Posted by Daniel Lyons
Mon, 28 Jun 2004 14:46:00 GMT
Tomorrow, Alex, my brother and I are all heading up to
Española to confirm the job and try to find a place for Alex
and me to live.
I am anxious and I guess I’m not sure why. Partly I suppose it is
because I liked being off. I also found it really frightening not
knowing if I would ever make money again, if I would ever find gainful
employment in my field. Partly it is because I am worried about
making ends meet. I think I will be able to but now I see why this is
something everyone worries about. I’m also anxious about the move
itself. This apartment is a good apartment, Alex and I felt safe here
behind the gate and up two flights of stairs. We might be able to
rent a house for the kind of money we’re paying here though, and that
would probably be better, healthier, though I am not sure I would feel
as safe.
What can I say, I am a prick about some things; I don’t want to
help Uncle Sam kill anybody. I am still an anarchist, I just can’t
think of anything to do to help the political situation we’re in.
Violent action clearly isn’t the answer, yet peaceful methods seem
ineffective as well. Revolution would be great, but not unless
regular people were coming to me and telling me it is a good idea
rather than the other way around. I wouldn’t say it weighs heavy on
my mind, but I talk to people about it and it bothers me somewhat.
My mind is transfixed on Española. I haven’t been able to
do anything without thinking about the job and how much I’d like to
have it. Dad said during dinner that you should always go for a job
you enjoy; it wasn’t long into his job with the school system that he
wanted out, and he’s happier now that he’s working at Adelante. I
don’t think it will be a hardship to live on the money I will be paid,
but I don’t know. I guess I got scared by the numbers. I have never
looked at my bank account and thought, “That pays for my food,
my internet, my car, and my hobbies.” I have never thought,
“if I don’t put money in there, I won’t eat.” I guess it
is a reality check. If I could go back and undo some of the spending
I’ve done, I would be doing really well right now. But I can’t, so I
am borrowing money from my brother, and I never thought I would say
that.
So I guess life is a mixed bag. Everything is going well, so the
money will be tight. Life has treated me well. I have no reason to
complain, my parents are swimming in debt and they have done so much
to help me get started without it. I feel I owe everyone so much, I
don’t want to take any more. Ah well… I have to be up in 5 hours,
so I had best get some sleep.
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Mon, 28 Jun 2004 14:29:00 GMT
To learn REALbasic, the
software used at MatterForm
where I hopefully will be working, I downloaded the demo version and
implemented the famous Slashdot Story viewer. The result is available
here though you will need
REALbasic to use it, which means you either need a Mac or Windows copy
of the compiler. I may compile it and distribute a nicer version
of it later on as I’m getting to know REALbasic, we shall see.
Linguistically, there isn’t much special about REALbasic. It’s a
strongly-typed, single-inheritance OO language. It has both builtin
types and objects. The builtin types are Integer, String, Float,
Object, and Color, but I might be leaving out a few numeric types. I
think having color as a builtin is interesting, but only something a
GUI-oriented language would do. I find it strange to have to declare
all my variables in BASIC, too. Apart from that, the API seems
well-designed though I wish documentation came in a better format than
some kind of huge PDF. HTML would be nice. I have been spoiled by <a
href=”http://www.python.org”>Python’s nice <a
href=”http://www.python.org/doc”>documentation, particularly the
Library Reference. The
compiler apparently targets Windows, Mac OS 9/X and Linux though there
is no version of the software for Linux (leading me to believe it
isn’t self-hosting ;). Oh, and it has the g-d-forsaken
“New” operator.
I had intended to also write this program in Apple’s XCode IDE in
Objective-C, a sensible if disgusting language which should be
preferred over C++ by all right-thinking people. Unfortunately, I
simply didn’t have enough time this weekend to do them both; rest
assured it is also on the platter. So enjoy this version if you can,
I may provide a binary if I get to install REALbasic on my laptop
because of my job, we shall see.
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Sat, 26 Jun 2004 12:35:00 GMT
Today I had my interview with <a
href=”http//www.matterform.com”>Matterform Media. It went really
well! The day was fraught with good omens: Michael uses the same
keyboard setup I do, with the <a
href=”http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/contoured.htm”>Kinesis Contoured
keyboard and the Dvorak
layout. They are really happy with me and seem to really want me to
work for them. We spent three hours chatting about various things, it
was about the most laid back interview I have ever experienced.
There are many reasons why I really like this job. It is using a
pretty good language, <a
href=”http://www.realsoftware.com/realbasic/”>REALbasic, a BASIC
derivative with objects. The similarity to VB seems to be somewhat
limited but I’m looking forward to getting a chance to play with it at
greater length. I also like the small town, small business, laid-back
setting. I even think I like the locale because it is very green. :)
The pay could be higher, but I understand it’s an introductory rate
with a raise after 6 months, and I know Alex and I could make ends
meet on the wages.
I can’t remember ever salivating over a job quite like this
before. I wish I could have taken home some code or something to
refactor right now, or be writing some PHP for them as we speak. I
have never been so ready to code in my life. It feels like this week
was a refresher with all the code I’ve released. I can’t stop
giggling about how much I want this job, I’ve been a real pest to Alex
all night.
Still, I told the folks I was going to hold off until Tuesday when
I talk to the people in Socorro. I am decidedly less interested in
this job now than a few weeks ago. Everything else just seems right
at MatterForm, I don’t see how I could settle for anything else.
While I was interviewing, they asked me why someone so
overqualified as myself was interested in the job. I explained that
all my friends were busy getting security clearances to work at labs
and it just didn’t appeal to me. “I don’t really want to
create—” Michael interjected “Weapons of mass
destruction!” I said “Exactly!” and we were both
laughing about it. Then he showed me the software they’ve got in the
works and I’m just rock hard over it. This is a company making some
truly innovative software for tying the Mac together. I really want
to participate in this company! I have an urge to call them tomorrow
and tell them my heart is set on them, but it probably still isn’t a
good idea. We shall see.
Eric is stopping by for a brief chat on his way home, so I need to
go and sit next to the phone. More on this, perhaps, later. :)
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Fri, 25 Jun 2004 16:09:00 GMT
When I woke up this morning, there were a couple nice email in my Inbox. One was from Webcreators (whose website is particularly bad), saying:
We received your resume (among around 100 others) in
response to the advertised Developer position, and yours is in the
final group of applicants that we are interested in.
It looked like a form letter, so I replied and filled in the blanks. We’ll see what happens, it could be quite a good job.
I had another email from Matter
Form which sounded much more promising. One reply and now I have
an interview with them tomorrow! It sounds like a really cool company.
I had a short talk with Navdeep
Bains, the lead developer at Matter Form. He sounds like a great
guy, I hope I stay in touch with him. They’re located in
Española, but on the website they put Santa Fe, which I find
curious. Anyway, Navdeep is very talented as you can see by the
link.
We did laundry today. At some point during the process, a kid came
up and tried to elbow in the door, which we had just watched the
maintenance guys fix, so I let him in. He said “Nice shirt.
Will you give it to me?” I said thanks but no. Alex suggested I
say yes, take my shirt off, rub it on his face, whip him with it and
say “Of course not!” but I did not relent. :)
I created an account for the Random 5 bot, so that I could host <a
href=”http://www.clanspum.net/~random5”>the band list and have a
stable account for email to be coming from. I wrote the mod_ruby, but
I haven’t had time to deal with the cron job for the email yet though.
That’s a tomorrow kind of task.
Well, I have to get some rest before my interview tomorrow, so I’m
signing off.
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Wed, 23 Jun 2004 18:33:09 GMT
I’ve added three more recipes and reworked the
recipe index. I added a recipe for <a
href=”../recipes/alfredochicken.html”>Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo
which I quite like, and also two of my Mom’s recipes: <a
href=”../recipes/cabbagesoup.html”>Sweet & Sour Cabbage Soup
and Roast Duck with Orange Molasses
Sauce which we are all quite fond of.
I’ve been having such a good time doing this I think I may add some
kind of search functionality to the index page. We’ll see. :)
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Wed, 23 Jun 2004 18:17:00 GMT
I strongly recommend this movie to anyone who likes horror or love
stories. It is about the only movie I can think of that manages to
meld the two themes successfully, or to have even tried.
The movie is the story of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde, from the
perspective of the doctor’s house servants; particularly Mary. Mary
and Jeckyl’s strained proto-romance is a welcome new perspective on
the story. The gore and special effects were also quite nice.
Definitely worth $4.
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Wed, 23 Jun 2004 05:44:00 GMT
Today I heard back from the folks at the lab in Socorro. They want
me to come down next Tuesday to see what it’s like to work at the
lab. I smell a job interview and I think if they want to talk to me
my chances must not be too bad.
Last night Nathan and Faust came over. We watched an episode of <a
href=”http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/coupling/”>Coupling (“The
Giggle Loop”) and then tried to watch The Dunwich Horror
but for the second time I fell asleep near the ending. Something
about this movie is just too boring, or maybe it was because I just
was too tired both times. I have no idea.
We made ice cream for the first time last night. I applied the
“Cinnamon Black Walnut” recipe from the owner’s manual.
It isn’t much to my liking, I think because of all the powder of
walnut. I had purchased the black walnuts pre-chopped from Wal-mart
because I can’t afford to shop anywhere else right now, and I think
they were low quality and perhaps pre-chopped creates powder that
shouldn’t be present. Maybe next time I should wash them or
something.
I’m really psyched about this interview. On Monday I had applied
to the City of Albuquerque and I might hear back from them next week
too. We shall see. :)
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Tue, 22 Jun 2004 00:21:00 GMT
Sikth are one of the most interesting new metal groups around. A British band, they have almost no presence in America. I am very lucky to have discovered them, mostly by accident, on Amazon.com. They have a pretty nice website too.
Sikth’s style is best approximated as progressive hardcore, but to give them any label is to deny their impressive versatility. They have two vocalists, and alternate between clean singing and a sort of raspy yet theatrical wail, though often both vocalists participate in the latter style. The guitar work is technical and flashy, blending a high degree of melody with something few technical bands grasp: groove. Yes, Sikth make you want to shake your ass, and that’s a compliment few bands this talented really can do. Two guitarists ensure that you never want for either more rhthym or more soloing, both of which are abundant.
The opening track, “Scent of the Obscene”, begins with a bit of atmospherics a-la Mekong Delta’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” but these become a memory quickly with the introduction of a slap bass line and some reasonably advanced drumming, followed by a guitar slide. Then, the groove has you, and you immediately notice the technicality of the guitar work: high-speed notes are being played in between the riffs. I can’t emphasize enough that the speed here is quite impressive, not because it is really all that fast (though it is) but rather because everything is being played perfectly. Every note is crystal clear. It sounds crisp—a stark contrast to most hardcore, which is usually quite messy. The first vocals you hear are the raspy ones described above, but they lead into the chorus with a combination of clean and raspy vocals. About halfway through the song, the mood changes completely and we find ourselves in a mellow, bass-heavy section with ethereal guitar work while the clean vocalist croons. The intensity grows until we find ourselves back in the chorus, followed by a return to the frenetic mood of the post-introduction. Vocal interplay layered on top of the guitar work is the order of the day.
The second song opens with the higher of the raspy voices screaming “Pussyfooooooooooot!”, the name of the song, leading into grindy guitar work. The speed and intensity are a step up from the previous song. The nearest reference point for some of the vocals here seems to be System of a Down, but the comparison is a reach. Technical guitar work married with technical singing. Then a segue into a groove-enhanced section occurs with a very memorable back-and-forth “OOOGH” “AAAGH” shouting match left and right shouting match over the thumping of the guitar and bass. This is a rhythm-driven song, but the rhythm is very complex.
“Hold my Finger” opens with some guitar flourishes in the background, quickly returning to the groove-driven riffing with a brief step-up. This song has several playful rhythms and alternates between them frequently while alternating between vocal styles. It would be annoying if a lesser band had attempted a song of this complexity level, but Sikth manage to tie any amount of complexity together in a rhthymically and melodically pleasing fashion.
It is impossible to overemphasize the clarity of the elements of Sikth’s music, or in the case of the vocals, the uniqueness. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a singer quite like the singers in Sikth, with rapid-delivery, strange outbursts, theatrical pitch and silliness. I can only hope that it becomes more common in the years to come.
The fourth song is my pick of the litter: “Skies of Millenium Night.” This song stands out from the rest not for technical reasons (though the blood-curdling screams are probably the best here), but rather because more than the other songs it seems to transmit a passionate concern. Sikth can write wonderfully complex and beautiful songs with little underlying meaning, such as “Hold my Finger” which is ostensibly about the intimacy of holding someone’s finger, but in this song they manage to capture an incredible panorama of emotions. The song communicates the frustration of having so much technology and yet not managing to feed the world or reach the stars. Punctuated by screams of “Look at the sky!” it evokes the feelings of hope, frustration, fear, and dissatisfaction, while emphasizing hope. The groove is very much on, and the technicality is present in spades. A beautiful song that simply must be heard.
“Emerson Pt. 1” is a piano solo. These guys are incredibly diverse. :) It’s also short, sort of a well-placed breather between the frenetic first four songs and the other half of the album, which is more mixed.
The next track, “Peep show,” opens with mid-tempo thrash work. It quickly moves into a clean vocal croon over mellow guitar. This transitions into the guitar-heavy chorus with more crooning and wailing voices. It is probably the saddest song on the album and the least unique, but it fits in with the mixture quite well. The vocals become more desparate and scream-y as the song goes on, reaching a fever pitch near the middle just before a mellow inner section.
“Wait for Something Wild” is a mid-tempo grinder with lots of screaming and lots of showing off on the guitar. Abruptly, the mood shifts to a soft, gentle one, and just as abruptly changes to a slower pace, atmospheric guitar. The vocals shift to slower spoken word with clean vocals with intermittent bass and guitar flourishes before another shift back to the introductory theme. The song spends a good 30 seconds on miscellaneous screaming as the exit (sounds like at least 3 voices screaming randomly), which was a new one for me.
“Tupelo” is a Nick Cave cover. The band manages to do a very subtle job without imitating NC. There are plenty of guitar flourishes but the implementation is flawless.
“Can’t We All Dream?” begins with some relatively creepy organ work and a man shouting in the distance, punctuated by bass thumps. A few minutes in, some light atmospheric wailing and singing is added along with some non-standard drumming. A very mellow song with no sudden technical insanity. Some violin comes in as the distant man comes closer, singing gently with apparently female vocals in the background softly filling in. As the song comes to a close, the man in the background is now close, screaming “Can’t We All Dream?!” over and over as the guitar, drums and violin fade out. A theatrical, soft, song with a characteristically weird ending that leaves you tingling.
“Emerson Pt. 2” is another soft piano solo, this time with the sound of kids playing in the background overlayed on it very lightly. Every time I play this song I wonder if I am hearing kids outside. Ends with some beepy crap designed to confuse.
“How May I Help You?” opens frenetic, reminiscent of “Pussyfoot” though groovy as hell. Strange scales are playing in the background throughout, reminiscent of Mekong Delta’s “Music of Erich Zann” album and “Memories of Tomorrow” in particular. The groove changes repeatedly in this short piece but never manages to settle on a particular rhythm or melody. The song closes with theatrical voices interacting, a low and heavy voice and a high voice leading into more rhythm/melody randomness. This is all very pleasing to the ear, it should be emphasized.
The next piece, “(If You Weren’t So) Perfect” starts with old-school thrash transitioning to melody-play. Out of nowhere a hard groove emerges and dominates the rhythm, demanding at least an obligatory ass-shake, then departs for more melody-play, and this pattern repeats itself.
“Such the Fool” is about as close as they come to an amelodic technical hardcore song, though the melody is still present—just foreign sounding. Transitions are faster and more random in this song, with another clean vocal melodic chorus leading into a mellow section, which returns to the insanity after a moderate length of time. This is probably the most technical song on the album, showing that even after the insanity of the first half of the album, Sikth can turn it up a notch.
The final track, “When Will the Forest Speak?” is a spoken word piece with no instruments other than some slight vocal modification. You have to hear it to believe it.
Sikth are incredibly talented. I hope that someone here decides to purchase this album or come over to my place to hear it or something, based on this review. The complexity would be really daunting if melody and groove weren’t their other mottos. I love the vocalizations and the complexity there, a contrast to most other technical outfits that limit themselves to death or hardcore shouts, or even traditional singing. The complexity of their vocals are enough to merit them a place in the annals of metal history, but they are also bearers of two masters of guitar. The rhythm section ensures that just about every song on the album is danceable, or as close to it as we can come in the metal genre. Truly I can think of no other band in 2003 or 2004 who has done as much to propel us into the future.
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Mon, 21 Jun 2004 15:10:00 GMT
Today was really a splendid day. Alex and I, after unsuccessfully
calling Clark’s Pet Emporium to see about pond-scrubbing fish, took
what we had and went to my folk’s house.
I gave Dad a nice <a
href=”http://www.leatherman.com/products/tools/c2/default.asp”>Leatherman
C2 for Father’s day, and Alex and I had made the
aforementioned Frog Egg Salad.
Alex and Hillary had made a really boss turtle-looking cake, images
forthcoming. Dad seemed to like the knife, which I was a bit
surprised by, because he has these strict requirements for a
knife:
- It must be a Swiss Army-style pocket knife, and
- It must have a Phillips-head screwdriver in the side.
People who have owned Swiss Army knives know that the company is
fond of putting three things in the back of a knife where they do not
fully deploy: awls, corkscrews, and Phillips-head screwdrivers. This
pisses Dad off because most of the time when you need the Phillips
action, you need something the length of a small screwdriver at least,
rather than this half-assed middle of stick bullshit.
Apparently, Victorinox rarely has models available with the
screwdriver in the right place, and the places I went informed me that
Victorinox doesn’t make a model with a screwdriver there at this
time. Well, <a
href=”http://www.victorinox.com/newsite/en/produkte/produktdetails/spartan_huntsman/spartan_huntsman.htm”>apparently
they are full of shit but we’ll see if he likes this Leatherman.
It’s a nice tool, about the size of a pocket knife, but sturdier
because, well, it’s a Leatherman. Some people swear by Swiss Army
though.
The cake and the salad were a big hit. Nathan gave me a pocket
knife. He seems to be worried about my safety, which is
understandable because I told him a story about Alex’s old apartment
complex that made him fear for my safety.
One night as Faust, Alex and I were sitting down to watch a movie,
we heard screaming outside. We opened the balcony door and heard a
woman crying out “Get away from me! Don’t come near me!”
and saw her running around the parking lot with a guy one foot behind
her. I went outside onto the balcony and saw them go under the
staircase. I had everyone else get back and came back in, shut the
door and closed the blinds. Then we heard three gunshots, and we all
turned pale. I told Faust to call the cops, which he did, though they
never showed up. A little while later we heard the sound of heavy
things being thrown into the dumpster.
Alex’s old place was a dump, a real shithole. I have this idea to
start some kind of apartment listing page with commenting, some sort
of apartment bitch/praise zone on the net so people know what they’re
getting into, because we should be able to avoid this kind of fucked
up shit. The place we’re at now is a total contrast to her old place,
and that makes me glad. We’re on the third floor and behind a doubly
deadbolted door. I haven’t heard shit outside apart from loud music
next to and below us. It is a peaceful place.
Tomorrow I’m going to post some more of my archived code. I hope
to hear back from some potential employers, too.
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Posted by Daniel Lyons
Mon, 21 Jun 2004 11:55:00 GMT
It’s a well-known fact that I have an impressive porn archive on my
computer. People often ask me, “Hey Dan! You have an
impressive porn archive on your computer! How do you keep it so
well-organized?”
The answer, my friends, (and I’m sure you can see this coming) is
software! And lots of it! Well, the most recently written batch I
created for the sole purpose of keeping my directories in order and my
file names consistent. That software, <a
href=”../software/putils.tar.gz”>the P-Utils is finally rated safe
for public consumption. Let me know if you use it or find it useful.
If you have any questions about the finer points of porn management, I
would be more than happy to lend my expertise in the matter, whether
you have traditional home porn management problems, or
enterprise-class IBM e-Server-level porn issues. I am sure I
can help. :)
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