The lusty disconnect of waiting

The scores of people waiting in line didn't exactly know why.

There were murmurs about the truth and beauty at the end. Mostly whispers. Stories passed from one person to the next. Arguably from the front to the back, though who could be sure?

For some reason, he was reminded of the Kafka story. A man tries to get through a door his entire life. When he dies, never having gained entry, the door is closed. “Here no one else can gain entry, since this entrance was assigned only to you. I’m going now to close it.”

This line, though, is moving. Mechanically, he counts the number of steps. Three steps forward after 30 seconds. Five steps after 22 seconds. One step after another minute. Seven steps after three seconds. The pattern then repeats.

At first, he'd ask the people around him if he was in the right line. Mostly, no one was ever sure. And he didn't know whether to trust the few that were.

He spent some days trying to understand the pattern of the movement. 3-30. 5-22. 1-60. 7-3. Other days, he'd get frustrated by the slow pace of the line. Or by the man in front of him with the fat stomach. (The man would get so involved moralizing about some unimportant nonsense that he’d hold up the line.)

Occasionally he dreams about what he’ll do when he gets to the front of the line. When he doesn’t have to wait anymore. There was something great waiting at the front of the line. Perhaps.

But perhaps not.

"Come to daddy."

In honor of Richard D. James performing live in the states for the first time in 11 years (only Coachella for now, but we will see if that expands -- not bloody likely), I thought I would share with you some of my favorite tales of AFX apocryphal lore:

1) Aphex Twin claimed in interviews to have created computer algorithms that automatically generate all his beats and melodies, leaving him with hundreds of hours of unreleased material. In fact, every new album is speculated to be just a compendium of unreleased songs from earlier in his career.

2) On that same note, he has stated that he won't release his most innovative and original tracks because he doesn't want people ripping him off [when asked about his potential influence on Radiohead's Kid A, he responded: "Well they widely agreed to pay me 70% of the widely royalties so, Im not complaining."].

3) Aphex Twin is perhaps most notoriously known for his irreverent and negligent remixing. Despite contributing two Nine Inch Nails remixes to Further Down The Spiral, Richard D. James claimed to have never bothered listening to Trent Reznor's master DAT tapes. In that same vein, another rumor involves a representative of The Lemonheads appearing at the AFX residence (a converted bank) to retrieve a remix. Having completely forgotten about his contractual obligation, Aphex Twin simply handed off a completely original and unrelated piece of music.

4) And while he may not bother with remixes he is payed to complete, Richard D. James won the Future Music magazine remix competition under the alias Tahnaiya Russell.

5) On Come to Daddy, possibly his most famous song: "'Come to Daddy' came about while I was just hanging around my house, getting pissed and doing this crappy death metal jingle. Then it got marketed, and a video was made, and this little idea that I had, which was a joke, turned into something huge. It wasn't right at all."

6) Sleuths on the internet were able to deduce that The Tuss [Cornish slang for cock] is in fact a Richard D. James alias due to the use of the Yamaha GX1, a rare and expensive analogue synthesizer (seen below) owned by only a few people in the United Kingdom.














You never quite know with Richard D. James.

Did he actually start making ambient music when he was 13 (as would be inferred from the title Selected Ambient Works 85-92)? Did he name some of his Analord tracks after computer viruses just to take a piss at file sharers?

The only thing we know for certain about the inscrutable and self-reflexive Aphex Twin is that he is absurdly prolific. For those of you who only know Aphex Twin from his MTV music videos, I have tried to stitch together a modest selection of his career trajectory (although the word trajectory shouldn't denote any sort of linear progression because who knows when any of the songs were actually put to tape).

Not that you would hear even a single snippet of any of these songs live. Rumors is Richard D. James merely cues up some gapless glitch tracks from his library for his DJ gigs.

Aphex Twin: A Modest Sampler

1. On (On)
2. Xtal (Selected Ambient Works 85-92)
3. Journey [Aphex Twin Care Mix] (Aphex Twin - 26 Mixes For Cash)
4. Stone In Focus (Selected Ambient Works Vol. 2 - Vinyl Bonus Track)
5. Synathcon 9 (Rushup Edge)
6. Yellow Calx (Richard D. James Album)
7. Pwsteal.ldpinch.d (Chosen Lords)
8. Icct Hedral [Edit] (I Care Because You Do)
9. Polynormal-C (Classics)
10. Heliosphan (Selected Ambient Works 85-92)
11. Girl_Boy Song (Richard D. James Album)
12. Mt. Saint Michel Mix+St Michaels Mount (Drukqs)
13. Next Heap With (I Care Because You Do)

For those of you who want to try some Black Diamond Aphex Twin [or who feel that I neglected AFX's Drill'n'bass tunez], I direct you to the Chris Cunningham directed Come to Daddy and Windowlicker videos. Warning: these jackhammer beats are not for the faint of heart.

And one final piece of hearsay and conjecture:

7) Xtal is the apex of human creativity.

Netflix Two Cents: The Wire, Season 4

The Wire, Season Four (2003)

Verdict: "The world goin' one way, people another yo'"

There's a method in the madness.

For those of you who don't have jobs or friends: join our NCAA tournament bracket.

It is less work than a Fantasy Basketball team (*cough cough*) and the winner gets a drink from yours truly [The fine print: that drink will vary depending on the winner (e.g. Brad = Sparks+, Trevor = urine)].

Slow news days...

There are certain days when you know that your boredom can be broken with a single visit to that one website that just happens to be breaking the biggest news stories ever.

This... is not that website. Instead I'm going. Here are a few of the made up stories I was thinking about posting.

Logan admits to picking nose daily.

Logan loses cool, finds purpose.

Logan loses cool, remembers where he left it.

Ben buys "Bump is murder" bumper sticker.

Nell in freak Smash Bros accident.

Sam to veganism, "I wish I knew how to quit you"

"Mark writes best blog ever," Logan.

Obviously... not my best work. I'm sure with more time I could do something interesting and funny. Right now... not so much.

So instead, I'll post links to a few stories that I do find interesting.

Death Cab's new song is streaming online. The intro is too long, but I like the actual song a lot.

Nine Inch Nails' Reznor accuses Radiohead of the ole bait-and-switch.

Gnarls Barkley and the Raconteurs both push up their albums releases to today and next Tuesday respectively.

Super Smash Brothers: Brawl sells 1.4 million units in its first week.

That is all.

That road leads to ruin.

Situations I was quizzed on during the DMV knowledge exam that I have never encountered in my 10 years of driving:

* Approaching a horse driven buggy on a rural road.

* Entering a Wrong Way ramp on the freeway.

Information I was quizzed on that could easily be researched while not driving:

* The dates snow tires can be equipped.

* What types of motorized wheel chairs can be used in the bike lane.

And while I appreciate that the DMV needs to stress the dangers of driving while intoxicated, I fail to see how knowing the numerical legal limit is at all relevant unless breathalyzers are readily available. [The number is as meaningless to me as the speed limit would be for someone without a speedometer.]

Clarification I

One of my recent blogs (about Rachel and music) may have made it sound like I think Rachel has bad taste in music.

While it's true that her taste in music isn't as good as mine (who really can equal that summit?), she has introduced me to at least one good band: Rilo Kiley.

@}-,-`-

Dear holocene,

Let me count the ways I love you: first Axel Willner and Gui Boratto, and now Stars of the Lid and Ellen Allien.

And while you didn't get Jeremy Greenspan, my heart is content to listen to Body Language 6 on repeat [for you So This Is Goodbye fans, "No Kinda Man" is more Didemus than Dark].

Can we aim for Hendrik Weber in 09?

xoxo
logan

大乱闘スマッシュブラザーズX

Ben, Nell and I officially challenge Mark to a Super Smash Bros. Brawl duel this Sunday.

The gauntlet has been thrown.

"Go without, 'til the need seeps in"

You may remember my last update on my NPV from last November. My goal, at the time, was to have a $0 NPV by January.

Well, I did and didn't meet my goal. I paid off our Saturn. But then acquired $2500 in unexpected debt. (That isn't so bad, without insurance I'd have about $50,000 in new debt.)

So, perhaps unsurprisingly, my current NPV is actually -$2,800. A small bit higher than it was a few months ago. Which is somewhat distressing. (Not nearly as much progress as I'd liked to have made.)

Now I'm considering selling the Civic to buy a cheaper car. The Civic has maybe $4,000-$5,000 in equity. So I could get a fairly nice car and have a much smaller payment... which would help me pay everything off sooner.

I've also taken the opportunity to start selling my game collection. I still have an irrational block when I think about selling some of my classic N64, SNES and PSX games, although a few are worth a pretty penny at this point.

Perhaps in another few months I'll be further on my way. But for now, I'm not too upset considering the progress I've already made... even if it doesn't show up in my NPV.