Flash Wristband

Imation – Flash Wristband
Imation Flash Wristband is the new, convenient way to transfer, share and save digital files. Whether it’s homework, photos, graphics, music or e-mails, it’s all protected beneath a flexible blue or black rubber shell. Always at the ready, the 256MB Flash Wristband is the indispensable, go-anywhere accessory for the everyday professionals and consumers.

Raise to 2GB, add a watch LCD, maybe add GPS… five years?

Email:Weblog

An email I sent out this morning addresses the email vs weblog issue:

Please stop. You should understand that sharing is one thing, via a blog or web page for example, and that bombarding somebody with email is quite another. That I do not consider sharing.

Sharing via a place on the net is cool, because I can chose to visit that place or not. Sharing via email is not cool, because I am forced to deal with your email.

The person in question was thankfully very understanding.

Pangea

Discovered the above lotion on Saturday while looking for a product that does not use Parabens. Great looking brown bottle design. The scents are lovely, if a bit too strong for my taste, and the lotion feels great.

Ecocentric Bodycare
Always: nurturing, handcrafted, organic, fair-trade (whenever possible), cruelty-free
Never: petroleum, sulfates or detergents, synthetic preservatives, artificial colors or frangrance, GMOs

The other product I use on my hands is Travertine’s Shea Hand and Nail cream. This Shea cream is rich and non-greasy and last winter it healed my hands and cuticles which were in bad shape. Fantastic stuff. Highly recommended.

Year of the Dog

Tomorrow begins a new year, the year 4703 by the Chinese calendar. It is the Chinese year of the Dog.

Chinese New Year – 2006 is Year of Dog.
January 29, 2006 is the first day of the Chinese new year.

And if you are wondering what Dog people are like – here is a summation from the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco:

People born in the Year of the Dog possess the best traits of human nature. They have a deep sense of loyalty, are honest, and inspire other people’s confidence because they know how to keep secrets. But Dog People are somewhat selfish, terribly stubborn, and eccentric. They care little for wealth, yet somehow always seem to have money. They can be cold emotionally and sometimes distant at parties. They can find fault with many things and are noted for their sharp tongues. Dog people make good leaders.

I know a dog person. Loyal – check, honest – check, selfish – possibly, stubborn – check, eccentric – probably, caring little for wealth – check, distant at parties – check, sharp tongue – check.

Chinese folks don’t generally celebrate their birthdays until they reach 50 or 60 years of age. Individual birthdays are not celebrated, rather the first day of the new year is the day all birthdays are celebrated. A really big party!

So, I will celebrate my Chinese birthday tomorrow, and my western birthday next week on Wednesday.

Now I am off to the studio with a headful of ideas.

Music & Business

Robert Fripp’s Diary
In the world of music, (it appears to us that) the musician creates the music. It is more accurate to say that music creates the musician. For a musician, it is not a ‘temptation’ to be present & involved when music becomes available to enter the phenomenal world: it is a matter of being & doing who & what we are. A musician who undertakes the professional life enters a life of grief and pain: what has value is accorded a price. But when a musician believes that music is a commodity, music has just died in them.

Yes, all true. The question is, as professional musicians do we spend more time making music than we would be able to if we had another job and music was our special ‘hobby’. Or are we bogged down by business decissions we have to make.

This reminds me of our ListeningLounge. Download purchases per song unfortunately are in the hundreds, not the thousands. The cost of creating the LL and of running it are currently higher than the returns. This raises the question what am I willing to do to promote the LL and myself. Not much actually. If you, the listener, enjoy the LL you will tell others.

Read on and don’t miss this gem, a letter to Fripp from a Japanese fan:

’Cold’ means a highest state of performance of total objectivity, no intension of trying to express something personal after an endless discipline. In other words, ’It is Just there’ I suppose.

And toward the end Fripp talks about recording splashes for Windows. I thought he’d be mad that somebody video-taped the session, but he does not mention that.