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so it’s been a while and there were just a few things that i kept telling myself “dangit i need to write this down”… so here i go!

iris and i went to washington d.c. for the cherry blossom festival a few weeks ago… we toured the capital like most tourists, but we’ve been there a few times already, so we were really just catching up on stuff we hadn’t seen yet… there was a bit of a moment i had where, when we were walking thru the Roosevelt memorial, i said to myself: i wonder why we haven’t had presidents like these, who had convictions like these, in a long while?

unfortunately it doesn’t look like 2008 will bring us one, no matter who wins =/

i’ve finally gotten around to building a new computer… i was telling pip today that it’s been almost a decade since the last time i actually put one together myself. the reality of it is, building a computer hasn’t changed much really, but the amount of options that are out there is crazy… there are too many socket types and chipsets and ram types to keep track of nowadays, but a good guide like the ones that are published at ars technica can help… i used the hot rod guide, but with a few modifications to save on the final cost… it’s such a joy, i can’t believe how much fun i’m actually having building it! the sucky part is having to clean the desk to make room for the new comp, AND to back up my old data (most of which i probably will not even bother to use, so i’ll end up deleting anyway)…

finally, the second half of thrice’s the alchemy index came out this week, and i am enjoying it very much. the second half encompasses the elements air and earth. i still think that the first half, the fire and water albums, are a bit stronger, but as a whole the entire set is magnificent. in this set i have been enjoying the earth disc more, but air has some great tracks as well. their lyrics are very profound and i love how the last song is kind of macabre, yet hopeful and simulates someone (or something) being buried. if you listen to their entire discography, you can see their evolution as artists and it’s amazing. go check them out!

so that’s all for now really… pip and i are trying to work out a new schedule and format for 8bit Ideas, and we have a new logo in the works which is being designed by a great friend of mine at seeing spots. please check out their work!

-m

it’s been a while since the last post, and i’ve been meaning to blog about some music i’ve been listening to… so, let’s get into it!

in no particular order:

Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, Foo Fighters -

the 6th studio album from the foo fighters, this disc really surprised me. i was quite impressed by The Pretender as the first single… i definitely thought it was a stronger first single than Best of You from their last album. i was expecting more along the lines of The Pretender from the cd, but it turned out to be quite a mix of stuff. But, Honestly reminds me of Floaty from the first album and Long Road to Ruin reminds me of Cold Day in the Sun from In Your Honor. Home belongs somewhere on the last album’s acoustic disc. i like the cd as a whole, but i can see difficulty in picking the next single. i am of course biased towards liking the cd, but i can see where the mixed reviews are coming from. standout tracks: those mentioned above, Stranger Things Have Happened, Cheer Up Boys, Your Makeup is Running

From Screen to Your Stereo II, New Found Glory -

this is a follow-up album to their earlier set of movie soundtrack cover songs… there are more songs this time around, and while i don’t know all of the songs, i do love most of them. i’m a sucker for cover songs, and i loved the way NFG did their covers on the last cover album, so i found this very enjoyable. it does seem to lose its lustre after hearing the disc multiple times, so don’t overdo it. standout tracks: Kiss Me, King of Wishful Thinking, Love Fool

The Alchemy Index Vols I && II - Fire & Water, Thrice -

Thrice has become one of my favorite bands over the years… i started listening to them when Fry bought Artist in the Ambulance, and i’ve been enjoying their stuff ever since… this new album is a concept album (to be completed in 2008) based on the elements: Earth, Wind, Water, Fire. this first set is great! Fire is full of raw energy and is very much in the style of Thrice’s older stuff (pre-Artist), but with the writing and feel of stuff of Vheissu. Water is a deeper, more electronic disc, with super-deep lyrics and awesome harmonies. definitely check this out. standout tracks: Fire:The Messenger, Burn the Fleet - Water: Digital Sea, Open Water, Lost Continent

Riot!, Paramore -

this is one of those albums that i didn’t think would be very good, but turned out to be great! after hearing their catchy Misery Business, it was easy to fall into liking their other songs on this album. it’s definitely pop-rock, which i don’t mind once in a while, so this has become my guilty pleasures album. i love hailey williams’ voice, and i think the drumming and guitar playing is great. also a pretty feel-good album, worth a buy i would say. standout tracks: Misery Business, Miracle, We Are Broken, Born For This

so that’s all for now, hopefully i’ll be getting some new music soon!

-m

there have been a number of successful girl-fronted rock bands in the past… two immediately come to mind: no doubt (of course), and the now defunct save ferris… i’ve also found a few girl-fronted rock bands lately that have caught my interest…

first is the vincent black shadow, whose video i saw on fuse one day and looked up merely cuz i thought the chick was hot… turns out their music wasn’t half bad, kinda poppy and a tad predictable at times, but the lead singer (i think her name is cassandra?) has a beautiful voice. the two songs that i really enjoy are metro and don’t go soft.

next is paramore… now, i don’t know too much about this band nor heard anything else but their current single, but i like the style and the energy the band portrays in their music video for misery business. i’m making an attempt to check out their other songs, but their single is pretty catchy.

third up is a band called flyleaf. their current single, all around me has some heavy guitar and a nice little guitar hook in the back, and the lead singer’s voice is pretty powerful. i’m trying to check out their music as well.

and of course there’s arch enemy, which may be a little too dark and heavy (and possibly frightening) for most people, but i list them because i think it’s awesome that a girl-fronted band can hold their own in the heavy metal scene, and i like their song we will rise… that’s prolly the execption in this list, and you’ll see why below…

and yes there’s evanescence and others, but let’s stick with this list for now…

the reason i mention these bands is that i’ve liked bands with frontwomen because of the melodies that i think most frontmen would not be able to make as effective if they sang it… what usually sets it apart for me are those recordings where the woman is harmonizing with herself… girls singing their own harmonies seem to work better than guys singing their own harmonies, and it may be due to a number of factors, such as timbre, range, etc… i’ve always singled out those parts in my ears and in my head, and somehow they seem to work well within these rock arrangements… in the end, listening to one specific part of a song actually draws me to like the entire thing.

there is one band in particular that i want to mention, only because the moment i was turned onto them (thanks pip!), they were no longer. that band is called estrela, and the only place you can find their songs is on myspace (when it’s working)… not only were the vocals super strong and had beautiful harmonies, the musicians were kick ass… the drums alone on surfacing got me hooked, and i’m super bummed they are no more.

anyways, if anyone out there has some other girl-fronted bands worth mentioning, don’t hesitate to post them in the comments!

-m

i had to get this out today cuz i’m pretty stoked about these new and exciting things for august!

first of course, the new foo fighters single was released this week… it’s called The Pretender, and biased as i am, i can only say: it’s a great song! take a listen at mog.com

secondly, i am pretty stoked about webbalert.com, a daily (well, monday-thursday) podcast featuring Morgan Webb that sums up important tech stories in < 5mins. i think the way she integrates ads into the podcast is great, pretty non-intrusive for the most part and fitting in a natural break in her delivery. it took a while for me to warm up to her after being added to x-play, but she does know her stuff, and i think she’s pretty hot to boot. (note: she was the gaming goddess in FHM, before they became defunct)

all for now, will be adding more posts soon.

i’m a fan of open source. while it may be as lucrative in creating software in terms of money, i always find myself seeing how much better open source ends up being. while it’s still quite rough around the edges, as the movement is still quite young in my opinion, i believe that open source is getting closer and closer to the types of software we are used to seeing from closed source companies, such as Microsoft.

i use a lot of open source software myself. firefox is my current browser of choice. at work, i like to write code in eclipse. i’ve been an avid fan of the linux operating system, as well as apache as a web server, and LAMP (and its variants) in general. and for instant messaging, i like to use gaim when using multiple screen names/messaging systems. heck, even to keep myself healthy at the computer, i use workrave to make sure i’m not staring at my screen during crazy coding sessions.

now, i’ve been taking guitar lessons for a while now, about half a year i would say… i’ve been learning a lot, and for some reason tonite while i was having myself a crazy practice session, i came up with this thought:

open source is a lot like music

it seems a bit strange at first, but to me it makes sense… despite what the RIAA says, music is very open and free when you look at the core makeup of a song… music and software are all built upon basic building blocks - music has its notes and chords, software its statements and functions (and i suppose objects if you wanted to include that as well). each musician takes those notes and puts them together to his liking… the same is with the developer. every song has elements that can be found in other songs. the same with software.

lately i’ve been learning to play guitar solos… my teacher, donovan, told me that in order to learn how to solo on your own, you listen to other great guitarist’s solo’s, take the style and parts that you like, and make them your own to create your style. i believe this is what is happening in open source now. take the above linked gaim for instance… the people behind that program took what they like about other software, the messaging protocols, and put it together to create their own program. they stripped what they didn’t like, and kept the stuff they thougth was good. the result is a messenger program, that, while not completely unique or new to the computer world, but has its own place in the world of computing much the same way a song has its own place in the world of music. the same can be said about lots of other software, like open office, eclipse, and firefox.

i found this small epiphany very enlightening and exciting for some reason… it’s strange how you start to see how things interconnect sometimes.

i also decided that there doesn’t seem to be too much open source musical software out there… i think what i’d like to do is create an open source music application… there are 2 programs that i’d like to create and maybe possibly merge or integrate together at some point… the first is a program that would aid in learning and memorizing different musical ideas, such as notes in a chord or scale, building and recognizing complex chords, and other such musical things… the next would be to create my own sort of guitar teaching program… i would basically take the lessons i got from mike granat (my first guitar teacher) and donovan, and try to put them in some logical order that would help someone learn the guitar… or, i would build it for donovan to give to any of his other students as compliments to one on one lessons.

i think this would be an awesome way to get my code into the open source community… the only thing that i’m unsure about is building the graphical parts, as it’s been a long time since i’ve done it, and i don’t know how to make it portable to the different platforms… i’m sure if i build it on the GTK framework, it should work on windows and linux, but i’m not sure about mac… we’ll see tho’, i’ll have to do some research and write some documents for each, and my time is stretched thin right now…

if there is anyone out there would like to join me on this, please feel free to hit me up on the comment section and i’ll write you a proper email… while i’m sure there are probably few developers reading this blog, who knows who might show up and find this interesting…

anyways, i think that would be pretty cool to do some programs like that… i could use the practice and would love to learn some new coding tricks.

so yeah, that’s that… go try some open source software, you’ll be surprised at what you’ll find!

-m