No Shortage of Ego

As ridiculously narcissistic as it is to post pictures of oneself to one's blog, I made these. I blame you, Matthew.

This one is a composite of two layers, the one on top set to a low opacity, with cutout and blue filters applied, as well as level-shifted towards the bright side.


This one is blue. You may have noticed.


This one I sent in to our university newspaper today. It'll get printed, maybe? Considering the current state of their comic department, it's a definite possibility.

Albumz

Best album cover ever?

Eh, probably not. But still!

Ok, I'm lazy and don't want to come up with, like, content, so here are some more covers I like. Perhaps some you haven't seen? This is ok.

Bird and Energy

I saw Andrew Bird in concert tonight. I hadn't really heard all that much of his music, aside from what my roommate played from time to time, and I was very impressed by his live performance. He plays solo violin, guitar, and whistling, and he loops his playing to create an intensely layered, vibrant, and ultimately beautiful landscape of sound.

Unlike a lot of musicians (read: DJs) who use laptops or turntables to loop sound more or less statically with additions or modifications piled on top, his method is far more organic. One of two foot pedals starts recording either a 13 or 26 second track; the shorter length means the looped sample is taken down an octave, giving a deep bass sound from a violin. The loops keep recording over one another, and older tracks gradually fade away, leading to a sound that gradually morphs from one feel to another. As he put it, the system allows him to see the melody "hanging" in front of him, so he can intuitively sculpt it with each iteration of the loop.

Add to that a pair of the most bad-ass speakers you will ever see, and he really has his act together. Most of his recordings are with a band, but seeing him solo was really incredible. And the dude is a freaking incredible whistler. That sentence sounds really weird, but he hits notes I didn't think were possible.

As loathe as I am to link myspace, there are some tracks on there I'm sure everyone can agree are choice.


On a completely unrelated note, never drink Radioactive Energy. I got a can of it for free, and I still feel ripped off. Seriously, it tastes like rotting apricots. It's not like other energy drinks are setting the taste bar exceptionally high; I usually refer to Monster Energy as "cough syrupy," and that is honestly a compliment.

What the hell, Germany?

Ok dudes, you have got to see this. I work at our university library, digitally enhancing brittle scanned books for reprinting, and in my days there I have come across some odd titles. There's just something about the pre-1900 publishing world that seems to generate bizarre material

The book I worked on today was German, and it may have been a children's book, I think. Even for a 19th century children's book, it's strange. Check out these pages:





Yes, that's a monkey wearing a crown stabbing himself in the chest with a fork. Any thoughts?

I know how to use photoshoppe

I was just messing around with brush transparency and I made this. Not exactly what you'd call professional, but I kinda like it.