Dusty Chalk

I'll third or fourth or whatever the Quad 12L's, but really, speakers are such a personal choice (what type of sound do you go for?), you're going to have to audition the shit out of a goodly number of speakers. Okay, so you're not a fan of the SE sound -- do you like midrange? Do you like bass? Do you like detail? Another company in the "high efficiency" category that I've been watching on and off for some time now is Reference 3A, but most of their speakers with any bass are big -- the only small ones are the Dulcet and the MM deCapo. Nothing is going to work well against the wall unless it is designed to do so, but there are a couple. Gallo actually have wall mounts for their Stradas and the globe ones (but IIRC, the latter don't go loud at all, whereas the Stradas go loud just fine), and I believe both Focal and Dali have wall-mount speakers (I believe Dali have a whole line of wall-mount speakers). But I can definitely vouch for the Stradas, I'd find a way to audition those. They're not high-efficiency, but they're not "hard to drive", either. Actives are nice, but they're rarely small. You might want to find an active that has an external box, like SE Electronics' recently released egg speakers: But the bright side is, a lot of them have settings or whatnot for being against a wall, as a lot of studios are set up that way. The Mackies I have, for example, actually have exactly that setting (half wall, quarter wall, or no wall, or something like that). But they're huge, and the active electronics will weigh them down even more, so pretty much are nixed by your "go small or go home" requirement. Some of them are just designed to be against a wall, so don't rule them out if they don't have that setting.

HpA -- I wouldn't rule out family, neither. I mean, someone knew where those were. Was anything else missing, or did someone seem to know exactly where they were and how to get to them. I know you don't want to believe it was family, but you know the old adage about solving mysteries -- rule out the impossible, and what's left is the solution. And yeah, that sucks.

I am seriously thinking about listening to the entire Tales from Topographic Oceans paulstretched. Is there a 12-step program for this? Ah need halp.

Sympathies.

Yeah, I stand corrected. Didn't realize they had expanded their "elite" line -- basically, the upper left hand corner of this page. Looks like there are a couple others in the <US$1K range, including the Zillamatic, which I had looked at before, but dismissed for some reason. Don't remember. "Not black enough"? May have to revisit, in the not too distant future.

Tank-catapult made me laugh. It also reminded me to post this collab between two of my favorite YouTube entities -- Freddie Wong and Epic Meal Time -- a bit old, but worth reap oats:

Genesis, "Me & Sarah Jane", paulstretched

Depeche Mode, "In Your Room", paulstretched

You're complaining about her ass...being out of focus? Because if you're complaining about anything else, I'm not getting it. Of course, that may be my hormones preventing me from understanding... Me: Depeche Mode, "Behind the Wheel", remixed by Vince Clarke. Not paulstretched, not anything-stretched. Normal. For once.

In my mind, you know that because you're an envoy.

Tide.

You mean like the Alesis Protrack?

No, they're both quartz. I think the only automatics they do are in the >US$1k+ range (the ceramics, etc.).

She also "worked" with Freddie Wong briefly:

...decisions...decisions... I was told that the actual thickness of the gold (on, for example, the numbers' outlines) is the same between the two.

I have other people in my life (both Daves, both sisters, mother, my ex, ex's parents) who hardly ever see me in anything other than a T-shirt.* But yes, I do buy a fuckton of T-shirts... * Er...pants notwithstanding, that is...

Ribbons? What are they?

Goddamnit, I forgot to buy this again. I blame Jacob. Next coupon (this time I mean it).

I never get tired of Infected Mushroom -- listening to more of it now. Priorly: was listening to the new Stripmall Architecture that I got in the mail -- fucking awesome! I contributed to this project a little on Kickstarter(.com) -- the packaging is superb, I got a download coupon for uncompressed versions of the digital files (the package was for the vinyl) -- plus a copy of a live concert on DVD and demos on CD, plus I learned that Rebecca is working with John Fryer on a new project. Oh, and I hope it goes without saying that the album is immensely astoundingly good. It is. As high as my expectations were for it (I invested in it both emotionally and financially), they managed to exceed them. Which is hard. I'm a happy boy. Need to figure out what to call the demo CD, since apparently I am the first person to rip it to my iPod. I'm going with Made Silhouettes (in reference to the lyrics to the track, "Breath Makes Smoke").

Devin Townsend Project, Deconstruction & Ghost should be coming out soon, to follow up Ki and Addicted (four album series, not sure what the encapsulating theme is).

That's so wrong.

I have nothing to add, except: Nice! Castles are awesome.

A French malbec. It was okay. I drank the whole bottle. Whoops. Yes, it was one of those sufficiently advanced technology bottles that got better the more you drank from it.

Oh that's right, the Alaska -- that was hilarious! And yes, again -- I do appreciate the lift. The reason he picked me up was because I didn't want to walk up Castro -- not because I'm homophobic, but because it's all uphill. So I went up 17th instead. Yeah, that was better. Only because it held off being uphill for a couple blocks. Al ended up picking me up about a block past the top of the hill. Phone conversation went something like this: Al: Well, the only thing I can think of is that I just pick you up where you are. Me: Yeah, that's fine. Al: Well, that's at least 10 or 15 minutes away. Me: I'll catch my breath. Al: It'll take you at least 10 or 15 minutes to catch your breath? Me: Yes. It's funny -- you remember things that happened while inebriated -- only while inebriated (which I am now, mildly); and one remembers sober things sober (of course). Ah yes, the Alembic and ...Toronado, of course, how could I forget? Good times. And yes, I am much less stressed out when I'm on vacation. And: hooray! I succeeded at being less of a dick. I have such lofty goals.