The Miracle That is iTunes Visualizer

There isn't enough attention and praise for that magnificent freebie that comes with iTunes: The Visualizer*. While the music plays, Visualizer generates colorful patterns on the fly. All of the patterns evolve dynamically and are directly linked to the beat and melody of the music played. They turn in 3-D space, burst apart like fireworks and morph freely. These screen shots are just wretched facsimiles.

I show here the "new" visualizer. There is also the Classic visualizer, which you can choose, if you prefer. You can also choose to restrict the spontaneous art to one of three themes: Lathe, Jelly or Stix. My mind boggles.

Once a couple of guys stood in front of my monitor trying to identify the "repeating" patterns but they finally had to admit, after 30 minutes of viewing, that the patterns were, in fact, generated on the fly in response to the music.

These colorful patterned designs look to me like breakthrough fractal algorithms. I suppose I could do some research and figure out just exactly how this spontaneous art is generated, but I prefer to marvel at the magic.

Current Fads
Listening. recent acquisitions and classical genre (iTunes playlists); high pitched ringing in ears
Watching. Donkey Skin (1970?) and HD Digital Free Over-The-Air TV (they gotta come up with a better name for that)
Activity. looking for work
Gadget. Elegato Eye TV
News Source. Google News
Reading. The Druids - Peter Berresford Ellis; Ill Met by Moonlight - Sarah A. Hoyt; Heart Steps - Julia Cameron

*And, of course, iTunes is free, which makes this all even more amazing. How can anyone wonder why I'm an Apple fan?

Digital TV Ensares Me

After having my Elagato EyeTV 250 for over a year, I finally installed yesterday. The first show I watched with drug-like fascination was "60 Minutes." There was segment on Sully that was very gripping. More gripping were all the details on my monitor, like being able to count Sullys freckles and see exactly how many split ends the flight attendants had. I followed this up with The Grammy Awards. It was sort of like watching a train wreck. I kept wanting to get back to life as usual but just couldn't stop. The whole potato chip thing, ya' know ... you can't eat just one.

Great things about digital TV:
1. I can get it on my analog rabbit ears.
2. The reception has it all over analog.
3. Excellent detailed picture. (I can almost tell what brand of mascara the newscaster is wearing from the way it clumps and the color.)

Thanks to Elgato I can record and pause "live" TV. I'm not sure how live TV is anymore. I noticed that there were times during the Grammy Awards when Paul McCartney and Coldplay were seated in the first row across from each other, and other times when the first two rows looked like a game show audience.

But Elagato Eye TV 250 is totally great. The software install is a two step process: copy and double click. Yes. Really. The remote control, on the other hand, needs a freakin' manual. I still don't know how to use it. Thank goodness the software is simple to use and the virtual "remote" self-explanatory.
I think these screen shots are compressed. I know the live picture is much better than these snaps. Gotta check the settings.

What ho! The Clientele and Freak Folk

Yes! I have found my musical niche: Freak Folk. Thank you iTunes Essentials. There's a woman named Joanna Newson whose singing reminds me of Regina Spektor. Actually, this all was brought about by the free tune of the week Dry Grass & Shadows sung by Alela Diane (who's on the Essentials list). From there it was a just a click to a track from Clientele who don't have a band page on iTunes (and should). However, they do have a great web site where, among other things, you can watch their videos.
Bookshop Casanova


And another thing: these freak folk people mostly have freak names. What, for example, kind of name is Alasdair? Or Alela? Actually, it all adds to the music which describes the rare atmosphere of views of a distant fantasy horizon (as in scifi-fantasy). Kind of a fly through of a strange but wonderful Bryce landscape ala The Neverending Story. I feel like I'm back in the sixties listening to Jan and Dean or Bob Lind. It's so trippy. So ... Woo Hoo! New music to explore!

notes
(Is it just me or are there a lot of parentheticals in this post?)
Unfamiliar with The Neverending Story? Read this.
Free Single of the Week: Alela Diane, Dry Grass & Shadows

Signs of the Time

Well, it's snowing, really, at long, long last. It takes about four invitations from the weather forecasters to get the snow to come to Richmond. I've been up since 3:15 trying to go back to sleep by reading, drinking Tension Tamer and eating a cup of Cheerios. That didn't work, obviously. Now I'm eating chocolate chip cookies which are poison but taste so good going down and, really, go a long way toward distracting me from the pain of sleeplessness.

The street light in the alley is doing that amazing thing that streetlights only do in Richmond, which is projecting incredibly romantic light into the trees and offering the snowflakes a momentary dance in the spotlight. In no other town are the street lights such purveyors of dramatically romantic light as they are here. This is what really keeps me in Richmond, the gentle nightly caresses of the lights in the protective branching arms of the trees. I became infected during my first tour of duty as an art student in 1969 and the inoculation of years of travel has not cured me. Okay. I know inoculations don't cure, but whatever.

The main point is I'm awake when I should be sleeping. What is keeping me up? Is it that I have been unemployed for seven out of the last 13 months? No. I had more trouble sleeping when I had a job. Sometimes I thought it was the job that kept me up at night. Not because it was overwhelming or particularly engaging. That's what kept me up.

You'd think that seven months would be enough time to edit a novel draft and start getting it out there, wouldn't you? Well, it is actually. It's just that seven months of unemployment is not the same as setting aside seven months away from the job to work on a project. I don't feel I can really begin or commit to anything because I might be back on some job at any time. On the other hand, there's this notion that selling everything and living on the wind would be a lot more fun and an immediately relief from uncertainty.

Well, the cookies are gone. Wish me luck. And if you have a job or some other gainful employment that engages you, congratulations. Be sure you put aside some money for the down time. It comes to all of us.
Current Fads
Listening. Continuo, Avishai Cohen and Bonfire Dreaming, Jay Atwood; whirring space heaters
Watching. Defending Your Life (1991) (DVD) and The Private Life of Sherlock Homes* (1970) (Hulu)
Activity. trying to ignore the strident call of imminent doom
Gadget. iPod Shuffle (2nd Gen)
News Source. Google News
Reading. A Ticket to Ride - Larry Kane

*Christopher Lee is partly bald!

Oh! And if you know of some gainful employment that I would find particularly engaging, let me know ASAP. Thanks.