Category: Narcipost

Solipsism of all sorts

Tuesday iTunes Randomizer

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Non-Sequitur alert: a random playlist, as generated tonight during my meditation1. Ignore the goofy formatting and crazy number scheme, I made a typo in the HTML, and didn’t want to go back and redo all the code.

  1. Jason Isbell– Dress Blues
    Sirens of the Ditch
  2. Americana, sometimes known as alternative country, a tale of being a casualty of war, sleeping in Dress Blues
  3. Bob Dylan– Stonehenge
    TTRH Season 2 – 05 – Days of the Week
  4. what is the deal with Stonehenge? Bob ponders rocks of all time, and notes that currently there are two Starbucks and and Applebees inside the circle
  5. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach
    Bach: Notenbüchlein Für Anna Magdalena Bach – Menuet, BWV Anh. 114- Pieter-Jan Belder
  6. Ahhh, Bach
  7. The Velvet Underground– I’m Waiting For The Man
    Peel Slowly And See Disc 2
  8. even after a hundred thousand listens, still love this garage rock tune, especially the occasional cha-ching double-time strum on one of the rhythm guitars
  9. Barack Obama– White Folks
    Dreams from My Father


  10. “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance” (Barack Obama)

    There are white folks, and then there are ignorant motherfuckers like you…

  11. Micachu– Eat Your Heart
    Jewellery
  12. meh, some free track from Amazon.com
  14. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 5 – Cantatas, Vol. 2 [Disc 4]
    Bach: Cantata #98, BWV 98, “Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan” – Was Gott Tut, Das Ist Wohlgetan- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir
  16. Louvin Brothers, The– There’s A Higher Power
    Satan Is Real
  17. Check the album cover. Nuff said. Actually a great LP.


    “Satan Is Real” (The Louvin Brothers)

  18. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 4 – Cantatas, Vol. 1 [Disc 3]
    Bach: Cantata #97, BWV 97, “In Allen Meinen Taten” – Ihm Hab Ich Mich Ergeben- Ruth Holton, Sytse Buwalda, Etc.; Piet Jan Leusink: Netherlands Bach Collegium, Holland Boys Choir

  19. With a good sustain guitar pedal, this would sound rockin’ translated as an Indie pop song.

  20. Johann Sebastian Bach – Bach Edition, Vol. 12 – Keyboard Works, Vol. 2 [Disc 12]
    Bach: 3-Part Invention In A Minor, BWV 799- Pieter-Jan Belder

  21. Bach friendly meditation tonight. I forgot actually what I was thinking here, I drifted into galactic space

  22. The Velvet Underground– It Was A Pleasure Then
    Peel Slowly And See Disc 2


  23. “Peel Slowly and See” (The Velvet Underground)

  24. I’m lucky that I didn’t have a copy of this Nico rarity2 during my drug-addled youth, such a perfect song to listen to after being up for a few days straight on whatever. Not that I’d know about being up for days on end. That must have been someone else. Sounds like Nico singing, John Cale on squeaky viola, and Lou Reed on electric guitar, as far as I can tell.
  25. Iggy Pop– Repo Man
    Repo Man
  26. Iggy sounds like a thug here on the title track to the Repo Man soundtrack, love it. Bought a copy of this CD, used, this year, replacing my original vinyl version. Such memories invoked, of being a angsty-teen, of wondering what life would be like as a punk-rocker, etc. etc. I’m looking for the joke with a microscope!
  27. Circle Jerks– Coup D’Etat


    “Repo MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack” (REPO MAN – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Iggy Pop, Black Flag, Suicidal Tendencies, The Plugz, Juicy Bananas, The Circle Jerks, Burning Sensations, Fear, harry dean stanton, emilio estevez, punk rock, art punk, 80’s) (michael nesmith)

  28. I even raised and shook my fist during the chorus of this song: Coup D’Etat!

  29. Stephan Smith– All Together Now
    Now’s the Time
  30. No idea where this song came from, but it isn’t bad. The singer has a slight lisp, but the acoustic guitar work is nice, and the lyrics are poignant and pointed enough to notice, about world unity. I’ll have to look for more music by this guy.
  31. Dubliners, The– Molly Malone
    Seven Drunken Nights
  32. This even goes further back: I remember learning this song in Mrs. Sullivans’ Fifth Grade class, South River, Ontario. I recall singing enthusiastically, in our children’s tenor voices.
  33. Barack Obama– Buy Your Own Damn Fries
    Dreams from My Father (Disc 2)
Footnotes:
  1. we have one of those one-person sauna devices, and I let the day’s worries leave my body while ruminating about whatever it is my mind decides to ruminate upon, while playing my iPod [↩]
  2. from Chelsea Girl [↩]

Tunnel of Blues sold

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Looks as if I sold another photo to the astute folks at St. Martin’s Press for use as a book jacket photo illustration1.

Tunnel of Blues

I’m not positive about all the details yet, but I think this is the book: Through the Cracks, by Barbara Fister

More details as I get them2…

The photo is of a viaduct on 24th Street between Canal and Stewart, heading towards our Chinese herbalist.

Footnotes:
  1. earlier this year I sold a photo for Luck of the Draw [↩]
  2. like when the publish date is, what the illustration will look like, etc [↩]

Tech support

swanksalot0 comment

Seems like my MacBook Pro hard drive has given up the ghost. Disk errors and the like. Three years of moderate use, but death can strike at any time to anyone, or any thing. Now I have to ascertain if there is any unbacked-up data on the drive that is worth the hassle of retrieving.

I am pretty good about keeping backups current, but I was out of town, and had family camping out in my office so there is a potential gap there of a couple weeks. Maybe.

Half the battle of repairing computers is simply having the patience to be methodical and logical, and waiting for processes to finish.

I know I shouldn’t take machine failure personally, but I do. This laptop was a birthday present a few years ago, and it has travelled with me all over the place.

Like a Sturgeon

Seth Anderson0 comment

A Sturgeon Bay tourist that is.

Atlas Prager Beer

Heading up to spend a couple of days in a family domicile just north of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin with my folks and an aunt and uncle, and some Blatz beer1. Looks to be pretty damn close to Lake Michigan, but full report on that later. Hope the weather obliges me being outside with camera. If not, well, at least I’ll breathe some fresh air for a couple of days.

Thursday: A 20 percent chance of rain before 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. North northeast wind between 18 and 22 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.

Thursday Night: Rain likely, mainly after 1am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. East northeast wind between 17 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Friday: Rain. High near 46. East northeast wind between 18 and 23 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%.

Friday Night: Rain, mainly before 1am. Low around 39. North northeast wind between 13 and 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%.

Saturday: A 30 percent chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 45.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 37.

Hmm, might as well pack a couple of books in case I need them.

Blatz

Blatz

Footnotes:
  1. theoretically – I have to see if I can carry two cases at once [↩]

Our Bank Lost Our Data

Seth Anderson2 Comments

Received a disturbing letter from our bank on Saturday:

Reserved Light

Dear Customer:

The security of your information is important to us and we strive to handle it with care and discretion at all times. We are writing to let you know that we are unable to locate a computer tape at a secure offsite storage facility. The tape is used as a backup for system information. Electronic files on the tape may have included your company name, address and Tax Identification Number(s), but did not include any banking or financial information.

The vendor that operates the offsite storage facility confirmed that it received and maintained the tape, and its facility has been searched. Unfortunately, the tape could not be located. However, the information on the tape can be read only with special equipment and software and we have no evidence to indicate any of the information has been viewed or used inappropriately.

Please accept our apology for any concern this may cause. As a precaution, make sure to monitor your account statements carefully to make certain no unauthorized transactions are made. If you have any questions concern ing this matter, please call us at

Doesn’t sound good, but maybe I worry too much.

On the other hand, why is our bank sending us this form letter? We have several accounts with this bank actually, a couple of credit cards, a few checking accounts, etc., but this letter doesn’t specify which account is suspected of being lost. Is it all of our data? Or just one particular account? Does our bank’s lawyers think that by writing this letter, we won’t be able to sue the bank if something actually is amiss? Should we change our Tax ID #?

We are considering moving all of our accounts elsewhere, as a sort of preemptive move; can’t decide if this is hasty, or prudent. What do you think?

If we can get through to a person, and get some clear answers, I’ll append to this post.

Wonder of Whifling

Seth Anderson0 comment


“The Wonder of Whiffling: (and Other Extraordinary Words in the English Language)” (Adam Jacot de Boinod)

The author of Toujours Tingo


Toujours Tingo

Adam Jacot de Boinod, has written a new book:

“The Wonder of Whiffling” is a hugely enjoyable, surprising and rewarding tour around the language of the British Isles (with plenty of fine coinages from our English-speaking cousins across the pond, Down Under and elsewhere). Discover all sorts of words you’ve always wished existed but never knew, such as fornale, to spend one’s money before it has been earned; cagg, a solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; and petrichor, the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell. Delving passionately into the English language, Adam Jacot de Boinod also discovers why it is you wouldn’t want to have dinner with a vice admiral of the narrow seas, why Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in black velvet, and why a Nottingham Goodnight is better than one from anywhere else.

Monsieur Jacot de Boinod1 also added, in comments to this post, the following

Delving passionately into the English language, I also discover why it is you wouldn’t want to have dinner with a vice admiral of the narrow seas, why Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in black velvet, and why a Nottingham Goodnight is better than one from anywhere else. See more on http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com

Listening to the Conversation's Ebb and Flow

Tangentially, and surprisingly, I’m at the beginning of a cagg of my own. Vowed to forswear booze for at least a month2 – my target to resume consumption is Labor Day. Why? Mostly vanity, my pants were getting a little snug, and I was polishing a couple of bottles of wine a day. Cause and effect, most likely. Anyway, possibly more on that subject

Footnotes:
  1. I assume I’m spelling that correctly, my French language skills have atrophied to point of parody [↩]
  2. along with gluten – bread, pasta, etc. – and a few other items [↩]

You Should Sign Up for the B12 Daily Email

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Taking a cue from Kottke1, I am reminding you that you should sign up for my daily email. Signing up should only take a minute or less if you are a fast typer, I absolutely promise to never send you unsolicited email2. Feedburner/Google has enabled the email to include items that don’t necessarily make it to my weblog, but that I still think are interesting, or are otherwise topics of note. Like news stories that I Digg, YouTube video I “favorite“, Flickr photos I upload, etc.

Plus you should subscribe to my daily email3 so that you have something fun to read as you drink your morning beverage. A dose of B12’s Solipsism can only enhance your day!

Hotel Visitor

Oh, and you should follow me on Twitter too, if you are so inclined. I have other social media accounts, but I don’t care if you friend me on Facebook, or subscribe to my Tumblr blog, for instance.

Footnotes:
  1. I hope Jason Kottke doesn’t mind being referred to by simply his last name, I’ve been reading his weblog for so long now, to me he is the blogosphere equivalent of single-named celebrities like Bono or Nenê [↩]
  2. unless you want me to, of course. Ahem [↩]
  3. usually gets released around 1 AM CST [↩]

Lox and Eggs

Seth Anderson0 comment

I woke up this morning at 6 AM to the decidedly non-dulcet sounds of 3 or 4 M80s being exploded seemingly directly outside my window. Oy. On top of that, I feel like Thomas Jefferson, i.e., slightly hungover from too much wine the night before.

Share photos on twitter with Twitpic[click to embiggen photo]

Luckily, as I sat on my porch, reading the Sunday papers and saturating my blood stream with coffee, a kind soul prepared a new-to-me treat, Lox and Eggs. Yummy, I’m nearly human again.

Caring for Your Introvert

Seth Anderson0 comment

Of course, as anyone who knows me even the slightest could attest, I am an introvert. Very happy to be one, thank you very much. I can usually “turn on” my gregarious persona when needed, but am quite happy avoiding large groups of people most of the time.

One of these Things is Not Like the Other

Anyway, Jonathan Rauch of The Atlantic wrote:

What is introversion? In its modern sense, the concept goes back to the 1920s and the psychologist Carl Jung. Today it is a mainstay of personality tests, including the widely used Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Introverts are not necessarily shy. Shy people are anxious or frightened or self-excoriating in social settings; introverts generally are not. Introverts are also not misanthropic, though some of us do go along with Sartre as far as to say “Hell is other people at breakfast.” Rather, introverts are people who find other people tiring.

Extroverts are energized by people, and wilt or fade when alone. They often seem bored by themselves, in both senses of the expression. Leave an extrovert alone for two minutes and he will reach for his cell phone. In contrast, after an hour or two of being socially “on,” we introverts need to turn off and recharge. My own formula is roughly two hours alone for every hour of socializing. This isn’t antisocial. It isn’t a sign of depression. It does not call for medication. For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating. Our motto: “I’m okay, you’re okay—in small doses.”

How many people are introverts? I performed exhaustive research on this question, in the form of a quick Google search. The answer: About 25 percent. Or: Just under half. Or—my favorite—”a minority in the regular population but a majority in the gifted population.”

Are introverts misunderstood? Wildly. That, it appears, is our lot in life. “It is very difficult for an extrovert to understand an introvert,” write the education experts Jill D. Burruss and Lisa Kaenzig.

[Click to continue reading Caring for Your Introvert – The Atlantic (March 2003) ]

Via Kottke‘s discussion of introverted travelers.

On that topic: I love traveling, love seeing new things, but have never felt the urge to befriend strangers on the street. Possibly why I love to photograph my world – a camera places a filter between me and the crowd. Even when I don’t have a camera in my hands, I’ve trained myself to scan the environment, looking for quirky details.

Dempster Bike Ride

Seth Anderson0 comment

Took the opportunity to get dropped off at a forest preserve on Dempster near Lehigh Road. From there, biked home. The most challenging part was getting from Devon (where the park ended) to the lakefront park. There really isn’t a good route, especially on a busy Saturday afternoon. There were some streets with bike lanes, but Chicago drivers only begrudgingly acknowledge bike lanes, and bikes, so resorted to pedalling on the sidewalks sometimes to avoid being run over. Not ideal; for all of Chicago’s self-proclaimed bike friendliness, there are lots of areas of the city that are downright bike-unfriendly.

Also make the mistake of trying to go east on Devon: ended up on a 4 lane bridge just east of Milwaukee Avenue that had absolutely no shoulder, no sidewalk, and no mercy. Made it about halfway across before chickening out, and limping back to reverse course. Scary.

Beautiful along the lakefront of course, and surprisingly not that crowded. Must have been fortuitous timing. Not so good timing, though, when I ended up on the Michigan Avenue bridge (one side closed, making it even more of a cluster), merged in with the million shoppers on the Million Dollar Mile. Yikes, bad planning on my part. There really isn’t that good of a route from the lakefront bike path to the West Loop: next time perhaps I’ll try zipping over to Wells Street sooner.

Dempster back to West Loop

Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS Geotagging [click to embiggen the map and gawk at the photos]
Home to a stint in our personal sauna, shower, and glass of wine. Wish I had time to take this long of a bike ride every day…

Funkadelic Cosmic Slop Video Promo

swanksalot0 comment

A weirdly wonderful film promo from Funkadelic, circa 1973, found on YouTube. Yes, I would hazard to guess there were a lot of drugs involved.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp4pgMOugbo

(via @joem500)

from the album of the same name.


“Cosmic Slop” (Funkadelic)

If memory serves, this was the first Parliament/Funkadelic album I bought – a gatefold LP from Westbound Records on heavy, archival vinyl. I even remember where I purchased it: a funky little record store next to Mad Dog and Beans and Les Amis on The Drag near the UT campus in Austin. Sadly, all three of these fine establishments, who have a cameo in the film, Slacker, are defunct, replaced by a Starbucks, a Subway, and a crushing sameness, so common to America in the 21st CE.

First Bike Trip of 2009

swanksalot0 comment

I realized I hadn’t been on my bicycle since last year’s accident. Last weekend, we went to an art opening that was near the outrageously large pothole that caused last year’s spill: consequently I was determined to jump on at least a quick ride as soon as possible. Prove to myself I had no residual fear of biking in the city. Turned into an 8 mile excursion – I didn’t go very fast because I am woefully out-of-shape1, but no matter. Utter bliss. Didn’t bring my iPod, wore a helmet, still was delightful to cruise through alleys and streets. Sunday is a good day to bike in the city, traffic is significantly reduced, at least in my neighborhood.

Here is the route as reported by EveryTrail’s iPhone application:

(click to embiggen, natch)

First bike trip of 2009

Widget powered by EveryTrail: GPS Geotagging
I took some photos with my D80, will post those later at Flickr.

Footnotes:
  1. wine belly especially [↩]

Seth and Joshua Starbuck 1986

swanksalot0 comment

Seth and Josh 1986, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

My first car – a VW as old as me. Dig the porn-stache, and also Josh holding a can of WD-40. That same can lived in the back seat of that car as long as the car ran.

Taken in front of 906 Post Oak, in South Austin, circa 1986.

Memories of East Texas

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Am heading to Austin tomorrow, and then driving to Burkeville, Texas to kiss my grandfather goodbye. So, probably will be quiet ’round these parts for a few days. Am not even bringing my laptop, just my camera. Don’t think there is much internet infrastructure out in the BFE anyway.

I lived there1 for two years, attending 7th and 8th grades at nearby Newton Junior High, but haven’t visited much since then. Regardless, still am burbling with memories, and emotions as I prepare for my trip.

See ya when I see ya…

Footnotes:
  1. well, not exactly here, I actually forget my exact address [↩]

Nostalgia is a Drug

Seth Anderson1 Comment

Someone posted an interesting shot of Central Camera, the long tenured photography store in the Loop (in existence since 1899), so I started looking through my 35mm archives looking for the only photo of the place I remember taking. Discovered all sorts of unscanned photos, mostly taken in 1995-1998. My negatives are in a box in Austin1, so these scan are created from 3×5 and 4×6 prints, and are less than stellar. Lots of scratches, dust, and even some color fade. Sort of adds to their charm though.

The dates are mostly approximate, except for the photos scanned from a Seattle Filmworks print: all of which have a processing date stamped on their back.

Central Camera circa 1995
Central Camera circa 1995
An inadvertent double exposure (you remember those, right? When there wasn’t quite enough film to advance to a new shot)

Michael Jordan and some dudes
Michael Jordan and some dudes
scanned from a print on Seattle Filmworks paper, March 16, 1995.I asked: Is anyone’s memory better than mine? Where was this? what was the story?

Turns out to be a famous wall, and in this incarnation, the dudes sharing the wall with His Airness were Dennis Farina, Joe Mantegna, and Dennis Franz.

Click to continue gazing in the window of the mid-90s.
Continue reading “Nostalgia is a Drug”

Footnotes:
  1. I really, really want to get them out and scan from the source – would get a much better image [↩]