"Fine" art and easy listening music

We turned the satellite television on after a three-month hiatus. I turned on the Barry Chappell Fine Art Showcase.



This guy is hilarious. He was in the middle of an "auction" (whatever that means), and someone brought him a sandwich. While we watched the art on our screens, Barry shouted "turn off my mic for a few seconds, I gotta eat! I'm starving." After 15-20 seconds of silence (ordinarily a no-no on a shopping channel), he came back in and advanced the offset lithographs (read: posters) by $100.

Besides shopping channels, nothing makes working at home nicer than 36 channels of digital music. Of course, easy listening probably gets the largest play time in this house. My largest complaint is that they don't play the classic easy listening and lounge music enough (Ray Conniff, Percy Faith, Les Baxter).

Also, they must have licensed the entire Reader's Digest collection, so you have to get used to that highly polished London Promenade Orchestra. But, it's all good. Just..., maybe not as good as Pérez Prado's version of Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White.

--gh

Gonna make you feel real dirty...

NO! Not that kind of dirty, you sicko. I came across the ReelWorld Jingles web site today. I spent some time listening to the totally canned and over-produced examples used for radio stations with such names as KISS FM and MAJIC OLDIES. (Go back and read the previous sentence and sing the capitalized words. Feel free to add some random FM-band numbers like One-Oh-Six-POINT-Sevennnnnnn!)

When you get used to the highly flash-enabled interface, you can find the different formats. It doesn't matter if the jingles were written for country, adult contemporary (ac), or even hot adult contemporary (hot ac). The audio clips all have that shimmery glean that makes you hate modern radio stations. They even have that highly compressed FM quality that is so prevalent in radio. (You have to click on one of the first stations, and find the "Play Audio Cuts" button. After that you can find the FORMATS selection.)

I had to look up the following formats:
AC - Adult Contemporary
HOT AC - Hot Adult Contemporary (check out this Format Guide for the difference)
CHR - Contemporary Hit Radio
CHR/Rhythmic - what they used to call urban


Listen to the Beligian and German examples in the European section. My goodness, it's spreading.

--gh

Julian Beever's pavement drawings

Wow, before the Worth 1000 contests, people had to photoshop stuff 0LD Sk3WL: so check out: Julian Beever's pavement drawings

Check out his webpage for more incredible examples than these two. I just thought that the wrong view below would force you to believe that he is actually drawing these.



Here it is from the "wrong" perspective:



--gh

My MP3 collection

Okay, I need to dispense with the title of this blog first. My MP3 collection is actually a WMA collection. This means that I will not be using an iPod, which doesn't bother me since I cannot afford one. Why did I choose WMA over MP3? It is my opinion that a 64k-bitrate WMA sounds nearly as fine as a 128k-bitrate MP3. This should surprise you if you knew my audio-phile tendencies and what I have written below. (On the other hand, the 64k MP3 sounded worse than FM radio, though.) So, in order to fit my entire collection in 1/2 the space, I have gone with a proprietary format. I am also betting that Microsoft is not going away.

It was a hard decision, because I could tell the difference, but I have almost 4,000 music files. Some day I may be re-ripping my CD collection. But those CDs aren't going anywhere. I guess it was a compromise that I am still surprised I was willing to deal with.

Lately I have considered ripping from my LPs. If I do, I will probably store the music in 128k on a backup, and then convert to WMA. If I get into my LP collection, I would double my easy listening capacity. (Yes, this is tempting to me, I am a lounge and easy listening aficionado.) I also don't feel like buying any Rolling Stones CDs because they sound great even on AM, or even 8-track tape! (Dude, they do not fill the audio space like Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd).

I have a nice phono preamp, and last weekend I brought my laptop down and put "Physical Graffiti" on my turntable. Plugging this into my laptop, I was amazed at the difference. I listened to my WMA file for "Trampled Under Foot," then I pushed the CD on for the full digital effect. Nothing compares to vinyl! Keep in mind that my turntable was plugged into a $50 preamp, and then into the line-in on my laptop, and finally my headphones. Immediately after setting that needle down, I was transported 20 years back, in my teenage years, with my ample record collection.

When I was in high school, I dreamed of high fidelity components. Who would have known that we would be ditching all that great sound for the convenience of CDs and MP3s. MP3s sound twice as good as FM, and CDs sound twice as good as MP3s. But vinyl sounds twice as good as CDs. (The way I imagine these comparisons is not exactly linear, I would offer that comparative increase in quality follows that of an audio-tapered potentiometer, and not a linear taper. If you don't understand this, then you probably don't understand a lot of my feelings here.)

At this stage, LP vinyl recordings are still superior. If you have difficulty with this, then I can surmise that you have suffered hearing loss, or are using cheap cables and cheap components (including the headphones or speakers). Unless you grew up with ubiquitous vinyl LPs, you may have never fully experienced this.

I remember the first time I heard digital-based audio. It was at a Sears-Roebuck store in Fair Oaks Mall. I was intrigued by these devices and got the nerve to ask for a demonstration. The CD was by Alan Parsons, and the sales attendant was embarrassed to demonstrate the audio capabilities. It sounded brash, tinny, and somewhat horrible. This was in the early 1980s, and I was thinking there was no way digital would ever catch on. Cassette tapes (an analog technology) sounded better. And it was no match for the LP.

However, D/A converters got better with increased technology. More importantly, the analog-to-digital process (studio side) got better as well. Most of the good recordings from the 1980s are being redistributed with "Remastered" status, and it is worth it to invest in those (unless you are at a pawn shop).

We are all compressing our music even further to fit on our MP3 players. Right now, quality suffers for the need for quantity. The best sound system that my music plays through is one of those $150 computer speaker sets that you hook up to the computer. (That is at work, lol!) Mostly, however, I am listening through $40 headphones, or an MP3 player. With a nice stereo system, you could tell that I degraded my music to a degree - however you would be hard pressed to find the difference in my general usage.

In short, hi-fi is near dead. I think this will change in the next 5-7 years, though. We are not limited to the data size of CDs anymore, and bandwidth is getting cheaper, faster, and more accessible each year. Imagine a digital system that slices an analog system ten (or 100) times finer than present CDs do. Even the stuffiest audiophile would have difficulty turning that down. In ten years, we will see a new discovery of what music is SUPPOSED to sound like and people will start buying their favorite recordings all over again.

I know I will.

--gh

Twenty Questions

This is one of those blogs where I share something and then talk about it. My daughter was talking about a Twenty Questions game that was really intuitive and thorogh in its questioning. She was playing a handheld version of the technology from 20Q.net. (I do not recommend the flashy 20Q.com version.)

The game does a great job of guessing objects like nose, guitar string, chalk, shoe lace, and oak tree. I guess the hand-held version encapsulates a static copy of the network knowledge. The web version does learn, and it has moderators to keep people from loading the knowledge base with junk. I tried teaching it "guitar effects pedal." Maybe after a day or so I should try that one again.

When I have played this game in the past, we usually played the version where you have to guess people. One of the funniest times that I had with this was around 1979. I was with 5-6 people and my brother said "Alright, I am thinking of someone." Before using up any questions, I blurted out "Shaun Cassidy!" I stunned my brother, because this was indeed who he had thought of. (Shaun is the lesser-known half-brother of David Cassidy, if that helps any.)

--gh

National Security on Parade!

Okay, so George Washington University is archiving documents released by the Freedom of Information Act and calling it the National Security Archive.

Of course, my mouse quickly found the item labeled: The Nixon-Presley Meeting! You *have* to check this out for yourself.

The surrealness of this visit is other worldly. Elvis Presley didn't want to meet the President and shake his hand. He wanted to become a federal agent at large, which in his mind was some kind of drug-culture-fighting superhero. The letter that he wrote states that the Black Panthers and hippies do not consider him an enemy. (Mr. Bush, I don't think the Panthers or hippies have a problem with me, either!)

My favorite part is the memo from a staff member to Bob Haldeman, the White House Chief of Staff. At the end of this memo, the staff member writes: "In addition, if the President wants to meet with some bright young people outside of the Government, Presley might be a perfect one to start with." In Bob Haldeman's own writing, above his initials, he pens "You must be kidding" which is absolutely precious.

Presley also brought some guns, as a gift to Nixon. I have read elsewhere that he was not really checked over at the gate, so he really freaked people out when he got within a few rooms of the President with two Colt 45s. Apparently, Nixon appreciated this gift.

In the photos, Presley dons his sun glasses for a dozen images! The exchange between the President and the superstar is even weirder, though. Presley indicts The Beatles as an anti-American force (uh, they are English). He also tells the President that he is just a poor boy from Tennessee (he lived in Mississippi until he was 13).

However, it struck me that in 1970, the 35-year old star was obviously past his prime. Despite his 18 number one hits, he was not the influence that he thought he was, even in his own culture. Honestly, it would be no different if Michael Jackson approached President Clinton in 1997 and said that he wanted to help protect the children of the U.S.

Maybe that was a little too ironic of an analogy.

--gh

P.S. Apparently, Nixon's folks gave him a badge with his name on it!

Flags that suck

I have always had an appreciation for flags. As a kid, we had a map of the world with the flags of each country printed around the edges. Instead of looking at the countries like my brother did (he memorized all of the capitals before he was 12), I spent too much time staring at those flags.

However, I was even more intrigued by the state flags of this great country. It is kind of embarrassing to admit now, but us three kids were involved in a parade marching outfit called the Patriots of Northern Virginia. This was a fife and drum corps, except I never played the fife or the drums. For two or three years I was stuck as a flag carrier, or banner holder. My brother played drums, and my sister played fife, and I carried a flag.

Eventually, I was one of the older kids carrying a flag and I looked like a dork. I have about twenty stories just like that, all ending up with me looking dorkish. My brother was only a year older, so by the second year I should have been allowed to hold a snare drum. Either he protested, or my mother thought I was retarded. I have about forty stories just like that. (I have to blog real soon about my feeble beginnings. I am pretty sure that my parents think I ended up as a professor on accident.)

Even though this fife and drum corps was supposed to look like revolutionary-era patriots, we still carried flags for many of the states. I cannot say whether we carried them all, but I distinctly remember the flag of California, so we were positively outside of the original colonies. And so, having so much time with these flags, I grew attached to their patterns.

Early on I realized that most flags were horrible. Hence the title of this post, and the focus of the next few blogs (and then I might talk about how I was born slightly touched). But first, I present the flag of the great state of Kansas:



Okay, that is not really the flag of Kansas. It violates numbers 1, 4 and 6 of my rules of flaggery, which are:
G-Had's Flag Rules

1. All flags should be simple in design so that a ten-year-old of average talents should be capable of reproducing it.
   
2. A flag should not be too simple, where a pre-schooler could replicate the design.
   
3. A flag should have more than one or two colors.
   
4. Flags should consist more of geometric patterns, rather than artistic creations. The exception to this rule is simple iconic imagery (such as that found on flags of many Muslim countries.
   
5. State and country flags should be rectangular in shape. Square flags are for the battlefield. If a flag is not rectangular, it better have a good kick-hiney reason for doing so.
   
6. Flags should refrain from using too many words. An ideal flag should have nothing written on it at all.
   
7. Flags should have some symbolism and meaning (like the 13 stripes or number of stars on the U.S. flag).
   
8. Flags that consist of uni-color backgrounds with a state seal fixed on the center suck.

So, let's dispense of the worst violators, which is the unicolored flags with the oft-cartoonish state seal affixed:


In case you are counting, that is 27 flags that outright suck. They violate my last rule and can be dismissed immediately. (I am not fooled by the fringe on Minnesota's flag, nor the white silk that is supposed to run across the outer edge of Virginia's flag either.) Oh, you can hover your cursor over them to find the state names, or even click on them to see what dopey pattern is found in the state seal. However, my recommendation is to inform the state legistatures of these fine states to START OVER. That's right, over 1/2 the states need to begin again.

There are a few more states with seals affixed, which I will probably focus on next. Also, a new discussion (debate?) on Staircase Wit is starting on each individual flag (until we get bored). Stop by there and comment as well.

Eventually, you will see that I find value in only 12-15 flags, and I have lived under none of them.

--gh