failure weblog

okay, so i caved really fast. one week. i’m weak. sigh.
the new jbl speakers sound really nice, but they just don’t have enough low end. so saturday afternoon i went back and bought the jbl l8400p subwoofer (one 12 inch speaker in a sealed enclosure). …and an lc1 center channel speaker. yeah, that doesn’t provide low end…so? the lc2 is a four-way while the lc1 is three-way, but the lc2 is designed for wall mounting. i didn’t feel like messing with some kind of mount or stand, so the lc1 it was. they didn’t have either speaker in stock in cherry, so i had to wait and pick them up this evening. i must say, they all look very nice.
here’s a link to the entire studio-l series: jbl studio l
of course i also purchased an audioquest type 4 cable for the center channel, and a sub-1 cable for the subwoofer.
here’s a link to the entire audioquest site: audioquest
while i was there i went ahead and also picked up an audioquest vdm-xr cable so i can do digital audio (rca coax, not optical) from my dvd player to my receiver. i watched some of stanley kubrick’s clockwork orange sunday night after changing out my audio feed and i can already tell it’s going to be a nice upgrade.
my receiver can do 6+1, but i’m waiting on purchasing surround speakers. then of course one of these days i’ll have to replace the tv and move to composite video and such, but that’s not a priority for me at this point at all.
i’ll learn more about the capabilities of my new equipment over the next few days hopefully…

last weekend i bought a new pair of home stereo speakers. i’m not audiophiling it by any stretch of the imagination, but i finally have a decent amp/receiver, and a couple of good front speakers.
i got the jbl l890 studio l speakers in cherry. they’re four-way floorstanding speakers with a crisp upper range, okay mid-range, and adequate lower end (provided by two 8 inch speakers). i also bought some nice speaker cables — audioquest type 4. the amp, which i’ve had for awhile, is a sony str-da2000es.
all told, nothing too impressive — but it’s a far stretch better than what i’d had before. the cd player i own is a mid-90’s onkyo 6-disc changer i’ve had for a long time (since the mid-90’s). it’s standard analog rca out only.
a number of months back i bought a sony dvp-ns575p dvd/cd player. being newer, it’s got a few bells and whistles, like digital audio out, s-video and composite video out, dolby digital, dts, etc. but i’ve got it hooked up with the standard analog audio and video rca jacks. seeing as my tv is an old late 90’s rca 36 inch tube tv, a nicer video feed really isn’t going to do me much good. now that i’ve got better audio equipment though…

is there anything finer than having a stomach full of excellent mexican food, driving down the road listening to great Texas country music while smoking a cheap cigar? probably. but it’s pretty d4mn fine, nevertheless.
last night was the monthly “geek gathering” for the radio show i’m a part of (technology bytes, wed 8-10pm, 90.1 fm kpft). it was at tropioca on milam. it was pretty much all regulars, a few stragglers showing up an hour or two or three late.
after that, i headed over to blanco’s to listen to the traditional country of james hand. he’s got a new album out on rounder records entitled the truth will set you free, which i picked up. it was produced by ray benson and lloyd maines. it’s good to see james get an album out on a bigger label.

well, i finished watching the final episodes of Texas ranch house tonight.
i only got to see the last 30 minutes or so of yesterday’s episodes due to the radio show, but i was able to keep up tonight. i paid penance for the missing of yesterday’s by spending a couple of hours last night poking around online, finding interviews with some of the people and such.
so…i realize they spliced two plus months into 8 hours, and it’s easy to manipulate things (like showing footage in non-linear fashion (which they did), not giving context so something is misinterpreted by the audience (which they did), things happening due to rules set by the show but not stating or explaining it on camera (which they did), and so on), but in the end i think the overall final analysis was probably accurate and they probably in general boiled down the essence of the people fairly accurately. maybe it’s not traits they’d like made large, but i think they showed the traits that affected the show overall and led to the major events and the conclusion. for example: they played up the cooke women letting the house fall to pot after the cowboys left for the cattle drive…i wonder how true that was? and while i do think it was spliced to emphasize it, i believe the cooke adults had flaws that were a detriment to their positions on the ranch, flaws that led to the final analysis.
(spoilers coming) i don’t recall them playing it up (though they obviously chose to include the footage), but mrs. cooke at one point complained that the cowboys were always threatening mutiny and she thought they should call them on it. she also complimented her husband on his shrewd hard-bargaining skillz when paying the cowboys, and his treatment of jared. then she convinced mr. cooke to fire jared that day instead of letting him leave the next day. mr. cooke of course did it…and all the cowboys left with jared. there’s the payoff for playing hardball and calling the cowboys’ hands (especially that close to the end of the time out there).
the cooke family was obviously defensive and upset about the analysis, but like i said i think it was probably pretty accurate. especially given the stated goals of the show. plus mr. cooke was the one in the position of responsibility, so any failings ultimately fall on him. even if he is put in an unenviable position of dealing with people he did not get to choose himself, he was the manager/leader and they not only get the glory when things end well, they get the blame when things end poorly.
it made me think of the parts of colonial house that i watched…was it a couple of years ago? the educated older couple from california (he was/is a college professor) seemed to think they were so intelligent and liberal and advanced, yet they floundered around and were rude and disrespectful and so on. again, i’m sure editing can work wonders, but i’m betting there is enough truth there that it was evident to participants in the show.
back to Texas ranch house…it would have been cool to be in austin to watch the show at the alamo draft house and see jared. i did a bit of google searching to try and find an email address, but no definite hit. i’d love to buy him a beer next time i’m in austin and find out more about his experience.

i watched the second set of Texas ranch house tonight. i think it’s funny how some of them keep saying “cows” instead of “cattle”. my dad made sure to reprimand me every time i said “baby cow” instead of “calf” because he didn’t want me sounding like an ignorant city slicker, so i got a good learnin’ in the proper terms for things. i’ll have to miss tomorrow’s episodes due to the radio show, but in the previews it appears jared gets captured by indians.
after the show i decided to go get something to eat. it’s weird how randomly things hit me sometimes. i was walking out to the element and suddenly i was thinking in the moment how hard it is to believe this is my life. that events have unfolded so that i am where i am right now. it’s almost surreal. unfortunately, not in a good way. but it makes the world seem almost unreal…like i’m not actually in my life but acting through my body in situations that aren’t real. like i’m playing a video game (and i don’t like playing video games much, even though i love computers and computer culture). it continued…
i stopped by the grocery store. it was 10pm but i couldn’t find any signs big enough to read from my vehicle saying what their hours were, so i went ahead and parked. as i was walking up, a female security guard was opening the exit door for some people coming out and she looked at me seriously and gruffly barked “we’re closed!”. so i smiled and quietly said “excellent!” and started to turn, at which point she waved goodbye to me (as in “get out of here, goodbye”). so i gave a thumbs up as i walked away.
i then drove over to taco cabana, where i got to witness what i’m assuming was a drug purchase while i was sitting in my car talking to jack on my cell phone. i was kind of worried they might think i was an undercover cop (i’ve kind of got the odd cleancut-yet-grimy look), so i didn’t stare at them or try to see what they were doing. plus i’ve seen an ambulance wheel away a bullet-ventilated body from that parking lot before. and everyone in the restaurant seemed awkward and odd, like they were too quirky to all happen to be in the same place at the same time. and it felt like the edges of my vision were fuzzy and dark, like reality faded as soon as it got out of my field of sight.
maybe there’s some sort of glitch in the matrix right now. i just need to take some soma and everything will be good again.

i got home this evening and was bored so i turned on the tv. it just so happened that pbs was showing the first two of the eight part series Texas ranch house. it’s similar to all their other “edu-tainment” reality tv stuff, but it’s even better because it’s set on a cattle ranch in 1867 Texas. having had ancestors who lived that sort of thing (or at least pretty similar), it’s intriguing. one of the guys on the show is a self-professed “computer geek” from Texas (jared ficklin) whose ancestors came to Texas, and part of why he did the show was to experience on some level what his ancestors did. that’s pretty cool. it makes me kind of wish i’d known about it so i could have applied to be on it.
it appears that klru in austin is showing the finale at the lake creek alamo drafthouse on thursday for free, and jared will be there (link).
after that, brad called me up and i rode over to late nite pie to hang out with him and kelly and jason for awhile.
in other news entirely, i just noticed the blockbuster that was near my house is closed and the space is empty. hopefully netflix can take credit for that kill, and they didn’t just move into some other location. now if only all the various wal-marts around here could do likewise (yeah, “dream on” indeed…).

i’ve mentioned craig thompson’s really wonderful graphic novel blankets before, but a google search on “scattered few” — a proper yet incorrect spelling of the band “scaterd few” — had an interview with him as the first hit. here’s an excerpt:

i had a really isolated country upbringing. and i came to punk rock music through christianity, of all things. my brother and me started with all these christian punk bands and speed metal. i don’t know if you could even track them down now. crucified. scattered few. crashdog.
–from fearofspeed.net

it’s funny how much i identified with large parts of his past in the book, and now this interview puts even more similarities in place. of course, i still maintain a belief in christianity, but it’s cool how many shared experiences exist that can tie me even more closely to his story. it’s also nice he listed three of the better bands from the xian music scene at the time, which — considering the utter crap that was around — leads me to believe he had decent tastes….or he’s hiding bad bands he liked. hey, we all do it. 🙂
i’ve said it before, but i’ll say it again: check out his graphic novel blankets. i obviously can relate to it in ways a lot of people probably can’t, but there is plenty that is universal in it, told wonderfully and drawn and laid out beautifully. there’s a good reason so many people without backgrounds in comics and graphic novels showered praise on it.
my google results also led me to the realization that drew from “the dawn and drew show” podcast is drew domkus from scaterd few. which led me to scaterdfew.com, where allan aguirre is podcasting the history and meaning of scaterd few and their songs.

today at work for some reason i thought of some toys my brother and i had way back in the late 70’s. they were called shogun warriors. they were these 2-feet tall plastic/vinyl robot toys on rolling wheels that shot objects from their hands. he had mazinga and i had dragun. thanks to the wildtoys.com site for making the info and pics available so i could read about these things. i still think about them every now and then.
i got the dominoes i ordered. they’re not perfect, but they’re pretty nice. i’m thinking i’m still going to get some puremco dominoes at some point. i’ll either try to get some old ones, or get some customized new ones. we’ll see. i still need to find a circle of cool folk to play dominoes with. i may end up hitting the retirement communities and nursing homes. i wouldn’t plan to find a ladyfriend there, but i bet i’d find some domino players. who knows…maybe someone there will like motorcycles… 😉
i bought some music after work today:

• coal chamber – coal chamber (roadrunner) this is the roadrunner 25th anniversary series, with bonus tracks and a dvd of live shows and videos
• ladytron – 604 (emperor norton) this is a re-release with bonus tracks
• shooter jennings – put the o back in country (universal south)
• shooter jennings – electric rodeo (universal south)
• zz top – tres hombres (warner bros) this is the remastered and extended release
• zz top – fandango! (warner bros) this is the remastered and extended release

kind of a somewhat eclectic purchase, i suppose.
i’ve been reading a book on design. (as in “graphic design”.) sometimes i wish i would have done something more artistic in nature, like graphic design, illustration, or architecture…something that’s still technical, but with more opportunity for artistic creativity. not that i couldn’t still do that, i suppose. but there’s more entropy when you already have a career and are used to a level of income. and are lazy. especially when you’re lazy. 🙂

a year or more ago i’d gotten interested in dominoes, and after looking around had developed in my mind exactly what i wanted: double six, spinners, black pips, two-tone (preferably not black). unfortunately, while i could find each of those elements, i could not find them in one set of dominoes. eventually i gave up. i ordered some other kinds of dominoes which were still odd variations (double six, no spinners, red with yellow pips, and double six, no spinners, orange with black pips), but those were not very good quality.
today for some reason i looked again, and what to my surprise did i find but exactly the dominoes i’d been looking for: double six, spinners, black pips, red and white two-tone. i placed an order for them, and a set of similar black and white two-tones. i’ll be curious to see what kind of quality they are. now if i can just find some people to play dominoes with me (preferably 42). 😐
i decided to catch a movie today, so i went up to river oaks and saw the 4:30pm showing of the devil and daniel johnston. daniel now lives in waller…didn’t know that. he also, like me, grew up in the churches of christ. whenever i find out someone grew up in the churches of christ, i usually feel like i have some sort of kinship or bond with them. especially if they’re artists, because i feel like maybe i can identify with some of the background that i think leads to what they have going on in their head between good and evil that seems to come out in what they create. (there are plenty of people who grew up in the churches of christ that i don’t identify with and don’t really like, so it’s not universal.) anyway, i’m not sure i’ll ever be a fan of daniel’s work as a whole, but his lyrics are really good and some of his music is really nice. beyond the music, the film is a good story about the effect of mental illness on a person and those around them, especially the family.
and as to that natalie portman snl digital short i mentioned, here’s a link:
natalie portman: gangsta style

a day or two ago i finished reading soldiers of misfortune: the somervell and mier expeditions by sam w. haynes. it was written about…well, the title says…but it really provided a lot of information about things going on in the political landscape of the republic of Texas during the time period, and about Texas and its relations with mexico, the united states, and england. if you’re a fan of Texas history, are interested in aspects of what led Texas to become a part of the u.s., and/or wonder about some of the more historical aspects of relations between Texas and mexico, this is a fairly easy and quick read that will give you all of that and more, in the setting of providing information about the decisions that led up to the somervell and mier expeditions and what happened to the men that were a part of them.
in other news, did you see the snl digital short with natalie portman tonight? that was awesome.