Saturday, March 29, 2003
91638603:: 10:24 PM
On Inspiration (and Biting)
From time to time people ask me how I designed this site. I usually just tell them that I prototyped in photoshop before coding :: though that speaks more to implemention than to design. The real story is that the design comes from traditional chinese fish painting (examples) mixed with the "arrow rain" motif -- which I basically bit from wip3out. Here is the original arrow rain (prefacing the Goteki 45 logo) as it appeared in wip3out:
Here's my faithful "adaptation"
And just a couple months ago a new record store opened near my place:
The arrows have slowly migrated clockwise -- 90 degrees every 3 years it seems. I wonder where it will be circa 2006??
Monday, March 24, 2003
91333176:: 11:48 PM
Over the weekend I assumed that Salam Pax (Iraqi blogger) had been killed in the bombing. Luckily today he posted, noting that internet access had been out. I've found his blog to be much more interesting than the carbon copied, filtered, hyperactive news coverage of the war so far. It's funny that a kid in Baghdad can outdo all these news agencies with their satellite feeds and scores of "embedded" journalist -- at least in terms of giving a truthful and captivating portrayal of what is happening.
::
In other news, I got a drawing table last week: The tilt-y architect/cartoonist kind that I've always wanted since I was a kid. Fun. At Lucille's request I made a nice drawing of some lucky bamboo.
Saturday, March 15, 2003
90773113:: 11:45 AM
Download the Beastie Boys comments on the War on Iraq [ here ].
Wednesday, March 05, 2003
90170041:: 3:20 AM
Last night I saw Ladytron, Simian and Mount Sims at Chopy Suey. It was a good show -- Dave said it was probably the best he'd seen in Seattle(!) -- and while I enjoyed it, the sound quality wasn't too great for me since I was right next to the lead vocal monitor. Even after hearing the vocal dry I still could't figure out what she says after "black plastic ... ???". Anyway, here are pictures.
Amazingly, DJ Craze and Adam F are going to be there tomorrow, followed by Goldie on Thursday.
Monday, March 03, 2003
90100972:: 11:55 PM
By now everyone's heard of the Clay mathematics Millenium prize problems: work out an equation or two, win a million dollars! Simple. But I just found out today that they've posted a video lecture series explaining the background behind each problem. Here is the lecture for the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer Conjecture.
I also found out about arXiv.org. It's frickin' incredible. It's a huge database of recent papers in many interesting technical fields: Astrophysics, Evolutionary Computing, Optimization and Control, Chaotic Dynamics, etc. (run by none other than Cornell University). Skimming some of the papers, I could feel my mind humming again. How nice. If you want to read these papers you can visit the Wolfram Library to brush up on complex analysis or group theory etc..
On a completely different note, I was re-thinking the old Grimm fairy tale Hans in Luck. For those who have never heard of it, Hans is a young lad who has just finished a 7-year apprenticeship for which he gets paid a big chunk of gold. Finding the gold too heavy he trades it for a horse when a 'kind' stranger suggests the deal. Continuing home he successively trades what he has for a cow, a pig, a goose and a grindstone, then finally loses the grindstone! At this he declares: "There is no man under the sun so fortunate as I, he cried out. With a light heart and free from every burden he now ran on until he was with his mother at home."
I always figured that this was a parable desribing a fool and his money being duely parted. But yesterday I had a thought. From the perspective of Eastern philosophy Hans really had won his freedom. :: Hans had toiled for 7 years to gain symbolic material wealth, and in his travels home, he alternately trades his wealth for convenience or desire... yet no matter what the trade, he finds new burdens and desires which keep him from happiness. It is not until he has given up everything that he realizes the simple freedom of neither having nor wanting. Interesting.
Sunday, March 02, 2003
90027790:: 7:05 PM
This afternoon I made [ this ]. Everytime megaman blinks I find it quite humorous. Though I must admit its not quite as exciting as killer japanese seizure robots.
Oh, my friends says I should promote my store more. So everyone go look at the store.