infobong.com

hey gameboy just play that song

Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren writes about music created on vintage gaming hardware in the latest Wired. Calling the phenomenon "8-bit punk," he suggests the trend constitutes a new kind of folk art, self-conciously using techology for popular expression.

There's no mention of Dallas 8-bitters Treewave in the McLaren piece, but here's an old MSNBC story that gives them props.

skill they demand

Here's a "Cat and Girl" comic that depicts a conversation I might overhear around campus.

press the any key

I just sat in on a talk given by two psychologists who work for Microsoft, conducting usability tests. During their presentation, they decided to show a clip of a test they had conducted for a Combat Flight Simulator game. Windows Media Player came up on the screen, and, of course, the footage was postage-stamp sized. One presenter right-clicked around the screen to no avail, and finally muttered, "How do you get it go full screen?"

"Alt-Enter," I offered, and he began to punch buttons.

"What is it again?"

"Alt-Enter."

He punched more buttons, and asked, "Alt-What?"

"Enter."

increasing in weblog

As some readers may know, the topic for my Master's Thesis is how moderation software on Slashdot and other sites is used to promote a range of ideas that are accepted into the established discourse of a Website. In other words, I'm looking at how software is used to accomplish social objectives and enforce ground rules for discussion.

I was a little happy when MT-Blacklist was released, not because it will fix my [non-existent] blogspam problem, but because its another example of software that sets ground rules for discussion, automating the process of determining what is acceptable and un-acceptable forms of discussion for a stie.

Then I read this comment on Slashdot about blogspam and it seems like this topic could fall in an infinite loop real fast.

they learn me good

I'm demonstrating Austinbloggers.org for my English class E 387M, Literacy in the Digital Era. They're having a hard time getting their heads around TrackBack.

instructing the motoring public

Disc Jockeys at Clear Channel stations have been encouraging car-driving listeners to run cyclists off the road, The Chicago Tribune reports. This is so disgusting its hard for me to even comment on this news, except that Clear Channel, with its ties to the Bush clan and its anti-Dixie Chicks rallies, would encourage listeners to violently attack persons using an environmentally friendly form of transportation or, at least, pass off violent calls to action as "animated banter."

better place

Here is a Powerpooint presentation we made in class today using the "Bad News" autocontent generator: Download file

they want to socialize you

It looks like the efforts to wean inquisitive music fans off of file-sharing services and onto paid systems has taken a step forward. One of the major criticisms of the paid services is they only offered songs from a smattering of major labels, while ignoring indie labels almost entirely. Pitchfork reports, however, that Apple Computer has inked deals with indies Matador, Kill Rock Stars, and SpinART to ply their music on the iTunes Music Store. I can just imagine teenyboppers across America are trading in their Pepsi caps for Sleater-Kinney cuts online.

marks a deviation

Oh wow, Apple Computer has released a Windows version of iTunes. Reports suggest the release is intended to spur broader sales of iPod and, to a lesser extent, the iTunes music store. I've been a little jealous of mac users, since they have the nifty music-management platform, but I'm not gonna shell out for a Mac with my grad student budget.

postcolonial state and cinema

The RTF department is offering some cool classes for grad students in the spring semester. There's RTF 386C "Feminist Popular Music Criticism," RTF 388P "Documentary Production for Non-Production Students," RTF 386C "Postcoloniality and Cinema," and, finally, RTF 389 "Visuality and Popular Culture in Japan," taught by Susan Napier in the Asian Studies department. She's sometimes touted as a leading authority on anime, but I'm a little daunted by the prospect of writing a research paper for that course.

the steer is sacred

UT and the College Licensing Company are pursuing dealers of those loverly crimson-and-cream hats with inverted Longhorns logos for trademark infringement, reports The Oklahoma Daily. This isn't terribly surprising considering, the Athletic Department went after UT student groups who used the steer motif in club materials. (According to Athletics, its a symbol for the sports teams, while the interlocking UT is the general university symbol.) But what is surprising is UT authorizes two logos, the upside-down "horns" hand signal and the word "Texas" printed upside down. OU gets the proceeds from licensing these symbols. One question remains, however. If "The University" considers the "horns-down" signal a legitimate use of its iconography, why was there such a furor over Arkansas Coach Houston Nutt's use of "horns-down" after the Cotton Bowl? Maybe its because Longhorn fans are ignorant?

connect from virtually

I turned 28 on Monday, which gave me the impetus to finally break down and get a new computer. Since video games are becoming a big part of my professional life, I considered building a gaming machine, but I really wanted a notebook to take to the library for research and email, so I got one of these here Averatec 3150HWs. The Website claims the machine has 512MB RAM, but now that the system is in my hand, it looks like it actually has 640MB, with 32MB dedicated to the graphics system. I think all of the systems have a DIMM slot and an additional 128MB soldered in, so my guess is they popped in a 512MB module and called it even.

I'm pretty happy with the unit so far. I'm not going to be able to play Unreal II, on it, but its crazy light, and I like having a notebook machine.

stray from square waves

The Dallas band Treewave is the brainchild of programmer/artist Paul Slocum, who programs EPROMs for Atari 2600 and Commodore 64 cartridges to create musical sounds. I saw Treewave perform in Austin a few weeks back as part of the Cinematexas festival, and I was quite impressed by the music created by ensemble playing 2 Commodores, an Atari, and a 286 Compaq luggable, accompanied by a reprogrammed Epson dot-matrix printer. For techno-centric experimental music, Treewave's tunes are quite poppy and melodic. The band has mp3s here for your listening pleasure.