The measurements were based on television time slots. The Simpson’s was my show of choice and a 30 minutes well spent. Often when calculating the negative impact of doing things things that I didn’t want to do, like a doctor appointment, I would figure how many simpsons episodes I would be missing.

[Picture from a section of the article titled "Legal Battles With Record Labels"]

I’m back from Cali. Gone so quick, some might not have known that I had left. I had a great time seeing friends and family and visiting San Fransisco, San Jose, and surrounding areas. Starschreck will resume per usual with delicious (is this what we’re calling it now?) links, posts, and with new work on it’s way.

Conversational highlight of the trip (approximation):

Dan: I don’t think there is a cloud in the sky!

Anonymous: Yeh, it’s beautiful and sunny like this every day out here. It’s so beautiful all the time it can get sort of depressing.

1. Dark-Hop
2. default
3. Electronica & Dance
4. Electronica/Dance
5. Gallery Rap
6. Music
7. Musik für Kinder
8. Not Your Average Hip Hop
9. Sexuality

Anybody else have any ones worthy of note?

We had this assignment in my first ever class at SAIC. It was a reading that basically said (at least, this is my memory of it 4 years later) just because it’s art that doesn’t mean it’s good. Looking back it was the perfect article for a first year class—welcome to art school you young punks. It’s a perspective I now take for granted. At the time, however, I remember it coming as a bit of a blow. It certainly went against a lot of what I thought of artmaking at the time.

The reading was “frivolity and unction” from Dave Hickey’s book Air Guitar.

I came across the greatest personal icon I have ever seen. It is the entire movie Terminator 2, beginning and end credits included. And it loops for eternity.

Click the link below to see it!

The image is credited to dangermcjebus on http://loadingreadyrun.com. I have hosted the image on starschreck for fear of it vanishing into the abyss.

The phrase loudness war (or loudness race) refers to the music industry’s tendency to record, produce and broadcast music at progressively increasing levels of loudness each year to create a sound that stands out from others and the previous year.

Project 3: Modular System of Forms

• Use a grid as a design and production tool
• Generate varied forms from the same grid
• Design forms that are distinct yet visually related
• Resolve formal and aesthetic issues through experimentation
• Practice hand and/or computer skills

My language is comprised of nine characters and the style reminds me of those cool symbols that the predator has on his arm computer. A student in my class pointed out today that they look like constellations.

Grid Systems in Graphic Design/Raster Systeme Fur Die Visuele Gestaltung

Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

At the time of this post the site currently has 53557 audio files. That’s a lot. There are a couple of different ways to sift through all of that information: different searches for people on the look out (hear out?) for specific sounds and automatically generated lists like “Most popular files” and “Highest rated sounds” for general browsing.

I’ve always had this picture in my mind when it comes to places that have vast quantities of information and material like Free Sound. I envision most of the available good content lying dormant and collecting dust. Sure, new content is always featured in a ‘newly uploaded’ list. Sure, high ranking content is featured in a ‘high ranking’ list. What about the other stuff that hasn’t made those lists? Who has the time to go through every page of an archive of this size?

Fine, maybe all 53557 audio files of Free Sound do not need to be utilized at every minute of every day. Maybe the site serves its purpose and that’s it. More on that later.

At this point, I would like to draw attention to the “random sample” link on the lower left side of the main page of The Free Sound Project. This link is a nice feature and allows for a slight churn of content.

Project Idea: Click that “random sample” link and make something out of what you find. Beware, it may be some birds chirping, chant music, or someone’s grandfather snoring.