Le Robo-Daggit McSmurf Jawn Blog
How-to for Breakdancing fnord Catburglars

I've had The Bourne Ultimatium on the top of my Netflix queue for WEEKS. All it says is "Long Wait" and they default to the next movie in my queue. I mean...ya'll don't have enough discs?? What is this crap? As a whole, I've enjoyed my Netflix experience. But this has been annoying.

On the lighter side, I saw Barry Lyndon tonite for the first time, suggested by (once upon a time) poster, Claude Balls.

I really enjoyed it. I liked how the first half was kindof like Forrest Gump: he goes from one amazing circumstance to the other. Very entertaining. And then the 2nd part was very intense and dramatic.

The shots were *SICK* throughout the movie. Some of the scenes were downright amazing, what with the sets, the castles and gardens, the costumes and the lighting. Great stuff. Not a short movie by any stretch at 3 hours, complete with intermission. But I never thought it dragged on. In fact, I enjoyed how these scenes were shot in long takes, almost like a "real-time" experience. I didnt recognize a single actor in that jam but they were great in the long takes with their nuanced, snobbish "upper-society" demeanors, etc.

The Texas Space Banana Website

Captain EO!



Part 2

Making of...

I've been reading about Second Life, the online social networking game/tool/economy for the better part of three years now. It always intrigued me, and in fact there was a regular column dedicated to it in the only gaming rag I subscribe to.

But just recently a few of my friends have gotten into it, setting up clubs and promoting their DJ nites and such. They invited me to check it out and so I went for t.

I downloaded the free client, setup an avatar and honestly, it's pretty funky. People purchase virtual land, and then you can sell virtual goods. And get real-world currency in return. Second Life generates more money for its economy than some real-world nations do.

But don't be deterred — it's absolutely free. If you want to pay for a lap dance or buy some land, that's entirely on you. There's tons of free stuff.

Speaking of lap dances, I thought I'd post some pictures of my recent vacation to a red light district in Second Life (click for larger views):


Here's a picture of me flying to my destination. Yes, you can fly. A buddy gave me the flying feather and made it all possible.


Right, then. Here's me looking around at some of the local shops. This one sells "Rubber Pussy". Hmmm...


Here I am getting my groove on in a finer family establishment with some of the employees. Clothing, apparently, entirely optional! They were actually having a dance-off contest. I was a smash hit when I walked in the door.


After a full night of partying, the after party was at some weird Arabian rooftop thing. Here I am getting my (assumed) drunken 2-move dance on.

You guys should check it out. There's a ton of places to explore. And you can make your own objects and shit and essentially do anything you want. It has built-in 3d modeling and texturing programs. It's nuts. Check it out, and give me a holler if you want me to take you around and get you started!

I found this to be blockhead-free and strangely inspiring.

Evil Mad Scientists web

Came across a link to the entire Conet Project (4 discs):

http://irdial.hyperreal.org/the%20conet%20project/

I got around downloading each song track-by-track by opening my ftp program and putting the above url in. It logged me right in and I was able to download the folders.

So the other nite when I was going through some old audio files I came across a song I did in 96' called, "Transient Groove" that samples some number station stuff. Here it it:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/56727685ebb06d/

The mighty Casio FZ-1: Cherished by its owner, admired by many. A legendary piece of equipment to be certain. The FZ-1 we all know and loved may have met an unfair fate, but its soul still burns!

While virtual crate digging in the archives, I came across a bunch of sound files I recorded while I had Cleveland's FZ-1 on loan for a day or two back in 1999/2000!. I tried to rack up as many tunes as I could during that brief session so many years ago, and I just found a bunch of the original recordings tonite. And while their names remain interesting ("Insect Mind Fuck," "Helen," "Psycho Turnicate Funk"), the actual "songs" remain to be proven of their appeal.

More-so audio score tests than constructed pop songs, I've posted one with minimal post-processing: I upped the gain a bit, and this file has tweaked-out vocal clips I inserted (with a vocal distortion effect I am pretty proud of). Aside from those 2 changes, this recording was done entirely live.

OK, without further adieu:

http://www.zshare.net/audio/563858648c6e61/

Lemme know what ya think!

Where will Jawn Bloggers be over the holidays?
Anyone up for hanging out?

How does one say "WTF" in Czech? If you know, maybe you can confirm this tidbit from Warren Ellis:

”'Jozin z bazin' ('Joe from the Swamps')... is about a swamp monster that specializes in devouring citizens of Prague and which can be destroyed only by a crop-dusting plane."

For the Doctor Who fans in the house:

Even if I didn't have an affection for the delirious, politically incorrect mystery stories of Sax Rohmer (creator of the Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu), I'd still have picked up this weird old paperback just for the wha-huh??? cover art. This book came out in 1975, from the same publisher that also put out a then-new edition of The Romance of Sorcery, Sax Rohmer's breathless -- and even, occasionally, factually correct -- history of the occult.

There's a great book by Gary Lachman (ex-member of Blondie) called Turn Off Your Mind: The Dark Side of the Age of Aquarius which is all about the bizarre, occult-influences in late '60s pop culture (bleeding into the early '70s as I recall)... and part of the discussion relates to the sudden tide of high weirdness that started filling up the drugstore paperback racks.

Close the pandimensional gateways and lock your third fuckin' eye, this occasional online conglomeration of weird shite returns with a new batch of insanity to screw with your cerebellum, including, but not limited to: bizarro experimental pseudo-documentary WAX: The Discovery of Television Among the Bees; a documentary about the strange life and stranger death of right wing conspiracy freak / UFO nut Wild Bill Cooper; the fake encyclopedia from another planet known as Codex Serafinianus; and a look at the work of UK graffiti genius Banksy.

Grey Lodge Occult Review #18 is here, but the front door to the site will give you access to their podcasts, weird news of the week, and other fun stuff. Oy. If only there were enough hours in the day to absorb all this madness...

(Heads up to herrdoktor -- if you like ubuweb.com, you will dig this special.)

So I went to bleep.com when I got home to see if they had the 4 volume "Arcive" works by Future Sound of London I posted about earlier. And they did at $9.99 a pop (if you havent checked out bleep.com yet, please do: It's a Warp off-shoot but they carry many like-minded labels...and it's Designer Republic designed).

So anyway, browsing the FSOL catalogue, I came across a new album of theirs from this year, something called, A Gigantic Globular Burst of Antistatic.

I googled that bitch, and found a page on the FSOL website:

FSOL have begun exploring working in surround sound. This technology has provided them with the perfect opportunity to revisit and explore the deeper realms and possibilities of the initial seeds of their Lifeforms audio experimentation and has resulted in a specially constructed audio-architecture piece entitled A Gigantic Globular Burst of Anti-Static, commissioned by Kinetica.

There's a video too with the guys in the studio/theatre. 5.1 seems like the next logical step for these guys. I know Brows and G-Town -- we used to talk about similar stuff.

Definitely worth peeping. My boy, by the way, copped the Archive Vol 1 from iTunes earlier today and sent it to me. Shit is mad flavors buttersworth esquire iii. I'm going to cop the other 3 archives now at Bleep.

Anecdotedly, do you guys remember how FSOL had one of the first web presences online? At least that I could recall. Ahead of the game, yo.

Totally stumbled on this. FSOL has released a 4 volume set of "Archive" material digitally.

The megaload is here:

http://www.fsoldigital.com/

It looks like Volume 1 is on iTunes with the DRM-free "iTunes Plus" service.

Stay tuned (see my pun??!)...This is too much music for me to review here at work...I'll investigate some possible purchases later tonite.

Stockhausen always said that GOD gave birth to him and calls him home.

…for love is stronger than death.

On December 5th he ascended with JOY through HEAVEN’S DOOR, in order to continue to compose in PARADISE with COSMIC PULSES in eternal HARMONY, as he had always hoped to do: You, who summon me to Heaven, Eva, Mikael and Maria, let me eternally compose music for Heaven’s Father-Mother, GOD creator of Cosmic Music.

This is one of the most refreshing visual styles I have seen in anime in a long time.

The movie is called Tekkon Kinkreet which translates into "Black & White".

I *highly* recommend it. It's seriously impressive. Incidentally, a friend from Philly moved to Japan and is a part of the studio that made this into a film (Studio 4C). I didn't know they were reposnsible for the film until the credits rolled. So there's some Philly in this movie :)

But here's a great article. Definitely check it out:

Ping Mag Link

Huh? No? Well, we've stumbled upon William S. Burroughs, Survival Research Labs, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Edgar Varese, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, J.G. Ballard, John Cage, Henry Miller and about 1000 others all hanging out in recorded format of one form or another at UbuWeb. Or as they say, "UbuWeb is a completely independent resource dedicated to all strains of the avant-garde, ethnopoetics, and outsider arts. "

This may take awhile.....

here's the eerie Quicktime:

http://media.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/av/dn13004V1.mov

and here's the original article:

http://technology.newscientist.com/channel/tech/dn13008-flexiblejointed-robot-is-no-pushover.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

Discuss.

Check this site for Warp artist Flying Lotus. Asteroids meets scratchy ambient bumped up to 2008.
http://www.flying-lotus.com/attack/

why can't our television be this good?
Jekyll miniseries is now on DVD.
They took some forgivable creative liberties with the original
story. This is meant to be a companion / continuation to the original,
but well worth checking out...

promo:


also a decent little intro for you... without giving much away
(yes-FWIW, that's NBC's new Bionic Woman, Michelle Ryan):

This is like 900 billion times better than Streamline or Live Trace as far as i can tell.

Check it out:

http://vectormagic.stanford.edu/

We just watched this horrible movie Left Behind
starring Kirk Cameron and based on the
best-selling christian fiction Left Behind
about the biblical prediction of The Rapture.
What was even more hilarious were the included trailers for other films by Cloud 10 Films.
Thankfully, the trailers are also available on site, check them out...
you'll find theatrical titans the likes of Mr. T, Judd Nelson and
Jeff "The Lawnmower Man" Fahey.

I've been hearing about this growing Christian-Right movement
in Hollywood... apparently they make comedies.
Maybe this is a sign of the coming apocalypse.

P.S. There is also a believe it or not- Left Behind game ,
which the looks a little wack.

Planet Unicorn Episode 2

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But, it has to look, it has to be the way he would made the picture then, only making it now. But, the way he would make it then. If he was alive now making this now, he would make it now as if he made it back then."

— Martin Scorsese, on preserving Hitchock's, "The Key to Reserva."

Awesome:

http://www.scorsesefilmfreixenet.com/video_eng.htm

With all the subservient film work I've been doing of late
(read- working for other ppl)... it got me thinking about
what my first (and subsequent) feature(s) would be.
Since Contact has already made a reasonably good and
faithful translation to the big screen, I'm thinking of adapting
one of my other favorites. Specifically, I'm talking about

Firesign Theater's 1971
recorded radio-play We're all Just Bozos on this Bus.

I know some of you are already familiar with this seminal and prophetic work by the Firesign collective.
I would strongly recommend paying this recording another
visit or two. Anyone who has never heard it should consider
a few undistracted passes- once or twice for story alone-
as deeper meaning / interpretation is found in the details.
Also, consider a technical listen from the engineering /
production standpoint. The audio production design is fantastic and imaginative...
a must listen for anyone who makes things in audio.

I recently exposed a younger colleague to this and
through that pass I realized how truly invested I am in this story.

I was hoping to start a dialog here specifically about this piece or about Firesign in general
(but that prob deserves a whole nuther post, if not a whole site)

Here is a transcript of the liner notes and a good overview on same site.

Since I am a new Mac user, officially, starting today, I was curious what Logic offers over Cubase?

When people mentioned Logic in the past I didn't pay it too much mind, but Spacek mentions it in that video interview I posted and says after he used Logic, he jumped the Cubase ship right-quick...Why?

Pretty hot 2-part video interview (also transcribed). Goes into Detroit and Chicago influences.

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/TUTORS.9.0.html?act_session=251

a shitload of other hot interviews, including one with Bob Powers (Stitch):

http://www.redbullmusicacademy.com/PEOPLE.85.0.html

the main reason i've been sort of absent from these parts is two fold:

• work has been bananas.
• i completed this remix which will appear on a vinyl release.

you should probably listen to the original version first.

i am pretty excited about this. i am also supposed to be doing an ep or something for vinyl release through the same dude who is putting this out. it will most likely be based on old dance beats much like this remix. cool times!

please do me a favor and do not repost this or give it to anyone who is going to spread it around the intertron, after all it is going to be for sale come the first of the year. i would agree that i am being paranoid, but this will be the first time that i am going to have anything released officially (on vinyl no less) and i don't want anything to happen that is going to screw it up!

big up to stitch for running the shit through his old ass gear for me.

On 22 November 1987, an unexplained transmission took over two TV stations in Chicago. To this day who did it and why remains a mystery.

During a broadcast of Dr. Who on WTTW Chicago Channel 11, on Sunday November 22nd, 1987, at around 11:15pm, a Video "Pirate" wearing a Max Headroom mask broke into the signal and transmitted one of the weirdest, unauthorized things ever to hit the Chicago airwaves. Earlier in the evening on the same day, during the Nine O'Clock News on Channel 9 (Yes, a completely different channel) the Max Headroom Pirate also broke in - although it was for a much shorter time and there was no audio.

Link:

http://cgi.fark.com/cgi/fark/youtube.pl?IDLink=3218289

I just watched the TRANSFORMERS movie on DVD and
as a result either my IQ dropped 20-30 points
or I am now 10% dumberer. Thanks Michael Bay!

IRONMAN looks decent, though.

Yes, I'm sure you've all seen it... but Happy Thanksgiving anyway, fuckers.

"Don't forget, my Yanqui readers, the true meaning of Thanksgiving: give your neighbours an infected blanket this Thursday and then move into their houses after they're dead."
- Warren Ellis -

I wouldn't mind checking this exhibit out if I could get to L.A. It looks like some crazy shit. The works posted remind me of the Bucky Rabid Turnip. Chalk another one up to The Intergalactic Unconscious Timestream Narrative Feedback Loop...

Arguably the most internationally acclaimed artist to emerge from Asia in the postwar era, Takashi Murakami effortlessly navigates between the worlds of fine art and popular culture and is best known for his cartoon-like, “superflat” style. This large-scale retrospective includes key selections that span the early 1990s to the present. More than 90 works in various media—painting, sculpture, installation, and film—will be installed in three sections, occupying over 20,000 square feet of exhibition space at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.

I was very excited about the release of this film, what-being from
the genius behind Donnie Darko and all. As Darko wraps up
it's seemingly random elements, neatly, by films end
(or in my case- through the course of additional viewings)...
on the contrary Southland Tales does no such thing. I found this movie truly baffling. Baffling in direction and pace taken by director Kelly and that he seemingly went unchecked / unaided in realizing this...
as it would seem a director run awok.

I can't help but like what he was trying to do...
the film is sort of an exquisite mess...
never resolving or completing some thoughts.
I would encourage others to see this movie
to discuss it and help to collectively understand it.

To be fair, I tried to apply Cleveland Browsie's ideas of
filmtrance and the appreciation of films that don't
quite have to make sense- but it didn't help.
There are many elements that work really well...
but as the sum of the parts, I feel likes it fails and loses
cohesion. At Cannes, where the film wasn't received well,
a cut 20+ minutes longer was shown.
After purchasing the film, Sony Pictures encouraged Kelly to cut
down the film to a healthy 2.5 hours. I would be
interested in seeing if that version makes more
sense.

Another key to groking an understanding of this opus,
is a multi-part Graphic Novel series, I am now
very anxious to read. It is supposed to provide a prequel
to the existing film.




a review from the Cannes screening

Moogs in outer space! Well, almost. NASA recently published several audio recordings collected during the Cassini-Huygens space probe's exploration of the Saturnian system, and it couldn’t sound more like a theremin-laden soundtrack to a 2001: A Space Odyssey sequel.

But it's stuff I hope you all will like. Click for more details.

Good satirical article from the Times about Sesame Street's Season 1 & 2 DVD disclaimers. I know we had a good time watching those Youtube music videos not too long ago. Check it out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/magazine/18wwln-medium-t.html

Caught this tonite. Good flick, yo imo. A few nice cameos too. India looks great in the film. I reccomends it. Noticed in the credits Roman Copolla had co-writing credits along with Wes Anderson and Jason Schwartzman. Didn't know that. Pretty kewl. Anyone check it?

NEW SCOTT PILGRIM! Vol. 4 hit the shelves yesterday... I cranked through the thing in one sitting and laughed my ass off. It's the story of slacker / indie-rocker Scott Pilgrim who, if he wants to keep dating his cool new girlfriend Ramona Flowers, must fight his way through her Army of 7 Evil Ex-Boyfriends. Laced with references to obscure indie bands and a running gag about how Scott perceives his life as a video game (GET JOB: +500 EXP. POINTS), it will resonate with anyone who ever counted the gravel, pennies and candy-bar wrappings in their pockets trying to figure out if they could afford a soda... or anyone who ever went into a full-on melt-down panic attack trying to figure out their girlfriend's current age. Rating: A for AWESOME.

Here's a great interview with Battlestar Galactica creator / top-writer Ron Moore where he very clearly and coherently explains why the WGA is striking... and how those "Resistance" webisodes lie right at the crux of the matter. (He also gives a few tantalizingly hints about the shape of the coming season, for the BSG geeks among us... I'm looking at you, Schirmer.)

But the real question remains: Does he have a plan? Does he really have a plan?

Totally off the hook:

http://www.myspace.com/lichtfaktor

Mine Weasel showed me this in her research / travels
and should get full credit for this find.
Look carefully- they're all fully organic and I would assume,
at to some extent- edible.

We now know how we're decorating our
Thanksgiving table this year...
-enjoy





more here...
What Chefs do when they're bored

Some months back, there were stories that the historical thriller Valkyrie was running into problems in Germany because various factions had problems with Tom Cruise's support for Scientology.

When they really ought to have had a problem with the fact that he looks like a 12 year old trying on his Dad's Luftwaffe uniform. Oh, and eye-patch... Did I mention the eye-patch?

Like, Seig Heil, dude.

P.S.: I'm blogging a post a day in November so the lights don't go off around here like they did in October. Feel free to chime in, or tell me to shut up.

Alternative folk rapper surrealist Tim Fite is coming to the Phillyadelphic area Nov. 15th (the North Star Bar, wherever the duck that is). Which I mention because he doesn't appear to be coming to L.A. anytime soon, strictly to piss me off.

Somebody, please, please, for the love of Cthulu and all that's unholy, please listen to his smart-ass piss-take on the politicks of hip-hop violence, "I've Been Shot" (MP3)* and tell me where the foxtrot that sample on the front end of it came from.

"The children have very unique problems. There's blindness... lameness... pyromania..."

* From his freely distribbed mp3 album Over the Counter Culture available in toto, in all it surreal, sarcastic beauty, over here.

What would happen if Prince, Elvis, Bob Marley, Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, Tina Turner, Jimi Hendrix, and the Bee Gees covered a bunch of Pixies songs? The results are here.

Flipping through some old documents, I stumbled across the Best Dream Ever.

July 1st, 2003

So I'm on some desperate quest to find the Guy With All the Answers. But it turns out he's some bum who panhandles in the alley behind the NuArt Theater and Cinefile Videos. And when I reach his usual spot, he's gone like a cool breeze. All that's left is the styrofoam cup that he uses for panhandling. It's a bit grimy and kinda filthy... however, I reason, maybe I could use this remnant to track down this mysterious person. A passer-by suggests I talk to the guys at C.S.I. (Crime Scene Investigation.)

Smash cut to me walking into the pristine corridors of the "CSI" offices, as seen on TV, all glass and chrome, blue & green lights glinting off everything. Very Scientific....

(continued in the comments section so I don't eat up the whole front page)

The film I AC'ed last December-
Tooth and Nail, opens in a limited fashion TODAY in
selected cities (LA, SF, PHL, NY and strangley, yes -State College).
It's part of Horror Fest 2. Check it out and I'll fwd your comments
to the writer / director. You are also welcome to throw stuff at
the screen.

I remember standing in the store watching the Dune game on DOS and thinking to myself, "Wow, these graphics are great! And the sound is off the hook!! I need a SoundBlaster card!!"

Some 15 years or so later, check this out:

http://www.grandgent.com/tom/dune/dunemp3s.htm

(I personally suggest checking "Deep Desert" for some Motorola 6800 / FM synthesizer magik.)

The Sprinkle Brigade: Proof that one man's poo is another man's punchline; and that every dog will have its day... in the Riveria Gallery.

Reliably nine months behind the curve of hipness, I just discovered the wonders of English hip-hop artist Plan B and his crazy-good bootleg/mixtape Paint It Blacker....

If y'all haven't already heard it, here's an mp3 of "Missing Links", a song built (or rebuilt) around a Radiohead sample...

or you might be able to to bittorrent the whole album over here.

http://www.eatliver.com/i.php?n=2350&source=rss

http://www.filecabi.net/video/po50827281.html

The friendly folks at the UK's amazing newspaper The Guardian compile a list of the Top 10 most bizarre experiments in history. By all means, check out the whole article... but here are the headlines... elephants on acid, two-headed dogs and a see-saw to revive the dead. Ladies and gentlemen, we simply cannot make sh!t up that's any weirder than this.

1. Elephant receives massive dose of LSD to see if it induces temporary madness.

Conclusion: LSD is fatal to elephants

2. Aircraft passengers told they are about to die in crash make more mistakes in written test.

Conclusion: Extreme stress harms cognitive ability

3. Two-headed dogs created by Soviet surgeon but die within a month.

Conclusion: Tissue rejection makes animals incompatible

4. Psychologist begins experiments on son to test if laughing is spontaneous when tickled.

Conclusion: Laughing is an innate response to tickling

5. A room of nail-biting boys is played a recording or spoken announcements to break the habit while they sleep.

Conclusion: Sleep learning is possible. Others prove otherwise

6. To test if people can sleep through anything, volunteers have their eyes taped open and bright lights shone in their eyes.

Conclusion: The men dozed off in 12 minutes

7. People asked to smell ammonia, put hands in a bucket of frogs and watch porn.

Conclusion: Disgust has no single expression.

8. Doctor rubs vomit from yellow fever patients into open wounds and drinks it.

Conclusion: Mistakenly claims it is not infectious

9. Animal corpses placed on seesaw to restart circulation and bring them back to life.

Conclusion: Two animals survive with blindness and brain damage

10. Fake female turkey dismantled limb by limb to find minimum that a male will mate with.

Conclusion: Male turkeys aroused by a head on a stick, but not a headless body

Several decades before ZAPP ever hit the scene, there was a precursor to the Vocoder called the SONOVOX -- which became an instrument of high weirdness in the hands of musical whimsicalist Kay Kyser (of "Three Little Fishies in an Itty Bitty Poo" fame). Check out the "new miracle of electricity" in mp3 form here...

And read more about the SonoVox (with links to more examples) at the amazing blog Music For Maniacs, from which I blatantly stole this link.

I want to start recording CB radio transmissions that I personally voice and start tweaking them out. But I don't want to buy a receiver and transmitter if I don't have to.

I'm wondering if there's any alternatives I can explore? I tried to find emulators for that sound, but turned up a bunch of frequency analyzers. I can approach the sound in software using EQ and a vst, but it's not as authentic as I'd like.

Any ideas?

Just got back from a 2 week trek to Japan. Went to Tokyo > Kyoto > Osaka > back to Tokyo. Managed to stay in 4 different spots in Tokyo, each with its own flavor. Japan is ill yo.

There's a mess of photos and notes about the trip coming. For now tho, I couldn't resist posting a pick of what all cop cars in Tokyo look like. On some serious Appleseed shit:

The deputy mayor of the Indian capital Delhi died on Sunday after being attacked by a horde of wild monkeys.

So I got this track to a point I'm diggin. This is the track that was posted in the first 'spirit of the jams...'. I always prescribe to the idea that any creative work is only abandoned and never really finished, but I'm diggin this to the point were I can move on (for now). Which I did and here are a couple of those ones...check'em out!

Track 1

Track 2

Track 3

It was torn down in 1993, but, at its peak, the Walled City was something wholly unique among the urban slums of the Earth. Existing in a legal Twilight Zone, it was an unregulated no man's land right in the city's center -- a dozen or more storeys of ramshackle buildings that housed, at its peak, over 30,000 human beings in an area that was only 100 meters x 200 meters. The cops wouldn't come into the place and the "services," such as they were, were improvised by the inhabitants. The water came from wells they drilled into the earth below the city, and the electricity was stolen from the mains. Unsurprisingly, it became a hotbed for vice -- a center of activity for the gangsters of the "Triad" societies, who ran the prostitutes, the drug trade and the red hot mah jongg gambling tables. Because of its unique legal status, it was also a hotbed for illegal dentistry, of all things. Poorer residents of Hong Kong couldn't afford the dentists who had submitted to the strict British licensing system -- so dentists from mainland China slipped across the border and set up shop in the heart of the Walled City's unregulated markets.

The history of the place is bizarre -- a reminder of how the West's encroachments on Asia has left lasting scars. It started over 200 years ago, when British merchants were looking for outlets for the vast quantities of opium they were harvesting in India. China was a ripe market. Initially hawked as a remedy for diarrhea, opium slowly began to spread in popularity as a recreational drug across all classes. For the British merchants, it became a vital tool in their goal to upset their trade imbalance with China and to pry the empire wide open. Up until the advent of the opium trade, China exported goods but showed little interest in the goods the West had to offer. Its tea, silk, raw goods and luxuries had to be paid for in cold cash -- in fact, in real money, silver scrip that could be redeemed for precious metal. But as opium became a vital commodity, merchants traded it directly for valuable goods -- and they ignored the human cost of the widespread addiction that was afflicting every social strata of the country. China attempted to outlaw the importation, but dock officials were easily bribed.

Finally one official, Imperial Commmissioner Lin Tse-Hu, decided to draw the line. As untouchable as Eliot Ness, he shrugged off all attempts to bribe him and publicly burned 20,000 chests of opium at the docks, scattering the ashes at sea. He penned an impassioned letter to Queen Victoria, inquiring why a substance outlawed in England should be freely -- and illegally -- traded by her licensed merchants half a world away. But the English weren't about to knuckle under to Chinese law and chose to interpret Lin's actions as an act of war. China was no match for the British Navy's technological superiority. They quickly took Hong Kong Island. The Walled City was quickly turned into a fort and armed with cannons to defend the peninsula above Hong Kong Island from further invasion -- but it was already too late. China would be forced to sign the first of a series of imbalanced treaties with the west. And eventually, the Walled City would be part of a tract of land ceded to the British after further hostilities. The sloppily composed agreement failed to clarify the Walled City's fate. An island of China in British-controlled territories, it was eventually abandoned by China in 1899.

However, a tenacious group of inhabitants refused to leave. Slowly, the new identity of the Walled City began to take shape -- an anarchistic, lawless zone that found its own sense of peace and order in the territory's heart. Its last vestiges as a military fort were destroyed after Japan invaded during World War II. The bricks of the fort became the foundation for the Kai-Tak airstrip -- eventually the site of the International Airport in the city's center, famed for being nestled amongst skyscrapers so every descent and take-off felt like a terrifying brush with mortality.

In the wake of the war, refugees flooded in... and ultimately, the gangs took control. In one of the great ironies of history, the officially established fort that was supposed to be the line of resistance to stop the importation of opium had turned into a lawless slum that was now the crux of the city's heroin trade.

The law finally began to seep in sometime in the late 1970s. In its final decades, the gangs and the worst aspects of its criminal reputation were rooted out. After its fall 14 years ago, it was converted into a park -- featuring an exacting recreation of its 1841 fortified walls. An island of tranquility in the heart of Hong Kong's bustle, this spot that was once packed with humanity, the densest urban environment on Earth, is now barely used or noticed by the City's residents.

Courtesy of weburbanist.com, we bring you....

7 UNDERGROUND WONDERS OF THE WORLD:
Crypts, Catacombs & More

THE 7 DESERTED WONDERS OF THE (POST)MODERN WORLD:
Urban Abandonments

THE 7 *BONUS* DESERTED WONDERS:
Even More Urban Abandonments*

* including our old pal, Centralia, PA

7 SUBMERGED WONDERS OF THE WORLD:
Underwater Urban Archaeology

Did you do a remix for Jamie Woon?

this show:



Vex'd are two cats from the UK, one of whom is my homeboy. But honestly, I'm not being biased here: these cats are dope. They're kindof the poster kids for this grime thing. Their record was off the hook, and they're prepping their sophomore effort now.

The show will be a live thing (as opposed to Dj'ing).

If you want to peep something fresh and new, $7 aint no thang. And BYOB is kinda fresh.

Here's a track. I don't think it's one they would play live, but as far as atmosphere goes it's raw:

Thunder

Here's a little ditty from the new joint. Kindof like a little interlude. It's called Japanese Porn Princess. Holler

Showtime

Here's the latest beat I just cooked up.

Track

Always dig any critique...

Just scooped up a Nikon D80 SLR this week. Pretty excited. Got a great 18-200mm lens as well. Been playing around with it for the past two days -- both indoor and outdoor -- and fuck man: i realized how out-the-game i've been since my old Minolta was stolen 10 years ago. Since then, I've been a point-and-shoot kinda guy.

I've intentionally avoided all auto features on the SLR, and going manual all the way, but I have to re-learn all the photo basics (ISO, f/stop, etc.). I'm a little embarassed I don't remember that shit anymore. But I also can not believe I (we?) used to use film. All the bullshit shots and "tests" I've been taking over the weekend would amount to quite the pretty penny. Although in high school, which is where I began dabbling in 35mm photography, film was free...Don't quote me on that tho. Maybe I just stole it? Hard to recall.

In any case, yea: if you have photography basics to reveal, please feel free to post!

So i took this song my friend Emmi recorded into a Macbook microphone, spruced it up and ended up with this.

What is possible using digital signal processing nowadays still astounds me.

Hope you enjoy it as well.

Terence wants to know how he got on that zeppelin before he was born?

Tell me! Tell me!!!