Sunday morning thoughts (republished...comment issues)

…yes, morning. A couple things:

My computer is crippled and, by extension, I am crippled. There’s no denying it, computers are an ever-increasingly integral part of my life. Since I can’t afford the computer I really want right now, I had to settle for reprogramming windows onto my computer (chose traditional OS for timebeing). Since ordering it weeks ago (my XP disks disappeared in the bedlam of my one of my post-collegiate moves), it’s yet to arrive and I’m sort of going insane in the interim. Fiddling with a keyboard accomplishes too many important things these days for me to be completely cut-off upon leaving work, including the following: the internet serves as my primary source of daily information (articles, entertainment, weird websites), I also accomplish a fair amount of my communication online, and finally, I pour most of my technical interests and creativity (as my buddy Tony can relate to) into computer oriented activities these days. That’s a lot to go without. Such a stance might alarm or atleast surprise many people who knew me in my previous Stone-age phase, but they need not worry. I haven’t gone over the deep end yet.

Washington is really humid. I perspire alot.

I saw the Old 97’s in concert last night at the 9:30 Club here in DC. First of all, they kick ass and I highly recommend checking them out. Also, that venue reminds me a) how much I love intimate live shows and 2) how much I don’t like way overpriced megashows (although I’ll still go if it’s my only opportunity to see an amazing band) where the people on-stage look like wiggling black lines in the distance. Like other smaller venues I’ve frequented in p-town, anchorage, Spokane, dc, etc, the shows there are almost always cheaper and, without a doubt, much better.

Arrested Development is the funniest show on tv. I don’t really watch that much television, so I don’t religiously follow that many shows, if any. But I guarantee you when the third season of Arrested Development starts this fall, I’ll be watching (all my love to those who pushed for the show’s renewal). I’ve been laughing until it hurts the last couple weeks as I’ve charged through the Season 1 dvd’s. If you’re a late-starter like me on this one, get on-board soon. It’s hilarious.

Now you can scream obscenities at delinquent ebay sellers from your cubicle...

I really wouldn't mind the cubicle world if it supplied me a bit more privacy. Windows are good and great, but they remind me that i'm stuck inside when i really want to be roaming around in the sun. It's the utter lack of privacy that drives me batty. My computer screen faces directly out my cubicle towards two office doors, where my virtual explorations can be constantly monitored (pun intended). Futhermore, the only private conversation afforded me is that done electronically by my fingers. Everything i say echoes off the walls in this ampitheatre of an office corridor. Although the former problem remains unsolved, these bearded dudes have concocted a way to diminish the severity of the latter. They invented a device that multiplies and scrambles voices that come within its range. I'm pretty sure that everyone in the viscinity of my cubicle would rather hear high-decibel Babble (name of device) than my after work plans. the only thing i'm worried about is the fact that my normal-speak is babble...does that mean everyone else will hear what i'm actually trying to say?

oh crap, it knows i like cindy lauper...

What I really want to do right now is sit down and pour out a passion-infused entry detailing how I’ve fallen deeply in love with the city of San Francisco. This love is not new, but I think I’ve unilaterally elevated the seriousness of our relationship to the next level. I’m so exhausted and brain weary, however, from almost 3 weeks of constant movement (which explains the inexcusable lack of entries lately) and stiff hotel sheets that I cannot do it justice. It will have to wait. Maybe for awhile.

But I did run into a little tidbit today that I found really interesting. There’s this company in Oakland, Savage Beast Technologies (I really like the fact that they base their name on one of my favorite quotes, check the webpage), that’s working on a really cool project called the Music Genome Project. This project will result in something that’s in essence nothing revolutionary: it will lend itself to a program where if you decide you like a song or an album, it will refer you to other similar music that you might like as well.

What distinguishes this company is the sophistication of their analysis. Instead of relying on something as simple as genre-matching or market research (where they identify patterns of people’s purchases to make connections between shared musical affinities, and hence, make recommendations to those who might not be aware of the other bands), they are attempting to break the songs down into their fundamental musical elements. To accomplish this, they utilize a team of experts highly educated in music theory, along with pretty wicked technology to categorize the music into particular subsets. These subsets might be something like ‘A minor theme with alternating F/G subtext’ or ‘violin coupled with electric acoustic’. This would result in traditionally unmatched music being matched together. A lot of time, this would probably be for the best. It will allow listeners to find that it’s not so easy to dismiss whole genres of music because there are overlapping elements in each. This program essentially digs deep into our subconscious to identify the basic components we like in our music to recommend other similar stuff we probably never would have looked into.

Like I mentioned, this is fundamentally the same thing you’d encounter when shopping on Amazon or at you local Best Buy (a customer of Savage Beast, apparently waiting to incorporate the Genome technology in the near future), but with a MUCH larger inventory of music and more sophisticated methods of matching potentially attractive tunes for anyone and everyone.

In an industry where 3% of the available products account for 80% of sales (which might be attributable to the surfeit of bad music, but, more likely is attributable to the reigning promotional/record companies holding sway over most consumers’ tastes=buying habits), this tells me that the little guys are going to have an increasingly better chance of getting their names circulating.

So if any of my super-cool, band playing friends are reading this entry, keep your eyes out for this technology that’s starting to be introduced and make sure that you get your stuff into their libraries. For people like me, who have always found it difficult to stay up on the mass of underground releases that often times prove the most innovative and interesting musically, this tool should help us stop buying Britney (impossible!) and look into something more worthwhile. In the same vein as blogging and podcasting, I see this tool as yet another weapon for those with talent (obviously not referring to this blog) but short on lucky breaks to promulgate their creations to a wider audience. Even for those without talent, keep in mind that Nelson made millions. It’s the dissemination of ideas that attracts me here. So keep playing that dulcimer because somebody listening to Nickel Creek might just spot you and give you a shove down the road to fame and fortune.