Numbers Stations

I thought I'd share a minor obsession of mine--Numbers stations. I don't know shit about them, but no one really does. That's what makes them interesting, I guess. Or maybe there isn't much else to know--that they're just one time use spy codes broadcast on a shortwave radio. All I know is they sound creepy as hell and always conjure images of some spy hunkered down in an abandoned room nazi germany....

you can listen/read about them here:
http://www.archive.org/details/ird059

yeah, if you see me making a big proclamation, then I must be lying

The summer has started off slowly, easily, and on my own terms...it's funny how un-busy you can feel in the middle of the most structured and busy schedules. I don't feel like posting stuff I did last semester for a final project, so scratch the previous big proclamations. The only big proclamations I've made that have also come to fruition were ones that already had sufficient inertia to guarantee arrival pushing them forward. So I would have already had 3 huge posts ready to go, then said "I've got this great idea for a series of posts!" then they would've gone up.

Which brings us here: The illusion of spontaneity in music. I don't know if that's true or not...

anyway, I've just spent two hours looking at http://www.mimaroglumusicsales.com/ and have somehow ended up listening to the Fantastic Planet OST. This reminded me of how entrenched in academia I've been for the past two years and how narrowly focused that entrenchment makes one. and that it'll get narrower and narrower until the day I'm out of law school. Point is, I hope to go to law school in Chicago, where I won't be as cut off from the music world I love most...all the weird, random places to see music in Chicago and some of the medium-small places as well. During the year, I live in one of those towns where the occasional good band comes through. Then the rest of the time it's local rock shit...but there's tons of it, so you often get told there's a good music scene there.

I spent a couple years just reading Chicago Rash Audio Potential at http://www.savagesound.com/ and going where it told me to go. Much of my life is spent in this manner. Some things have lead me on several year long tangents that ended (or will end) at dead ends, but Malachi Ritscher's calendar was far more helpful. The rest of my music-listening life will continue to grow from the foundation of "bands I found through CRash. In November 2006, Ritscher burned himself alive in protest of the Iraq war near the Ohio St. exit...I want to say that's very surreal, but the calender sits there on 11/3/06. Like most things I find useful and interesting, I took it so for granted, yet there it sits. Fucking incredible that it's coming up on 2 years now...and of the thousands upon thousands of dissenting actions and words towards the war that I've heard, that will always ring the loudest.

Anyway, it seems http://now-is.org/index.html has taken over and there I shall go.

Procrastination from Chinese art, part 1

Garfield minus Garfield. The saddest yet funniest thing I've seen in a long time.



http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/

Chinese Art, part 1

China's economy continues to grow the fastest among industrialized nations and the country is well on its way to being the centerpiece of the global market (if it isn't already.) I know jack shit about how the global economy works or if I've even used the correct terminology in this opening paragraph, but I do know there's another less talked about export that has been growing at a ridiculous rate since the 1990s: art.

For a final presentation in a course about China this past semester, I discussed the Chinese art scene since the Cultural Revolution. I found that it has been selling for insane amounts of money and also that a lot of it is pretty damn good. This piqued my curiousity, so I'm going to do a little series about different periods in Chinese art. I may plop these out consecutively, it may take all summer, it may be out of order, but that's my declaration. Along the way, I'll discuss the Western fascination with Chinese art, focus on styles and such. I'm not an art historian or even familiar with art scenes in general, so this is a research project for me as well as something interesting to read for you. I don't think I have any regular visitors, but hey, I'd love feedback or discussion along the way.

In the mean time, sample some unlabeled pieces:
by Yue Minjun
by Fang Lijun
installation by Wu Shanzhuan by Wang Guangzhi

Deconstructing Baudrillard: The postsemantic paradigm of narrative and neocultural desublimation

Have fun with this post-modern essay generator. Very impressive and they're fully "cited" as well. But you might want to proofread before you hand them in to your professor: "The subject is interpolated into a that includes narrativity as a paradox."

Nobukazu Takemura - "Sign" and Nirvana's "In Utero" Albini Mix

Amazing song, amazing artist, amazing video!
direct link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8VZ_JCNWsQ

I'm also listening to Nirvana's In Utero for the first time in...14 years or so? I just found out about the controversy behind Steve Albini's mix, so I tracked down that version of it. It's been too long to remember what the original sounded like, but this is sounding pretty damn good--definitely an Albini-prod...I mean, Albini-recorded album. Loud drums, vocals a bit lower, and a huge sound that knocks you on your ass.

The former life of Jerry Springer

Not sure if this is common knowledge among my generation, or if Jerry Springer is still a household name for younger generations, but apparently he used to be an amazing mayor with strong progressive convictions. The This American Life episode that covers his story makes it sound like he probably would have run for president by now, had some scandals and unfortunate marketing tactics not gotten in his way. It also discusses how he's trying to make a comeback, but man...so much baggage. The guy has boatloads of charisma and apparently backed up his big talk several times while he was the mayor of Cincinatti. Click the link for one of the better TAL stories I've heard (the rest of the episode is not so bad either.)

Update 5/21: here's an edited transcript of his brutally honest commencement speech at the Northwestern Law School (which I won't get in to.)

Review: Audio Technica ATH-EM700 headphones

Updated 5/16: Fixed up the grammar and flow. It occurred to me that people might try to read this.

I've been enjoying my new EM-700s for about 3 weeks now. They're a pleasure all around--great sound, very comfortable, and they're stylish--a nice touch for a not-so-stylish guy like me. The plunge into buying them was difficult since they're a bit pricey and they're only made in Japan, so I had to import them. At this point, I can safely say they were worth it and that I'll love them 'till they die.

One glance at the EM-700s will let you know they're in a whole other league. They're part of that "snob" class of electronics--they give off a distinguished and pretentious air, kinda like a PSP or Iphone, thanks to the eye catching clip-on piece and overall sleek form factor. Though I only had pictures to go off of before I bought them, I was glad to see that they look better in person. I was a little worried that I would look like a cyborg while wearing them, but they are smaller than I had imagined.



The clip-on parts were also of some concern, as they look like weird little robotic arms in pictures. At first, they were very uncomfortable--after 30 minutes or so, they made my ears quite sore. Then I noticed that the metal hinge can be pushed up and adjusted to my ear size:


Problem solved, no more pain! (Of course, I later noticed this feature was diagrammed in the all-Japanese manual.) With proper adjustment, they hang on your ears nicely. The foam over the speaker is extra thick as well and is a bit concave on the part directly over the center of the speaker. I imagine this is to keep it from muffling the sound. All in all, the design is really top notch. The attention to detail in the clip on mechanism and foam shape is impressive. You can definitely feel their presence on your ears, but they are pretty comfortable even after an hour or so. As you can see, I bought the black ones, but they also come in silver.

Thankfully, they have the sound to back up their slick appearance. First and foremost, they sound extremely crisp--I haven't missed a detail in the music I've been listening to. The highs and mids are expressed nicely and will never bite into ears or distort. The bass is full as well, but if you're looking for portable subwoofers, look elsewhere. The EM700s just won't kick like some earbuds can. If you're passing through a busy area and don't have the volume up, you'll lose most of the bass.

That disclaimer aside, I can say that the EM-700s are all about balance. The highs and mids are crisp, the bass is full, but not heavy, and the overall sound is just crystal clear. This goes for all volume levels as well. I listen to my music pretty loud and I haven't heard them buzz on a high note or fart out a flabby-sounding bass note yet. I've hooked them up to my PC and they got too loud to stand before they got buzzy or distorted.

On the negative side, the open design of the EM700s means they let in a lot of outside sound. If you're in a busy area, you'll have to compensate by bumping the volume up. I haven't flown with them, but I imagine they aren't airplane friendly at all. I've never had them drowned out completely, even around construction, but mellower songs, quieter bass lines, and finer details will get lost if you don't turn it up. I want to emphasize that this doesn't mean you'll have to blast them in public. Just keep a spare pair of earbuds for flights.

That about sums it up. Should you buy these? That depends. If you've fallen in love with the way they look as I have, then yes, have no fear. Find a seller on Ebay to get you a set (I saw some U.K. online shops had them in stock as well, but being in the U.S., it seemed like ebay was the best option for me. I can recommend the seller I got them from if you ask.) Otherwise, if you don't care about the looks that much, you can get the cheaper-but-equivalent ATH-EM7s. You can pick those up for half the price and get the same sound, according to this guy (scroll to the bottom of the thread.) I don't know that guy, if the board he's posting on is known for credible audiophiles, or if what he says is true, but that should be motivation enough to at least research the EM7s, which would potentially save you about $50. For what it's worth, the raw specifications (click the model numbers on the left) are very close and the EM7s are a U.S. release, so you can get them on amazon or wherever Audio-Technica stuff is stocked, I imagine.

There you have it. If you haven't had the pleasure of listening to music on a high quality set of headphones and you decide to pick these up, be prepared for a revelation. It's about time you trashed those stock Ipod headphones anyway! Feel free to ask any questions. Wait--I'll answer the first one--yes, these are the Persona 3 headphones (the ones from the Limited Box in Japan...in game he has EM7s, which were the model that got replaced by the EM700s.)

Passages: Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami

"Within the mammal class, single-horned or odd-number-horned animals are a rarity and even something of an evolutionary anomaly. That is to say, they are evolutionary orphans, and for the most part, odd-horned species like these have virtually perished from the earth. Even among dinosaurs, the three-horned giant triceratops was an exception.

Considering that horns are close-range weapons, three would be superfluous. As with the the tines of forks, the larger number of horns serves to increase resistance, which would in turn render the act of thrusting cumbersome. Furthermore, the laws of dynamics dictate a high risk of triadic horns becoming wedged into mid-range objects, so that none of the three horns might actually penetrate the body of the opponent.

In the event of an animal confronting several predators, having three horns could hamper fluidity of motion; extracting horns from the body of one for redirection to the next could be awkward. These drawbacks proved the downfall of the three-horned animal: the twin horn or single horn was a superior design.

The advantage of two horns rests with the bilateral symmetry of the animal body. All animals, manifesting a right-left balance that parcels their strength into two ligatures, regulate their patterns of growth and movement accordingly. The nose and even the mouth bear this symmetry that essentially divides the function into two. The navel, of course, is singular, though this is something of a retrograde factor. Conversely, the penis and vagina form a pair.

Most important are the eyes. Both for offense and defense, the eyes act as the control tower, so a horn located in close proximity to the eyes has optimum effectiveness. The prime example is the rhinoceros, which in principle is a "unicorn." It is also extremely myopic, and that single horn is the very cause. For all practical purposes, the rhinoceros is a cripple. In spite of this potentially fatal flaw, the rhinoceros has survived for two unrelated reasons: it is an herbivore and its body is covered with thick armor plating. Hence it does not want for defense. And for that reason, the rhinoceros falls by body-type to the triceratops category.

Nonetheless, all pictures that exist of unicorns show the breed to be of a different stripe. It has no armor; it is entirely defenseless, not unlike a deer. If the unicorn were then also nearsighted, the defect could be disastrous. Even highly developed senses of smell or hearing would be inadequate to save it. Hunters would find it easy prey. Moreover, having no horn to spare, as it were, could severely disadvantage the unicorn in the event of an accident.

Still another failing of the single horn is the difficulty of wielding it with force, just as incisors cannot distribute a force equivalent to that of molars due to principles of balance. The heavier the mass, the greater the stability when force is applied. Obviously, the unicorn suffers physiodynamic defects.

"You're a real whiz at these explanations, aren't you?" I interrupted her. She burst into a smile and trekked two fingers up my chest.
"Logically," she continued, "there's only one thing that could have saved the unicorn from extinction. And this is very important. Any idea?"
I folded my hands where her fingers were and thought it over a bit, inconclusively. "No natural predators?" I ventured.
"Bingo," she said, and gave me a little peck on the lips. "Now think: what conditions would give you no natural predators?"
"Well, isolation, for one thing. Somewhere no hunter could get to," I hypothesized. "Someplace, say, on a high plateau, like in Conan Doyle's Lost World. Or down deep, like a crater."
"Brill!" she exclaimed, tapping her index finger now on my heart. "And in fact, there is a recorded instance of a unicorn discovered under exactly such circumstances."

I gulped. Uh-oh. "

Part of the evolutionary history of the unicorn, from Haruki Murakami's Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World. Another great example of how his style of magical realism can lead the reader to something we would normally consider absurd. On a side note, the story is not actually about the evolutionary history of unicorns. Rather, this is one of Murakami's lovely tangents that serves to make events in the story believable--in this case, the protagonist receives what he thinks is a unicorn skull from somebody and is having a woman read to him about it.

I'm about 150 pages in and this is definitely one of the more unique books I've read--it's actually two novels. They alternate between chapters. One, Hardboiled Wonderland, is kind of a cyberpunk-esque story with magical realism elements. Or is it the other way around...The other novel, the End of the World, is a fantasy world of sorts i.e. pure magical "realism." Not in that "Lord of the Rings" way though. If this description is making it sound like one half Blade Runner and one half Lord of the Rings, then I've completely failed, haha. In any case, it's all in Murakami's fairly low key, but descriptive style. That doesn't say anything at all, but go read a few passages at a book store--it's good stuff.