'm never guilty of this. I am grateful to have the friends that I do. A friendship is strong that survives calling each other out on bullsh*t arguments.

It all makes me wonder how Ben will learn to identify good logic. Will he learn critical thinking in school, or will our family be solely responsible for teaching him? I learned a handful of fallacies late in high school and took some logic in college. Most of what I can remember of critical thinking came from my Dad picking apart my weak arguments and my Mom criticizing propaganda. Will I be able to do as well? I'm terrified of the prospect of raising a child that trusts Fox News.

It's my responsibility to make sure Ben grows up knowing what is important to me. That said, I wish critical thinking were more of a national priority in education. I can't shake the feeling that if critical thinking were a regular class, like english or science, the country would be in better shape. A quarter or semester a year starting in middle school. Start with the basics of logic and good reasoning and work up to critical examination of media. Imagine teens who immediatly recognize the difference between "age appropriate sex education" and "teaching abortion to kindergarteners." Think of teens who are told "indefinite preventative detention" and hear "imprisonment without charge, trial, jury or appeal." Critical thinking won't change your political affiliation, but it will help you recognize which of your leaders are bullsh*ting you to achieve their goals.

I have more to say on this, but I have movies to return.


Soundtrack(start): Splender - But, Anyway
Soundtrack(end):Portishead - Roads
Cat(start): On the back of the couch
Cat(end): ?

My Friends Are Awesome

Could not ask for a better crew keeping an eye on me while Sam and Ben are away. I owe the world a round, a pizza, and a gatorade.
Home at 3:49. In bed at 3:54. 4:04 frantically checking my sent texts to make there's nothing weird. 4:06 back in bed.
On a barely related note, this dog is awesome.


Sountrack: The crunch of Peanut Butter Panda Puffs.
Cat: Outside

Check That Out

awesomesauce!

Many thanks to Lisa and Susie!

An Art I Have Not Practiced Of Late

I recently rediscovered an old mixed CD I had made. I used to enjoy making CDs with loose plots or themes. If I needed it, I would even grab songs I didn't normally listen to; Some of these may seem out of character. Try to guess the narrators life.

Golem

1. Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
2. Audioslave - Show Me How To Live
3. Offspring - Something To Believe In
4. Scratching Post - M-Bomb
   
5. Future Leaders Of The World - Let Me Out
   
6. Soundgarden - Blow Up The Outside
7. System Of A Down - ATWA
8. Skindive - In For The Kill
9. Audioslave - What You Are
10. Skindive - Confession

Ben's First Heist!

Many residents of well to do neighborhoods consider me to be a suspicious looking character.

suspicious looking

Having a baby with you pretty much automatically makes you look less suspicious.

less suspicious looking

With that in mind, I took Ben on his first heist today. The two of us were getting out of the house, driving around, when I saw a log in need of liberation. I parked the car near it, helped Ben out of the car, and sized it up as we started our walk. I was seen by several people taking my beautiful infant son for a walk on a sunny day. There was smiling, and stick carrying, and being upset that sticks are not acceptable chewing material. We returned to the car, perhaps a little upset about the stick incident, and I helped Ben back into his seat. I then helped the log into the car. And with a quiet "yoink," I hopped in the car and took us home.

post heist sippy cup

nick considers our loot

Soundtrack: The sweet white noise of a quiet baby monitor
Cat: ?