I’ve been ill for the last week or so, which is why there hasn’t been much activity. Recovering OK. More soon.
Flattered
I’m particularly flattered by the people who’ve been concerned about the dearth of original writing here lately. “Are you ok?” asked one. “Just asking ‘cos you’ve not written any new stuff to entertain me recently (you’ve got a public out here y’know).”
Yeah, I’m OK. It’s just tough finding the balance between doing my geek-for-hire thing (which is what pays the bills) and creating original media (which doesn’t pay nearly as well, unless you’re Stephen King or someone).
In the first half of 2008 I’ve certainly done more writing, but my cashflows reflect that cost. Resolving this dilemma is my great challenge for the next three weeks.
My week through Twitter
As we begin a new and somewhat rainy Monday here in Sydney, it’s worth reflecting on my world as revealed through Twitter.
- If only cats ate cockroaches my two most significant household chores would cancel out.
- The only thing a VCR is good for is to watch old porno movies.
- “Luxurious possum fur” is an oxymoron.
- Twitter is (like all networks) just an amplifier. Natural news-bringers bring news. Natural wankers wank.
- Total Eclipse of the Heart has the most sensible music video of any song ever.
- “Wynyard Hotel, the sign saying ‘restrooms maintained to highest standard’ doesn’t stop stale urine smell.”
- As we all know, cardio fitness is improved through gin.
- “Do not insert in ear canal” is sage advice.
Now what sort of impression of me does that give? And what will this week bring?
[Credit: Cartoon Twitter-bird courtesy of Hugh MacLeod. Like all of Hugh’s cartoons published online, it’s free to use.]
Cherished name, with a status of significant stir
The other day I “ran into” journalist Samela Harris online. She’s now a senior writer for Murdochland in Adelaide. Not long later, the following appeared at Adelaide Now.
Stilgherrian once was cherished name in South Australia –- until he the Gawler-born boy drifted east to make further fame and fortune. The former radio personality has maintained a status of significant stir both in the modern alternative media and the constantly evolving world of geekdom. One may catch up with his movements on his blog.
Gosh.
“Sa”, as she’s affectionately known, is daughter of the famous (infamous?) Australian man of letters, Max Harris — who once snuck up behind me and, with a swift underhand stroke of his silver-tipped cane, caught me fair on the balls. Ouch.
Stilgherrian Live Alpha: a program brief
Decided! The first episode of Stilgherrian Live Alpha will be “recorded live” on the Internet this Thursday 8 May at 9.30pm Sydney time. Oh shit! That’s tomorrow!
I won’t repeat what I’ve already written about my plans [1, 2]. This post presents a Program Brief — so I can clarify my thinking as much as anything else — and gathers a few recent thoughts. I’m intending to make the entire process transparent in the immodest hope that someone might find it useful.
Aims
- Continue my process of moving from doing hands-on technical work to media production, executive production and consulting.
- Build upon the “Stilgherrian as a blogger” brand to establish the core personal media global microbrand of “Stilgherrian as a presenter”, around which I can gather other projects.
- Establish a regular audience who can become the core of my 1000 True Fans.
- Develop and document production workflows so that we can produce similar programs quickly and cheaply.
- Experiment with and settle upon a suite of hardware, software and services which works for me in this context.
See, there is method to my madness!
Vale Tristram Cary, 1925-2008
The godfather of British electronic music, composer Tristram Ogilvie Cary OAM, died on 24 April 2008. He was aged 82.
Cary’s story is told in his Wikipedia profile and the Times Online obituary. If anyone outside the “serious music” world knows him, it’s usually for writing the soundtracks for early Doctor Who episodes and films (which he hated talking about), or the Hammer Horror movies Quatermass and the Pit (1967) and Blood from the Mummy’s Tomb (1971).
However Cary was also a pioneer of music synthesisers. Trained as a radar technician in WWII, he co-founded Electronic Music Studios (EMS), which created the first portable synthesiser, the VCS 3.
I worked briefly with Cary one summer as a programmer. He was director of the electronic music studio at the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide. I wrote a digital filter in PL/1 (!) for what I think was the Synclavier synthesiser — though it may have been something else, because as a hardware hacker Cary was well wicked. In his studio, it was difficult to see where one machine ended and the next began, they were so cross-linked.
I remember he was particularly fascinated with the sounds of bells, which then were starting to become achievable through digital synthesis. It was the first time I’ve ever found my applied mathematics knowledge of Fourier Transforms to be even remotely useful.
If you enjoy any kind of electronic music, you should take an hour of your day to learn more about Tristram Cary. He made your world.
[Footnote: I found out about Tristram Cary’s death from a most unusual source: the end credits to Shaun Micaleff’s program Newstopia. The more I discover about you, Shaun, the more I think my initial assessment of you as an arsehole was a mistake.]