The beauty of simple things, little things, overlooked things…
Watercolor paperclips on Flickr.
iPhone translations:
I wonder how much more likely it is that a person understands a sentence when they can see the mouth move. How important is lip-reading in daily life? I imagine it is more important than we might think.
Here is a photo I took in Amarillo yesterday. (((Amarillo = Yellow in Spanish))) I used a 99c app called ShakeItPhoto that turns the iPhone into a Fauxlaroid (fake polaroid) camera.
Speaking of iPhones (((on our bus 8 people carry 3 iPhones + 2 iPods))), what if someone created an iPod/iPhone application that contained a new album of music in mp3 form, a few nice video clips and a browser that could connect to a server to view or download the latest photos? I believe the maximum size for an iPhone app is 2GB – plenty of space for an album of high quality 320kbps music plus some video! (((maybe even Apple Lossless files!!)))
I think it is an interesting concept. Files could be locked to the application and yet they could be played anywhere one can attach an iPhone. It seems like an obvious idea – has anyone made such an app? I don’t mean apps that stream music, I mean an actual iPhone music album in app form.
More High Definition download stores are popping up.
Here is trumpet player Jon Hassell’s excellent album Fascinoma in form of a 24/88.2 FLAC file.
I knew that “Soiled Dove” (((the name of the venue we played in Denver))) was some kind of UK slang. A brief search brought to light that “Soiled Dove” means “Prostitute”, which, you have to admit, is an interesting name for a venue in a city that has always struck me as being quite conservative. :-)
By the way, I heard from three Ottmar-Friends subscribers that went to the shows at the Soiled Dove that they like venue, that the sound was very good (((Alan’s got good ears!))) and that they enjoyed the performance. It’s nice to read comments like this:
I was at the second show. It was superlative.
I was glad the audience gave you a standing ovation. You (collective “you”) deserved it. The show definitely reinforced the idea that no matter how high-def one records a performance, it’s never as high def as the live concert.
There is just nothing as great as a live concert.
Thanks! That comment illustrates once again the need for a plural you in the English language, a problem solved by New Yorkers, who might use Yous! and Southerners, who use Y’all, but what about everyone else? :-) (((I may have had too much coffee today…)))
Alan likes to hear that it sounded great:
I read this quote somewhere recently:
One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important. – Bertrand Russell
That’s the contraction of the self… and here is the expansion:
deep blue sky « neo bohemia What is the true self? It is brilliantly transparent, like a deep blue sky, and there is no gap between the true self and all sentient beings. – Kodo Sawaki
I am going to enjoy my day off in Dallas. Every once in a while we get to stay in a nice hotel, when the price is right. For example, the Teatro hotel in downtown Denver gave us nearly the same rate as the La Quinta in Salt Lake City the day before, and I think it is a very nice hotel – see the photo I took from the roof, right outside my room.
The reason he’s quitting isn’t because of AT&Ts horrible network, which everyone with an iPhone has been begrudgingly putting up with for two years now. No, it’s the Google Voice debacle.
He really wants to use Google Voice, but in order to do so, he needs the app for it to really work. It’s not just an inconvenience; it’s seriously detracting from how he can use his cellphone. And with legit GV apps available for both BlackBerry and Android, he doesn’t have to. So he’s terminating his iPhone contract.
And really, power to him. If GV was important to me, I’d do the same. And I’m sure Arrington isn’t the only person furious enough to cancel their iPhone service over this, he’s just one of the most visible. So Apple, pay attention. Because lately your App Store nonsense has crossed from irritating to inexcusable, and that’s just not going to work in the long term. [TechCrunch]
I also hope Apple pays attention. They have handled this extremely badly, first approving several Goggle Voice apps four months ago (((I use GV Mobile, which is excellent))) and now suddenly janking them from the store. Naturally people are now demanding refunds. Problem is, refunds are not issued by Apple but by the app-makers, and from what I understand Apple gets to keep their commission, which means the app-developers are actually losing money!! In the meantime Skype, Truphone and other VOIP apps are still available! Is this specifically directed against Google? Why?
I am not updating to 3.0.1 until I know Apple won’t yank the GV Mobile app from my iPhone in the process. And, it goes without saying, I have zero loyalty to AT+T, who are probably behind this stunt.
In a letter sent Friday to Apple, the agency asked the company why Google Voice was rejected, which related applications have been rejected along with it, and what role AT&T may have played in the decision. It also asked what the difference is between Google Voice and other VoIP (voice over Internet Protocol) software that has been approved for the iPhone.
I enjoyed a slow morning in Sparks. Watched Tokyo! on my laptop, a 2008 film that contains three segments written by three non-Japanese directors. Didn’t care much for the first two films that, but the third and last film, by a Korean director, was amazing and easily the best of the three. Beautifully filmed!
I received an email from a fan who did not like that the concert at Boulder Station was “only” 75 minutes long. (((BTW, we played very well and received a standing ovation)))
I get at least one or two emails like that after every show in Las Vegas. Most casinos, with the exception of the Nugget in Sparks/Reno who let us play for 90 minutes, limit performances to 75 minutes (((as do clubs where we do two shows a night))).
It’s pretty simple, really. Casinos want to lure people to gamble. They offer shows at a decent ticket-price and hope that some folks stay to play the slots after the concert. The longer the concert, the less likely it is that people stay in the casino afterward – I am sure this is based on research or experience.
Let’s look at the ticket-price-to-concert-length ratio:
Ticket prices at the Celebrity in Phoenix, where we played a full show, were $45 and $65. Tickets at Boulder Station in Vegas went from $24.50 to $45.50. 120 minutes for $45 = 2.67 minutes per dollar, versus 75 minutes for $24.50 = 3.06 minutes per dollar. Or, if you prefer, the Celebrity charged 37 cents per minute and Boulder Station charged 32 cents.
So, your dollar actually buys you more music at Boulder Station. That’s pretty much all there is to it. A solution, of course, would be for clubs and casinos to print their time-limit on every ticket. Or should they?
Also, if you want to see a band in a small venue, chances are that they will play two shows and the performances will be shorter. That goes more or less for the Blue Note in Manhattan, Anthology in San Diego, One World in Austin &c.
And music is abandoned in favor of accounting. We abandon poetry and music at our peril, because I believe we need and crave grace and elegance and creativity in our lives. And, beyond music and poetry, those qualities also need to inform the things we use, the things we surround ourselves with and so on. Quality over quantity. A few useful and beautiful things are worth more than thousands of possessions. (((a great 75 minute performance is a great performance and easily better than a mediocre 120 minute performance… although I have to say that we had a really, really good night in Phoenix last week – but you’ll get my drift!)))
one hundred push ups
Stephen and I are on that push up plan. On the grass in Newport, in Santa Barbara, in the Rialto theater’s green room, in the Vegas hotel today. So far neither of us reports any problems playing guitar…
Slashdot Science Story | Swine Flu Kills Obese People Disproportionally “Bloomberg is reporting that the World Health Organization discovered a single, surprising characteristic that’s emerged among swine flu victims who become severely ill: They are all fat. Infected people with a body mass index greater than 40 suffer respiratory complications that are harder to treat and can be fatal. The virus appears to be on a collision course with the obesity epidemic. WHO officials are gathering statistics to confirm and understand this development.
Played around with the Brushes iPhone app. That would certainly work really well on the rumored Apple tablet… A useful invention would be some kind of silicon-tipped brush, which would offer more control than a finger-tip.
I was up early, at 06:00, and while I was not yet packing, I was thinking about it.
Here are before and after pix of my headphones.
Before:
and After: I mentioned these headphones before – here and here. For some silly reason the headphones come in a box with two interchangeable cables, one curly and one straight, when instead one cable should have a 1/4″ plug and the other a mini-plug. I don’t care about curly versus straight, but I know I don’t want to plug that monster (first image) into my iPhone! Anyway, problem solved. Alan Behr came over this morning and soldered the small Neutrik plug I had ordered, to one of the cables – in exchange for a couple of Caffe Shakerato to fuel his bike-ride back to the hotel…
