tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99799622024-03-13T10:56:51.375-04:00birdwords-the-oldhere be birdw0rdsbirdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.comBlogger77125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-78806897501618294462006-11-26T12:11:00.001-05:002006-11-26T12:11:47.437-05:00Birdw0rds has movedBirdw0rds has moved to <a href="http://www.birdw0rks.com/birdw0rds"><span style="font-weight: bold;">HERE</span></a>.birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1164132958065350352006-11-21T13:08:00.000-05:002006-11-22T13:15:56.343-05:00birdw0rks dot com<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/302119666/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/105/302119666_828392b11c_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.birdw0rks.com"><br />Birdw0rks Central</a> has been rejuvenated.<br /><p style="">Took an age over the weekend to re-format a few of the old pages, create a couple of new ones, relink everything, migrate it all to the newly-purchased birdw0rks dot com and start properly organising the better of what's become a driveload of mp3s. There're still a few teething problems with the site that I'm hoping <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/4923079/">Quaz</a> will have a chance to look over at some point, but things're coming together. My own pretty-ropey back catalogue has swelled over the years.<br /><br />I also activated the RSS feed to create the <a href="http://www.birdw0rks.com/birdw0rks.xml">Birdw0rks Podcast</a> - which will be where I post new w0rks direct to folks' pods from now on. (Hit Ctrl-U or "Subscribe to Podcast" from the Advanced menu in iTunes and paste in the RSS URL to subscribe.) Stop press: it's now availalbe directly from <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=206177405">iTunes</a>.<br /><br />First track on the RSS feed, as part of the flickr-oriented imagemusic <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/sets/119893/">project</a>, is inspired by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shooz/">Shooz</a>'s "Healing Landscape" image:.<br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shooz/205677310/"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/92/205677310_e277fdcd4a_s.jpg" /></a><br /></div><p style="">Am quite happy with how that ended up sounding after multi-layering and playing with a slew of rhythm loops. Again, ate away the time, but worth the struggle in the end. Direct link to mp3 <a href="http://www.birdw0rks.com/god/HealingLandscape.mp3">here</a>.</p>Second track, just added is <a href="http://www.birdw0rks.com/god/WildIdeas.mp3">Wild Ideas</a>, inspired by AuntieK's image:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/auntikhaki/286307283/"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/105/286307283_4e91b7407b_s.jpg" /></a><br /></div><br />The next three tracks are all in the w0rks. As with one of these, occassionally the process of churning out the tune is painful and tense - a struggle to slot the thing together and technically get in into any kind of desired shape. Once you've been through that mire, however, you feel somewhat lighter as if you've had an annoying blockage removed; as long as you're reasonably happy with the sonic product, it's rewarding. Musical enima anyone?birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1163909737291863852006-11-18T23:08:00.000-05:002006-11-19T13:07:48.253-05:00Podalive<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/299889383/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/122/299889383_dfd0578e12_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ></span><br />The <a href="http://www.newyorkflickr.com">New York Flickerite Podcast</a> is back!<br /><p style="">Episode 3 is available via the <a href="http://www.newyorkflickr.com/nycflickerite.xml">RSS</a> feed and, now that I've just pinged them, is up on <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=128697188&s=143441">iTunes</a>. Mp3 can be grabbed directly from <a href="http://www.newyorkflickr.com/mp3/NYCFlickerite3.mp3">here</a>.<br /><br />This episode features <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shortcake26/">Shortcake26</a> and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/evill1/">Aaron Edwards</a>. Fat thanks to them for participating.<br /><br />The Website's in poor shape, but is being revamped and will be reborn soon.</p>Took a poondaflesh with editing, splicing, compiling, mixing, re-editing, and so on, but got there. Next one will hopefully be out before too long once I've regrouped that flickerite pod part of the brain.<br /><br />Birdw0rks podcast should also be up & running v. shortly n'all. Might aswell strick when the pods're warm...birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1162580324915727112006-11-03T13:51:00.000-05:002006-11-03T14:03:36.230-05:00Hen Meat: What Flesh!<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/287286526/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/99/287286526_608771cf93_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ></span><br />A fun moosikal project has been taking a chunk of <a href="http://feztastic.blogspot.com/">BigAl</a> clay and scraping/thumping it into a steaming lump of birdw0rks. The result is <a href="http://www.birdw0rks.com/mp3/analgib.mp3">here</a>, at the new home for birdw0rks central, <a href="http://www.birdw0rks.com">birdw0rks.com</a> (very much in need of updating and editing, as it be...)<br /><p style="">A direct link to Al's original ditty is <a href="http://feztastic.blogspot.com/2006/10/man-who-met-himself.html">here</a>.</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1162419204630501442006-11-01T17:06:00.000-05:002006-11-01T17:29:20.310-05:00Aiming with the eyes shut<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/282386164/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/116/282386164_85f9ae3fd0_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br />Am in one city for a week for the first time in a while. (I keep leaving the house checking to make sure I've a boarding pass...)<br /><p style="">The <a href="http://www.newyorkflickr.com/">New York Flickerite</a> podcast is finally under way once more. Now that the clocks have retarded and the cool autumn nights are schlurping in, I am nudging myself toward long-overdue sonic editing. The ex-Evile One, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/evill1/">Mr. Crotchcap</a> is the first on the splice block. Once I have chance to capture the dulcet tones of the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/sets/81791/">Fleecieone</a> for voices from the crisper intros, we'll be set to roll proper again with Episode 3. There are at least 6 or 7 other bods that I did the photo wander and record thang with last winter and a fat number of hours to earlobe it through, but at least the pod is rolling.<br /><br /><a href="http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/%7Ebirds/birdw0rks/">Birdw0rks</a> have finally hit <a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?playListId=152497087">iTunes</a> too, with the Omelette available in full. According to <a href="http://cdbaby.com/cd/birdw0rks">CDBaby</a>, I've also just earnt a juicy 5 cents via <a href="http://www.napster.com/view/artist/index.html?id=12151329">Napster</a> plays, n'all. All proceeds from plakky copy CD and digital sales go to the UK <a href="http://www.mssociety.org.uk/">M.S. Society</a>, so if you're reading this and you fancy donating a little moolah to a good cause in return for some ropey, badly-conceived bird moosak, please click accordingly.<br /><br />And a congrats to Her With the New Bump!</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1162312703509682462006-10-31T11:31:00.000-05:002006-10-31T11:41:25.786-05:00From the Longest Crawl<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/275727355/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/93/275727355_e3730f8895_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/275727355/"></a></span><br />"Life......broken down into its constituent years, days, hours, minutes, plotted on a graph, the rhythms resemble one another from moment to moment, and year to year; we have good days and bad days, minor ups and downs as a rule, puncutated by wild, inexplicable turns of fortune; peaks and troughs where your life crashes, or springs into a period of uncontrollable growth and change. And if you're British, to help you climb the slopes, and help smooth the slide into the valleys, there's booze."<br /><p style="">From Ian Marchant (who, I would predict, would come across as a bit of a prat in real life, but who, in the printed word, is pretty entertaining).</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1161895189128903282006-10-26T16:32:00.000-04:002006-10-26T16:47:19.416-04:00Return to the Aruss of Tex<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/276879836/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/121/276879836_461fd37f31_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/276879836/"></a></span><br />Whuhh whuhh whuhhhh work has taken me back to the southwest for the first time in a while. A desert roam for a few days in Nude Mex and then east to the Arse of Tex for many miles flitting between the concrete cities on concrete highways.<br /><p style="">The things one generally misses about the deeesert are the lifting of the humidty helmet that you’re virtually unaware of elsewhere (the air’s particuarly light and fluffy (and the light particularly airy and fluff-free)) and the big sky, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/275729265/">sudden-mountain</a>, ebb and flow landscapes. Show off sunsets and mountain <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/275723044/">cloud displays</a> tickle the retinas in NM. It’s generally a crappy place to live long-term, mind, due mainly to the cultural isolation and dip-spit local menalities. Yung <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/txatxo/">Selks</a> is finding this to her cost, natch. She gracefully loaned a few pages of oily newspaper for me to shelter under in Albusquirty while I was there, and showed me a good time out at a bus stop and in a 7-11. Her recent brain reboot and consequent fatique scuppered my plan to record her dulcet tones reading her brain leavings for future moosakal useage, but I’ll capture a chunk of her wordage on wav at some point. I did capture her <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/274209812/">nebb</a>.<br /><br />I catapulted south down to Lost Clueless to see the Outlaws and a visiting <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/265458085/">Fleeciebeast</a>. We admired backyard motors-on-bricks, saw old mates in Historic-with-a-capital-H Mesilla, and flew into a storm from El Paso to Houston a couple of days later. When we finally arrived in Hobby, the streets were underwater, cars were floating, and the river police were rescuing dolphins from the Galeria. Rumours among the milling baggage claim mongers at Hobby had it that between 12 and 16 inches had spat down on the city that day.<br /><br />TX is still the land of big hair, bigger highways, and y'alling. And it's been a tad of a shock to be back in full-on car cultchahh – makes yer glad to live in places where the auto isn't a necessity for functionality. While there’re many natural/semi-natural wonders around, strip mall is what one can easily imagine as the dominant feature of the Texan landscape.<br /><br />Has been a few years since I've been in Austin, the liberal island in the sea of Texan Shrubness, and was good to dip into its downtown thang with <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/276883964/">Chumplick</a> and see a few of the faces of the Chosen Family that I've not for too long. Few folk have sprogged <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/278758377/">sprogs</a>, grown <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/278700280/">dogs</a>, bought property etc. since I was last there. Only drawback was being driven into by a young woman at a pedestrian crossing. Her vehicle ended up much worse off than mine and was a pretty crappy start to her birthday getting slapped with a You’ve Just Run Into the Back of Someone Else’s Car ticket. Luckily no one hurt and we could both safely drive away after talking with the local plod and being given the reems of obligatory paperwork to crunch through.<br /><br />Have also returned to the strange environs of Aggieland in Bryan and College Station: Nice Place to Leave for the first time in almost a decade. A few buildings have shot up, but pretty much unchanged there in Brazos Co. The Wranglers, cowboy hats, and Hitler Youthesque corps of cadets still abound on the TAMU campus. I ran into a good number of familiar faces from the past during a brief, transient skip through town and old work haunts.<br /><br />Sat now, in Houston, trying to find a hole in the weather to fly through in order to return northeastwards.<br /><br /><br />Completely unrelated quote of the day from the lips of Bruce Robinson:<br />“When you look through the binoculars of American entertainment, it’s stuffed with fear. Hollywood is basically about Yanks running away from special effects.”</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1159059830982012782006-09-23T20:57:00.000-04:002006-09-23T22:00:52.800-04:00Bridges under the water, just<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/250869315/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/99/250869315_f3a0d056db_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br />Time moves differently when your paddling - has a different temporal beat. Like any repetitive motion, perhaps, but there's summat unique when you're on the watter.<br /><br />Unrelated:<br />While digging around looking for moose numbers in the public library, as you do, a very unhappy-looking Japanese girl sat opposite me, read briefly and hurridly from a book entitled "Keeping Love Alive", slammed it shut, and stormed off in a huff. <tt></tt>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1151873452128878892006-07-02T16:47:00.000-04:002006-07-02T17:05:55.230-04:00Green Roofs<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/180056954/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/72/180056954_f336559f35_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br />A green roof is a lightweight, engineered roofing system that encourages propagation of vegetation while protecting the integrity of the underlying roof structure. While the primary purpose of green roofs is to lower temperature, there are a range of benefits over traditional dark-coloured city rooftops. Vegetation lowers absorption and release of radiation and precipitation is trapped in foliage which increases local humidity and allows cooling via evapotranspiration. This decreases the energy used for cooling the building below<br /><p style="">A green roof increases the longevity of the structure of the roof primarily by decreasing temperature variability and weathering, and lasts twice as long as a conventional roof covering. Rain water flow is regulated, decreasing storm water runoff and pollution into sewerage systems and the roof provides sound insulation to reduced noise. Other benefits include providing habitat for urban wildlife, reducing glare, increasing the aesthetic appeal (and hence value) of the building, and providing recreational space and educational resources.<br /><br />Great examples can be found at the <a href="http://www.thesolaire.com/green_features/index.asp">Solaire</a> in Battery Park City, and its newly-opened sister building next door, the <a href="http://www.verdesian.com/green/index.asp">Verdesian</a>. Both buildings are designed, built, and maintained in environmentally-friendly and sustainable ways. Waste disposal, water management, and energy systems decrease energy use, improve air quality, an reduce water pollution and waste.<br /><br />More info. can be found <a href="http://www.greenroofs.com">here</a>, <a href="http://www.greenroofs.net">here</a>, <a href="http://www.greeninggotham.org">here</a>, <a href="http://www.roofmeadow.com">here</a>, and <a href="http://www.greenroofs.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&amp;id=26&Itemid=40">here</a>.</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1151813293018402192006-07-02T00:04:00.000-04:002006-07-02T00:10:06.656-04:00Bollocks<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/3209276/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/1/3209276_ba79590ba0_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br />basicallybirdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1145642429825663522006-04-21T14:00:00.000-04:002006-04-21T14:02:24.736-04:00Faux<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/132470983/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/47/132470983_450869845f_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ></span><br /><p style="">A 'poudaflesh' later and it's finally in saleable form. Proceeds donated to <a href="http://www.mssociety.org.uk/">MS Society</a> back in Blighty.</p> <!-- CDBABY LINK for BIRDW0RKS: Faux Bon Omelette --><br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="400"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#9c3131"><table bgcolor="White" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="White" width="100"><a href="http://cdbaby.com/cd/birdw0rks"><img src="http://cdbaby.com/covers/b/i/birdw0rks_small.jpg" alt="BIRDW0RKS: Faux Bon Omelette" border="0" height="100" width="100" /></a></td><td class="sans" align="left" bgcolor="White"><b>BIRDW0RKS: Faux Bon Omelette</b><br /><br />Bird w0rking<br /><br /><div align="right"><a href="http://cdbaby.com/cd/birdw0rks"><img src="http://cdbaby.com/gif/cdbaby_navarrow_buythecd_100.gif" alt="Buy the CD" border="0" height="24" width="100" /></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1143215827762658172006-03-24T10:57:00.000-05:002006-03-24T10:57:36.173-05:00Fleecie Empire<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/117225006/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/54/117225006_52b0971f83_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/117225006/"></a></span><br /><p style=""></p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1140314930040739072006-02-18T21:08:00.000-05:002006-02-18T21:33:37.616-05:00Inthelivingroomlive<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/101248760/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/37/101248760_976331e457_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/01/default.cfm?bandid=425427&songid=3515827&content=song">This</a> is the first ropey, voice-rusty acoustic track of a few to come (pity the neighbours...). Has been way too long since getting the larynx back in some kind of shape and w0rking through the ever-expanding acoustic-friendly birdw0rks songmass is the way. A good few big-sound, electric tracks in process, but I'm hanging back on vocal additives for those until the cobwebs are off the vox box. The 16-track studio has great potential for recording 'live' versions of the acoustics for now though - as often happens, project ideas grow from messing around with aimless strumming, & putting a new, naked take on older & newer songs appeals for now. I also like the contrast of recording time-consuming, multi-layered new compositions with the simple 2 track 6-string plus voice ditties. Playing that way regularly really changes the writing process n'all innit.<br /><br />Not yet sure what will do with NYC photographic interviews currently being collected having largely parted ways with the Podarazzi project (artistic differences etc.). Own NYC Social Flickr group-related podcast, maybe? Content of said interviews is all ace so far & I've already started honing the mix skills & ideas to construct an amusing broadasst. Time suckingly consuming tho'.<br /><br />Recent flick delights: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387898/">Cache</a>: paranoid French middle class stalked a go-go; docs. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427312/">The Grizzly Man</a> and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405271/">Reel Paradise</a> - interesting subjects you wouldn't necessarily want to spend long in the same room with; <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0345549/">The Last Life in the Universe</a> - excellent understated, wonderfully shot Japanese Librarian in Thailand sort of flick (you know, the Japanese Librarian in Thailand genre).birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1138981590891613202006-02-03T10:46:00.000-05:002006-02-03T10:48:29.096-05:00Cultural Differentiation<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/93687716/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/40/93687716_7323482e71_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/93687716/"></a></span><br />In Britain:<br /><p style="">Person 1: "I'm doing a new project I'm really excited about"<br /><br />Person 2: "What do you want to bother doing that for?"<br /></p> <p style=""><br />In America:<br /><br />Person 1: "I'm doing a new project I'm really excited about"<br /><br />Person 2: "How much money are you making from it?"</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1138636769895256602006-01-30T10:59:00.000-05:002006-01-30T11:04:42.403-05:00Podding it Downtown<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/92431095/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/42/92431095_e987a06009_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><br /></span> <p style="">Spare time sucked away by the <a href="http://www.podarazzi.com/">Podarazzi</a> project recently. Getting whisked around downtown Manhattan with Flickr Star <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/54021923">Kara</a> to capture her verbal musings was superb: a part of town I don’t often spend time in and have never really explored at night, and <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/omeyisland/">Omeyisland</a> is my-kind-of-mind, entertaining company. Architecturally olds versus new, light versus dark, short versus tall – <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/77602105@N00/">contrasts</a> innit.<br /></p> <p style="">Being somewhat clueless on the interview and digital editing front, it’s been a tough journey capturing verbiage and reducing the 90+ minutes of recorded sound down to a palatable quarter of an hour. Steep learning curve and a fat time investment, but things will get easier with next few interviews (lined up over next three weeks). Already know how to make both content and editing life easier on several fronts. Am looking forward to the comparison between different subjects’ perspectives on NYC photolife.<br /><br />First podcast itself is slowly coming together having sampled Podarazzi Prima, <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/92902790">Anth</a>, and her introductory voice-overs. Again, it’s tricky getting things ‘right’ first time around while compiling the whole show, takes a pound of flesh, and time gets sucked down the pipe of rehash. Creative dribblings are leaking nicely though, there’s a good slice of new background birdw0rks <a href="http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/%7Ebirds/birdw0rks/Podrazzi/">moosak</a> and daft verbal links, and we’re going to end up with something that’s original and hopefully of interest to others.<br /><br />On the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/90692554/">T. knee</a> front, the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/sets/81791/">Fleeciethang</a> is moving around easier and has <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/82316850@N00/90927599/">The Stitch</a> taken out tomorrow. Physiotherapy & regular flapping in the pool should right things before too long, hopefully.</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1137778131173374642006-01-20T12:28:00.000-05:002006-01-20T12:42:31.696-05:00Cue Boids<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/88718363/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/27/88718363_df33565266_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br />There is activation birdw0rkstudiowards. A couple of retroish-sounding tracks on the move and a couple more that were self-demoed last year that need a bit of rearrangement & a more juicy recording. The latter can be tricky - one loses that initial spark created during their birth sometimes. The re-creation is tighter, technically superior, but at that cost. More frivulous and fun moosak is being laid down for the blossoming <a href="http://podarazzi.blogspot.com/">Podaraazi</a> project - hammering out a 16-bar loop for use as voice unders etc. makes for an excellent 2-3 hour distraction.<br /><br />Recent flick views: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088919/">Chronos</a> from the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085809/">Koyaanisqatsi</a> et al.<strong><strong class="title"> </strong></strong>team is superb time lapse eye fillage. The incoming tide sequence from atop Mont St. Michel is just astounding. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0344273/">Kings & Queen</a> needs an edit (2 1/2 hours stretches the character study attention a bit), works at times, falls flat at others - worth a view, not a keeper. Struggled through New Wave Italian classic <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056215/">Mamma Roma</a>. <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000019/">Fellini</a> did it better. The recent <a href="http://www.henricartierbresson.org/">Bresson</a> doc, the <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369523/">Impassioned Eye</a>, is interesting, but not produced to my tastes. The bright spark that decided ropey voice over translations were better than subtitles needs slapping for a start. And these docs always suffer from the simple fact that just looking at photographs from the likes of Bresson will always be far more enguaging than any documentary on the photographer. A few interesting anecdotes here & there, but there could have been so much more about Bresson's life view, photographic method, & experiences around crucial historical events/periods.<br /><br />Poor <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/72861228/">T.</a> has her keyhole knee op. later today. Hopefully the resulting hobble will be quickly healed!<p></p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1137018742470631572006-01-11T17:32:00.000-05:002006-01-11T17:38:07.100-05:00Moresoundofpod and Northern Cinematics<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/85317932/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/41/85317932_5254ffc46f_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/85317932/"></a></span>There's more new pod-related w0rk and it's <a href="http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/01/default.cfm?bandid=425427&songid=3332669&content=song">here</a>.<br /><p style="">This weeks cinematic delights from out east: <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379577/">Vodka Lemon</a> - quirky frozen-north, Armenian bleaknesses; and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376968/">The Return</a> - snotty Russian kids with a father that wasn't, then suddenly was, then, er, really wasn't in the unfrozen wilderness. Both wuth a view, innit.</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1136904308699074082006-01-10T09:45:00.000-05:002006-01-10T09:57:18.986-05:00Poduliciousnesses<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/73647153/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/20/73647153_3015677cc1_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br />Quick, usual south-north yo-yoing, trip back to Blighty, a vicious Brit Bird flu contracted (Eustacian tubes almost imploded during decent into JFK...), surfacing through the phlegmurky mire, and the head's popped out into 2006.<br /><br />Hello.<br /><br />Birdw0rking podcastwards to churn tunes & noises for <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/anthea/">Anth</a>'s sonic <a href="http://www.flickr.com/groups/nycsocials/discuss/128855/">idea</a>. First ditty ropily squeezed from the telecaster tube and sounds like <a href="http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/%7Ebirds/birdw0rks/Podrazzi/Pod_intro_idea_1.MP3">this</a>. Have also finally nabbed one of <a href="http://www.bswusa.com/proditem.asp?item=M58">these</a> with which to push into nyc photographers faces in search of verbal nuggets.<br /></span> <p style=""></p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1134429287295611422005-12-12T18:14:00.000-05:002005-12-12T18:16:20.690-05:00Resouthwesterisations<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/19703653/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/15/19703653_be1bf90e56_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br />Finally (finally) got around to digging out the southwestern text, a long-neglected writing project of which <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/4671024/">this</a> is a mere tasty snippet, last night. Have begun to edit, reform, and ID the holes, many and varied as they are. Takes a pound of sweaty flesh this scribe lark, but time away from an early draft allows for fresh perspective and the ability to flex the verbal tendons.birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1134078254087753362005-12-08T16:44:00.000-05:002005-12-08T16:45:49.476-05:00Scophotosniftimagerland<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/71561047/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/35/71561047_141f362180_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/71561047/"><br /></a></span> <p style="">Has taken a while, but full Scotchshire tour is now up in birdw0rks' imageland <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/sets/648717/">here</a>. Flip the slide show; shuffle around the geotags; sniff the nips.</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1133380134782083942005-11-30T14:48:00.000-05:002005-11-30T14:49:28.783-05:00Beautiful W0rds<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/61604626/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/30/61604626_dd816045db_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br /><p style="">To paraphrase Woody Allen: the most beautiful phrase in the English language isn't "I love you", but "it's benign".<br /><br />Benign <a href="http://www.thedoctorsdoctor.com/diseases/lichen_planus-like_keratosis.htm">lichenoid keratosis</a> in this case.<br />[breathes freer]</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1133369990387576812005-11-30T11:59:00.000-05:002005-11-30T12:08:41.670-05:00Retrobirdw0rds #1<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/12812751/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/9/12812751_5a684a0abc_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Thursday, May 22nd, 2003</span> <p class="MsoNormal">That’sthemartinimentalitycoldicewatergunsbleedings</p> <p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(204, 204, 204);" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:180%;">H A N D R O L L F R O M H E L L</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">You see, there’s a change in the lighting voltage. Flicker fusion monkey vision – hubbah hubbah wanderlust lust wonder. Download drivel (drivelle?) off of the deep end. “The Mounts” – now, what does that suggest? Perfect symmetry. And a minge jiggle. “It’s good, but not the same.” Lob rate. Too much space; sweet juniper berry, Smithers. What exactly does Morcheeba mean, then? You forgot the Clapham North Beerorama, waffle, and Loose talk. We disgust her. And, I think she likes it. The year is different and Things (yes, Things) are planned. This recording is different (The Blackness of a Moorhen). Sevenoaks. Twelve weeks. Always smirk at your notes! “The very edge of Fuckybumbooboo”. Also scribbling feverishly. (Much better (pedals very slippery).)<span style=""> </span>(No!!)</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1133297147053476132005-11-29T15:45:00.000-05:002005-11-29T17:04:40.006-05:00Nudesock Bulletin<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/3888671/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/3/3888671_4fa9f07abf_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/3888671/"></a></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Blair to Decide on Haddock Pants by Next Summer</span><br /><p style="">London Nov. 29th, 2005 - Challenged by long words, eager sheep, and tight underwear, British President Lionel Blair announced today that the U.K. would decide next summer whether to reverse its current reluctance to install haddock and trout smelting pants in government dignitaries' trousers.<br /><br />As Mr. Blair spoke at a meeting here, two men wearing fluorescent yellow octopus wigs over dark welding suits clambered into the steel rafters of the auditorium to launch a small inflatable salmon filled with radioactive helium.<br /><br />They carried banners saying, "My aunty is a whelk" and “Just say no to haddock hats” and scattered similar messages on fishing line onto the crowd below. A spokesman for the group, Fishy Lads Against Pert Panty Yankers, said the protest was intended to launch a "fight back against what my mother did to me with a herring in the cupboard under the stairs when I was a child" by preventing Mr. Blair from doing up his flies.<br /><br />The protesters refused to abandon their perches in the roof beams, insisting that they wished to make lewd propositions with the aid of stuffed kippers to participants in the annual meeting of the Confederation of British Trouser Pointers, a leading toilet traders’ group.<br /><br />"I'm not prepared to accept that," said Digby Scroatynebcrank, the head of the Confederation. "I don't give in to guppy-flavoured ultimatums (but they can call me later and see me privately in the clinic)"<br /><br />Mr. Blair, regarded as an undeclared supporter of haddock power, was forced to address traders in a cramped pair of lederhosen, surrounded by dead conger eels and wearing extra thick oven mitts. "This is going to be a surreal occasion," Mr. Blair slurred. "I'm going to do up my flies if it's the last thing I do."<br /><br />"Like most fishy issues, what we actually need is an pointless and demented debate, not one conducted by dribbling herring activists and demonstrations to stop people having the freedom to express themselves from the belt down with the fish of their choosing," he said.<br /><br />The two protesters, identified by FLAPPY as Huw Thirsleberker and Nyls Verhoppenslank, had apparently infiltrated the building with unauthorized turbots, the organizers said.<br /><br />Their action recalled other demonstrations by pro-fin-sucking and fathers' gusset rights protesters who breached security at the House of the Commons Aquarium and Buckingham Palace Public Toilets armed with live clams and sawn-off skate fins.<br /><br />The Confederation of British Trouser Pointers acknowledged that security around the president had been compromised, only minutes after an earlier nappy and dab intrusion. Another speaker at the annual gathering was Sir Ian Throstle, the head of London's Metropolitan Flying Squid.<br /><br />President Blair's speech had been widely expected as the trigger for a new crab paste debate only two years after the British authorities resolved to increase the use of renewable sources such as used-bloomer oil and third-hand yak butter to 10 per cent of the country's needs by 2010 and 20 per cent by 2006. At the same time, Britain's kipper and scraps stations would be gradually phased out by 2014 and then phased back in by 2023.<br /><br />In Finland, a man reacted by doing rude things to a lobster.</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1133198331216621052005-11-28T12:18:00.000-05:002005-11-28T12:42:37.330-05:00Staring Back Along the Tube<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/67941112/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/29/67941112_42b7db21bb_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><p style="">What feels like a chronic failing is not taking in or living in the moment fully when traveling and visiting amazing places. Maybe this is partly a ‘western disease’ in general? We spend a lot of time planning and looking forward, and then later, looking back, reminiscing, reliving, but sometimes it’s difficult to actually absorb all and appreciate the present while there. (Maybe that’s because the present doesn’t actually exist, ala Johnny from <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107653/">Naked</a>: “but you’re not in it now. you’re not in it now. you’re not in it now….”) Perhaps living as much as one can in the present is what most approaches contentment? Isn’t that what ye olde Zen Buddhist meditation partly relates to? Clearing the mind just in order to be. Not that modern life encourages living for the moment much – “think of the future!”; “you must get organised”; “what did you do this weekend?”; “what are we doing tonight”; “you remember that time when we tarred and feathered a pig on the Yorkshire Dales?”; “what were you doing in that kennel in the dead of last night wearing extra-thick, non-slip oven mitts and carrying a 4-gallon tub of lard?”; etc. etc. But, I digress.<br /></p> <p style=""><a href="http://flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/67941106/"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/29/67941106_6d5a737247_m.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/67941103/"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/32/67941103_ce6c7e249e_m.jpg" /></a><br /></p> <p style="">Revisiting <a href="http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/%7Ebirds/Scotchshire05/">sounds</a> and <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/sets/648717/">images</a> from the summer jaunt to the Highlands & Islands brought this thought home again. I spend time recording ambient sound, shooting photos, and more rarely, jotting notes whenever I travel & visit new locations. One does these things for artistic reasons of course (and do get absorbed in the recording moment, in fact), but also to make sure the memory is augmented later. And because of the latter (which definitely works (and also feeds future artistic projects)), sometimes appreciating place is reduced while actually there. What I end up doing, what I’ve just done, is stimulating an itch to return to these places once again to get more out of them. Happened also with walking the <a href="http://www.swcp.org.uk/walk/swcp_intro.html">Southwest Coast Path</a> a couple of years back. Is this illusion? Or is it being drawn back to somewhere you feel you didn’t get enough from; didn’t fully understand or absorb? Bit of both, no doubt. Or just greed? Basically, we never have enough time to do all that we want to do and then we procrastinate and don’t fully utilise the time we do have. Bitch, innit. The flip side is that having a visual and audio record of snippets of the more interesting aspects of life is rewarding, and being transported back in time & space during cold, dank, dark winter evenings is entertaining. But, to quote Martin Phillips of the <a href="http://www.softbomb.com/">Chills</a>: “You cannot drive and stare rearview.”</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9979962.post-1132691852625117982005-11-22T15:37:00.000-05:002005-11-22T15:38:09.620-05:00Nuckfutterybutter<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/65326673/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://static.flickr.com/25/65326673_fed24a512a_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/birdw0rks/65326673/"></a></span><br /><p style="">Please stop starting sentences with the word "so" and desist from using the word "heart" as a verb.</p>birdw0rkshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12071273484062815685noreply@blogger.com2