Black Sabbath songs covered by medieval music band Rondellus - in Latin no less.
Stewart has some Illuminares pictures up as well. He's either get much steadier hands than I do or he brought a tripod. I tried really hard to get a shot of this but couldn't pull it off. He was also kind enough to link to my pictures, although a strict sense of accuracy makes me point out that it's stilwell, not stillwell. He fixed it. :-)
So what with rebuilding websites and changing hosts, I apparently wasn't spending enough time in front of a monitor, so I installed Gronk!, a browser based MP3 jukebox system. It was a bear to set up (don't bother trying unless you're fairly comfortable with perl and apache), but it works very nicely and does what I want it to do - just plays things randomly, but allows for queueing songs (or even entire albums) to play. Also, while it was a bitch to set up, it works, unlike any of the various iTunes rip-offs for linux that seem to be popping up nowadays.
By the way, the stats after this mad round of ripping: 3071 MP3s occupying 20GB, which represents 233 hours, 11 minutes and 53 seconds of music. That basically means I'm a dozen CDs or so away from having 10 days worth.
Some photos from last night's Illuminares festival at Trout Lake. It was a challenge trying to get good shots of lots of the lanterns - low light means long exposure times, and I didn't bring a tripod. Still, I think you get the flavour of the event, although without the sound (drum circle mixed with Bone Machine-era Tom Waits) and the vibe (peaceful and fun, with tons of excited kids).
Special bonus gallery - my Juan de Fuca gallery post is gone, but I've still got all the pix.
So marginalia.org is back! I finally gave up on csoft.net, something I should have done a long time ago. This site is now hosted on pair.com. Things may (will) be in a state of flux in the next little while as I try to restore everything. Some posts from June look to be gone forever. I also have to go back and set categories on 700+ posts again.
One change resulting from the move is that this weblog now sits at www.marginalia.org/log/. For now, the top level automatically redirects you here, but that might change. I think I've also got the archives sufficiently in place so googlers for disturbing combinations of japanese cartoons and sex don't get 404s.
A rumor confirmed - Alfonso Cuarón is going to direct the third Harry Potter movie. While he's recently become famous for the decidedly non-child-oriented Y Tu Mamá También, he also directed A Little Princess, an excellent adaptation of another children's classic, as well as Great Expectations (also good), so I think the book is in good hands. (At the very least, better hands than the current pair.)
Strongly opinionated review of Kronos Quartet's latest, Neuvo. I haven't listened to it yet, so I'm prepared to give the benefit of the doubt to the reviewer that it does, indeed, suck. What struck me about the review, though, was this:
[T]hey never completely sold out to the point that their integrity could be doubted. That is, until now.With the recently released Nuevo, a collection of mainly Mexican and Latin American tunes, the Kronos Quartet is no longer the same group of pioneers who warranted attention for their commitment to contemporary music and for their on-stage fire. They're a group of sonic clowns. And a hapless one at that.
Apparently, I'm supposed to believe that Kronos has completely lost it, because of one under-par recording. Are you kidding me? And are real critics still discussing whether a group has "sold out" or not?
It's reviews like this that make me glad I don't really have a critic's mindset - it must get so tiring being so damned sure of your opinions.
This happy little fellow is a Aechmea fasciata. It'll remove formaldehyde from the air in indoor situations, if you have that problem.
1 Star Amazon reviews (Mooselessness) and Dr. Seuss' advertising work (50 cups).
Not Wanted on the Voyage (amazon.com) was much sadder than I expected it to be. Well worth reading - wonderful characters and excellent writing.
The Georgia Straight - "Vancouver's News and Entertainment Weekly" - is finally putting all their content online. About freakin' time - they've often had articles I wish I could have linked to.
Also via Metropolis magazine, the new Swiss Re building in London sounds amazing. Some of the work being done with smart building design (apparently pioneered by Pierre Koenig and his work with microclimates) to cut down on (or even eliminate) the need for air conditioning is great stuff.
Two articles from Metropolis magazine (a mag I've started buying every issue of): The Smart Hands of Hella Jongerius and Utopia Now (about planned communities in India).
When Jongerius went to the factory, the only firm idea she had was that she wanted to "make an upholstery fabric where if you have ten chairs, you don't see a repeat in every chair, so they look related to each other but not the same." She used the upholstery to turn every piece of furniture that will ever be covered in it into a Hella Jongerius. By weaving with different-size swaths and strips of patterns in each warp, she makes it impossible for anyone using the fabric to create a sense of uniformity or perfection. Jongerius has designed in manufactured customization. "The whole point is," she says, kicking off her shoes so she won't damage the bolt of Dot fabric she's just rolled out as she walks over it, "you don't see the repeats, so you have an industrial product that looks like it's been woven specially for you." Murphy explains, "It's a totally revolutionary way to look at textiles, one that really challenges how the furniture industry uses fabrics."
Alton Brown is cool enough for slashdot now. One thing I found out from the thread is that some episodes are now available on DVD.
The SliMP3 - great idea, and it's been well reviewed.
Excellent site: Financial Scandals. Amazingly comprehensive. (Via Ethel the Blog.)
The only thing to do with a massive hard drive: fill it up with (part of) your CD collection. I derive a certain amount of pleasure from seeing xmms total up the amount of music available - I could presently play music for four days straight without repeating a song, should that need ever arise.
Doing this is also a nice stroll down musical memory lane - I remember playing Bob Mould's Black Sheets of Rain (amazon.com) constantly in my early 20s. It's the angriest sad record I know.
Fascinating article about why there is such a gulf between European and US adoption of passenger diesel vehicles, and some great details about the technology that has gone into making new diesel engines quieter, more powerful and more fuel efficient.
I am a big fan of Hal Hartley - I generally find his films charming, funny and well worth my time. His Henry Fool is one of my favorite films, and there are moments from nearly all his films that I treasure. This makes No Such Thing that much more of a disappointment - it's a bad film, with little to no humour, drama or excitement.
Of interest only to Vancouverites (well, Lower Mainland-ites), the new SkyTrain line finally has a launch date, and they managed to meet the latest target date of 'Summer 2002' with 21 days to spare. Huzzah.
Pricey crap, cool & useful DHTML path generator, fun slide.
The undeniable truth about Burma - I'll admit I was first exposed to Mission of Burma via Moby's cover of That's When I Reach for My Revolver, and I'm glad I was.
Amazing collection of photos of, well, abandoned places. Annoying navigation scheme, but worth it.
From today's hike up at Lynn Valley Reservoir Park:
Mr. Show Live is coming to Vancouver! Looks like their only Canadian show too. The Mr. Show DVD (amazon.com) is worth picking up for the Jesus Christ Superstar (amazon.com) parody alone.
Chuck Palahniuk has had some bad experiences. I found this page because I wanted to know if this "story behind Lullaby" was based on fact. Well, it is.
(Original link to the Lullaby web site via bookslut.)
A few minutes ago, I happened to glance outside, and noticed this:
Wow.
