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May 30, 2006
カラオケはOKよ！歌うか。
D: Can I look at the song book when you’re done?
K: Um... it’s in Japanese.
D: Right.
K: ...
D: ...
K: Which artist are you looking for?
D: スチャダラパー*.
K: Really? But they’re so old! Hey, which song?
D: "Konya wa Boogie Back".
K: What! I love that song! 一緒に歌いましょう！
...
...
...
K: Hey, I want to know what else you know.
*Akira reviewed one of Scha Dara Parr's albums in his Music Fridays column.
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May 25, 2006
Magic Pink in the Hexadecimal Code
[Pictured: Another sketch in Illustrator. How I made it]
D: What's Magic Pink?
I: Magic pink is a specific color used in graphic files to specify transparent areas... Typically the RGB color Magenta is used, which is represented in Hexadecimal as #FF00FF or in decimal as 255, 0, 255. Magic pink is used in areas where one-bit transparency is needful.--Skin Your Screen
D: Transparency. Tell me more about that.
I: 'Kay. Here's the definition.
trans·par·ent (trns-pârnt, -pr-) adj.
1. Capable of transmitting light so that objects or images can be seen as if there were no intervening material. See synonyms at clear.
2. Permeable to electromagnetic radiation of specified frequencies, as to visible light or radio waves. So fine in texture that it can be seen through; sheer. See Synonyms at airy.
3. Easily seen through or detected.
4. Free from guile; candid or open: transparent sincerity. --Dictionary.com
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May 22, 2006
"Hams and Non-Hams Alike are Welcome"
B: Boston's a pretty nerdy city, too.
D: Yeah?
B: Sure.
D: ...
B: Can I tell you what I did?
D: Wha'd you do.
B: I went to the MIT Swap Meet*.
D: ...
B: Take the nerdiest people you knew at State. Then amplify them.
D: Wha'd they have?
B: Electronic components for people who build stuff. Vacuum tubes and old-fashioned amplifiers, too.
D: What are those for.
B: Antique electronics.
D: ...
B: I bought some synthesizer parts.
*MIT calls this a place to buy, sell, and swap amateur radio, electronic and computer equipment. ("Hams and non-hams alike are welcome.")--MIT Swap Meet page
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May 17, 2006
Three Figures
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May 11, 2006
Howell and Boylston: Apocalypse and Angels Thirdhand
“I heard someone say, 'If they made a new movie about the Iraq war in the style of Apocalypse Now, then the soundtrack would be this*.'”
The cover of this Black Angels' album (pictured) had already intrigued me. But after that introduction, I had to slide the CD in. And wow.
Suddenly I'm in high school again, with Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly." Warrant popped into my head, too, though I'm unclear exactly why.
The Black Angels say their "psychedelically induced rock n' roll evokes the spirit of the 1960's while awakening the heavy droning rhythms inspired by The Velvet Underground."
Hm.
Where's my Warrant tape?
Black Angels
Date: June 19
Place: Chop Suey, Capitol Hill
*Sample some music at their Myspace. Isn't sampling music what they made this site for? (Hint: Yes.)
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May 5, 2006
Japanese Architects Up On the Roof
Q. When do you hire an architect?
A. When you want to have lunch on the roof.
That's the request one Japanese family had for a Tokyo husband-and-wife* team of architects.
Now the family has a very wide, flat but slightly inclined wooden roof that overlooks a mountainscape and valley. Perfect viewing with Kirin and a bento.
The "roof house," as they call it, is in Hadano, Kanagawa.
Tezuka Architects got a packed audience at Henry Art Gallery last night as they described how easygoing their clients were. The kitchen was still under construction when the architects were invited for lunch, so they ordered in.
Or rather, up.
Yui Tezuka said a Pizza Hut guy came on his bike, and wanted to know how to deliver. "We said, climb the ladder and come up on the roof. And he said, where do I leave my shoes. And we said, you can leave them anywhere you like."
It's not impossible to go up to the roof here in Seattle. I hear sometimes landlords open them for July 4 barbecues. I've been on rooftops twice since I got here. Both times I got square lectures on how dangerous it is and was gingerly chaperoned down.
*The person who introduced the couple was off on one name. He was corrected:
T: My name is Takaharu, not Takahiro.
A: Ouch.
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May 3, 2006
Flashback: Advice from a 106-Year Old
An elderly lady stopped me as I started to make my way to the other side of Denny Way.
"Excuse me, honey. Mind if I cross with you?"
Strolling with her for a few blocks in the sun, I recalled some of the advice older folks have given me. I still remember clearly the words of a man who'd just turned 106.
I'd been asked to interview him:
'Hello, Mr. Barry,' I say, introducing myself to the oldest man in Ireland.The above is an abridged version of a piece in the 2003 archives of the Irish American Post.Tommy Barry is seated in a flower-patterned sofa chair in a far corner of the room. Family photographs and books line a shelf beside him. There is a quiet calmness around him, a certain inner peace—it is apparent from the first minute we meet. He holds a tiny book in his hand.
A prayer book, wrinkled at the corners, and aged. 'He's always studying one of those,' says Mae Barry, his wife. From time to time, he looks up, either at the racing on television, or in an attempt to hear what's being said around him.
'You see, he's practically deaf,' says Tommy Barry Junior. 'He can hardly hear anything.'
'I see.'
The elder Tommy Barry reads without glasses, intently concentrating on the text before him. After a time, he decides to make conversation.
'And who are you?'
He leans towards me, tilting his ear in my direction. He catches my hand, it is soft and spread with creases...
'You'll have to speak a little louder.'
So begins my conversation with a man of 106...
I wonder what advice he might have for young people of today.
'Advice?' He frowns slightly, then pauses for a long time. It might have been five minutes that passed, or it might have been 10. In that time, Mae Barry and I are respectful and attentive. Mae repeats the question to her husband, but Tommy nods confidently. He heard the first time, and has understood perfectly.
'All the advice I'd give to anyone,' he begins, looking straight ahead and with great conviction in his blue-grey eyes, 'is to say your prayers. Say your prayers. That's the best advice I could give 'em.'
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