Dusty Chalk

Unholy carp, that whole film is on YouTube.

Oh, wait, never mind, I figured it out (thanks, SW) -- you mean back as in behind the speakers. Yeah, I had mine in a corner with the monitor in the middle between them -- worked fine, but doesn't help you any.

Unholy carp!

They are quite good for nearfield listening -- they were my work computer speaker rig for quite a while. Why would the back wall be a problem? Unless you have your desk situated differently than I am expecting, and/or you listen at unreasonably high volumes, it shouldn't be. That's why people listen nearfield. I didn't take care of the power-up problem. I tended to reach around back at the beginning of the day's first listening session and turn them on, and leave them on until I left (they were at work). They were driven by a DAC that didn't have an off, so left that on all the time. I know, not green, but this was work, so didn't care. I have to admit to not having heard of the silver finish before now, neither. I am not aware of limited edition finishes, but some are nicer than others. Try to find pics online. I have the ebony, and had to keep the lighting subdued ("romantic") not to show fingerprints and dust all the time. The grainier ones don't show those up as badly. Pick what you like.

Jack White, Blunderbuss -- going to rigorously (and tiggerously) go through this list, as the Maccabees' album was indeed superb. It (the whole list) has got a British slant, which is fine by me.

Happy belated, Ben! (party favor noise -- blat!)

This. Me too. Thanks for taking time out of your busy day and commiserate over beers and everything. And even though I was stressed out and not on vacation, I still wasn't an asshole. Much. I don't remember what all I had, but it was something like a Chouffe Brune? Chocolate City something (that was outstanding) -- Cerveza Nacional de la Capital? A Leffe something, and a Bell's Kalamazoo Stout. Belched and farted all the way home. Yeezh.

Love the wall pull-back at 1:05 in the Hugo video. For some reason, it put me in mind of Hitchhiker's Guide...

They Will Have Their Way -- The Songs of Tim & Neil Finn -- this is all kinds of wonderful. Doesn't hurt that I'm terribly fond of the source material. A lot of the songs are done in the what I call Lilith Fair style, but there are some standouts -- Lisa Miller's version of "I Hope I Never" is a late-night strum and vibrato fest that brings to mind Angelo Badalamenti's work on Twin Peaks with Julee Cruise. There are some recognizable names on here, too -- Natalie Imbruglia, Sarah Blasko, stellar*, et al. Correction: it's not all Lilith Fair style. They must have thrown all the female singer songwriters at the beginning.

What's up with West Virginia? Also, very cool. Well, not to anyone who has been affected, but from a purely scientific perspective...nice data representation.

In about 19 minutes, several of us will have purchased Amanda Fucking Palmer's next release as part of the Kickstarter. Jesus Effin' Ache Christ -- over one. million. dollars. Over 11 times the kickstarter requirement, as of this posting.

Dagnabit, deal is expired.

"But it now!"?

Took Bobby over to Linda's for a play date with the cat formerly known as Batou and is currently going with the working title of Diego (a Zorro reference). Bobby was a horrible guest, but understandably so, and at least he didn't rough up the little guy, and even Missy (3rd cat -- Bobby's ex-roommate, sort of) kept him in his place, so ... we're still working out the kinks, but it's not unrecoverable.

That might be my favorite British comedy of all time.

Pornopop, Blue -- wow, that was completely different. From the raucousness of Fashionably Thin to the missing Legendary Pink Dots' Premonition instrumental of Siva, this has as much variety as The Gathering's How To Measure A Planet?, but with less of an ear towards hooks. My Bed = My Gravity is like a missing Cure track, almost. Definitely going back for seconds.

Weebles wobble, but they don't...

(makes a note of it)

If you're familiar with music production, and are a fan of Alan Parsons, the Dark Side of the Moon one is fun. If for no other reason than to hear what something simple like flanging does to the girly vocals, and to hear some of the tracks soloed (like the aforementioned flanged girly vocals). Or Rick Wright's take on chord voicing in Breathe. The Aja one is good too, just for the rejected guitar solos in Peg.

Pornopop, ...and the Slow Songs about the Dead Calm in Your Arms -- post rock along the lines of Sigur Ros, except lyrics are in English rather than madeupese.

Finished both of those (the Alastair Reynolds was Revelation Space -- reading them entirely out of order, previously read Century Rain, House of Suns, The Prefect, and Pushing Ice). Started Redemption Ark and Fool Moon.

Played with Batou...who's probably being renamed. Possibly Seamus. Person caring for him doesn't like "Batou", says he "looks scary", not "cute". So she came up with "Shamu", because curled up, he kinda looked like a killer whale. So I said, "so 'Batou' is not cute enough, but 'Shamu' -- a KILLER WHALE -- is okay?" She looked adequately sheepish, and said that Seamus might be okay.

Banh Mi sandwiches (two halves -- I'll have the other two halves tomorrow morning for breakfast) from Pho Nom Nom (best. restaurant. name. evar...well, no, that would be Pho King, but Pho Nom Nom comes in second.).

Hey, don't laugh -- I have one of those A/C units. Had it for work -- they'd turn the A/C off in the building after 6 or so, which these days is before sunset, and with two or three computers running, it got hot in there quickly. Just vented it out into the hallway, since up until recently (October-ish), there hasn't been anyone else around.

Bobby. Look at that smile. This is him at his happiest, in "his chair", with his head resting against mah knee (slightly out of frame).