Knuckledragger

I started posting this in the ambient/IDM thread and quickly realized I was talking about cats, not ambient music. I have mentioned Martin Strutzer to my (sainted, octogenarian) mother a number of times over the years, specially how he does live ambient "jams" while his incredibly well behaved cat sits patiently beside him. She asked me to play a video of him performing, and I found this one on the YouTubes: The cat does its job to a T. I continue to be amazed how cooperative it is. Compare to my attempts to DJ with the "help" of Ozzie the cat some 15 years ago: I never DJ'd around Heidi the cat, but I am positive I know what she'd have done if I did. It would NOT be "sit there patiently and wait to be petted."

This is going to be fairly long walk (and a puerile one at that), without much point. Okay, maybe two points. Also, I'm not suggesting anyone actually watch any of these videos, other than to maybe skip around a bit. Remember Rebecca Black and her big vinral song "Friday" from 2011? Do not press play. You entire day will go better if you don't. The internet hated it, but gave it tens of millions of views (175M as of this writing.) Poor Rebecca was 14 at the time and not ready for the vitriol of the entire internet. She handled the whole situation far better than most, I think. Eight years later, BuzzFeed (bless their hearts) did a video on her as part of their "I became a meme" series: I actually did watch this when it came out. I don't remember much, except that Rebecca seemed pretty well adjusted. This is the Boiler Room. At one point the "premiere underground" broadcaster of electronic music. There was a time when they were THE hit thing and nearly every famous DJ wanted and in many cases did play on there. Their rise paralleled Rebecca Black chronologically. Even in they heyday, I had my suspicions. I have always viewed the world's most famous DJs with at best a significant reservations (Richie Hawtin) and at worst, unimaginable and unending scorn (David Guetta). Well, now how the mighty have fallen: This is the only video in this entire post I actually encourage anyone to watch. It's a pretty good synopsis of what made the Boiler Room good (if it ever was) and what a wretched corporatized state it exists in now. TIL (or, strictly speaking, YIL) Rebecca Black did a Boiler Room set last year. The whole thing missed me when it happened. I skipped around and it's weirdly fast vocal driven EDM and dear GOD am I not on the same page a club music this ...last 15 years. What I took away from this video is that Rebecca Black is now a fully grown woman in her late 20s and she has huge ...tracts of land. Of course [NSFW] there is a subreddit dedicated to her girl Fridays, which was the top result when I searched redderp for stuff on her Boiler Room set.

Oh boy. New OL post. Yes, I am going to repost all of them here.

This one is for the fathead.

That's wild, as it uses a white Apple logo some 15 years before it became the company standard.

Via Flickr, two fun bits of history: Edit: Anyone know what is that rectangular thing to the left of the Lisa? Behind the "bar of soap" mouse. I think it might be a software box.

I'm not entirely sure what's going on here: $473 in audio plugins for less than $3 with the discount code FUCKUADANDGUITARCENTER because guitar center pissed off Sam Pura.

RIP Maurice Tempelsman. I don't know too much about him except that he was Jackie Kennedy Onassis' last partner and made it within five days of his 96th birthday(!)

These were posted in the audiophile subreddit and there was much cluck-clucking over room acoustics.

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson croaked. Suddenly I'm in the mood to say good things about Hulk Hogan, if you take my meaning.

Here, or speaker porn? The ostentatious aesthetic of the amps wins out, I think.

I have questions.

Apple accidentally leaked its own top secret hardware in software code, revealing new products across seven categories. Every Apple Secret That Leaked Wednesday. Second generation Apple Vision Pro, which will continue to be less stupid looking than Zucc Glasses.

This is peak Gen Z humor, I assure you.

Final batch. This isn't all of them, but it's beyond my ability to xref which ones I've posted before at this point. If you really require more roverhub, check this tag. Gratuitous bork: Probably my favorite photo of the day. I did a bunch of interior shots, a number of which were marred by the damn lens hood being askew, and others flawed with lighting issues. This one actually nails it. No one mentions "bokeh" when talking about Canon EF 14-40mm F/4 superwide zoom, but the fact of the matter is that it handles OOF highlights very well.

Tim Apple is no Jobs. Joke from 25 years ago:

This guy reel-ly likes analogue.

Where was I? It's kind of a nightmare to cross reference which photos I've already posted, so I'm just going by "date uploaded" at this point. Sharp eyes can differentiate between a Series II and IIa. Bork!

Japanese market Panasonic SA-PM50MD CD/Minidisc system. Serious cassette futurism vibes.

I went to Chicken Alley today to divest myself of a Logitech wireless USB/keyboard combination and a whole stack of Revere Ware pots and pans (which will be missed, modern Revere Ware is not as good as the stuff they made in the 20th century, but I just do NOT have room for it.) I checked their CD stack and picked up two things: Peak 90s trip-pop. I bought it when in '96 when I was stoned out of my gourd it was new. It remains one of my favorite albums of the 1990s. The perfect blend of trip hop beats, dubby basslines, ethereal almost shoegaze vocals and a hint of retro 60s lounge. No skips. (I didn't actually need a second copy, but I have no idea where my original one is, and it was fun to play a CD on the ride home.) Kooky, ethereal Icelandic music that defies description. I had it on CD in 2002 and haven't seen my copy since about ...2003. Weirdly, I still have my 1997 copy of _Von_ which has been on many adventures with me. I played it on the home stereo tonight and my (sainted, octogenarian) mother didn't seem to mind it

[funny accent] This camera is jewelry. [funny accent] $300 thumb grip. [funny accent] It's fun to take photos with it. [funny accent] It's too big to be a compact camera. [funny accent] Chromatic aberration. [funny accent] For north of 5 grand, I want a UD element and CA under control. At that point Sony need to really commit to the Leica price point, give a lens that's much better wide open and charge $7000 for it.

$280K speakers, $150K in amps, $60K DAC, all stuffed into a room the size of a foyer.

I do not like this one bit.