iMac Review #2

Day two.

Brooke Rocks - she gave me a Trackpad for my birthday, so I've been using it today instead of the Mouse. Over the past year, I've been using the trackpad on the macbook, and now I'm using it for the giant screen. I now understand why apple has never had "page up" and "page down" keys.

For me, once I learned its language, the apple trackpad is much more intuitive than any mouse.







I've also been loading software and watching clips on the 27.5 inch screen. Incredible clarity, and the back lit LED doesn't tire out my eyes. It allows me to focus on what I am writing/reading without too much external distraction. The CD/download rate is FAST. Wow.

The keyboard is at first frustrating. I still prefer the macbook's sense of space -- this one is a little cramped. But I am getting the hang of it -- and am slowly increasing my wpm speed. Also, the more that I type on the keyboard, my errors are becoming fewer and my corrections of them are becoming quicker. Editing is a little bit more tricky.

Certainly, the keys spring back to the finger tips like a finely tuned piano; you can feel the intelligence and simplicity of the design. For me, it's just a little cramped for writing anything over five hundred words.

Also, I'm installing all of my Novation Launchpad material to this new machine -- it's like a workstation. I'm also researching several ways to connect all of them onto the same screen. I might video this part later.

Right now, my biggest obstacle is the damn printer. This is already confusing because it's a canon with lots of packaging and instruction. I'll be working through that mess for the next few days.


Here's a video Novation Launchpad:

Photos by Brooke: An Unexpected May Unboxing

Steppin' Out Queen. Van Morrison.


My computer crashed the other night..I had been writing on it for several years. I realized that a decent writing computer is the tool of my trade, so I bought the iMac. Here's my review...





It's a 27.5 inch iMac (e.g., compare Seasame's size with the box) with the Intel i5 core and 2.8 GHZ processsor, 4GB RAM, and 1 Terrabyte hardrive, but the graphics card is 512MB.








The keyboard takes some getting used to. The size of the screen is a bit distracting. I'd rather watch a movie on it than type.



The box has two pieces: 1) the imac 27.5 monitor/CPU, and 2) the keyboard and mouse. Simple...elegant.

Wookie Talkie...by Fabian Gonzalez

Visit: Laughing Squid

The Tire Changer
Michael Ault


Introduction

It turns out he had altered the path of fate. It was roughly 1220 B.C. and people were still wrapped in furry animal skins and unaware even of the date. The hunters and gatherers would walk past the Open Pit Market (a then 7-11), laughing at Bahr’s post-historic comedic position (in a 1218 kind of way). He was a stone carver; and a wheel dealer. And he didn’t appreciate their bullshit.

Wheels came in many sizes – but only one shape. Anyone aware of wheels would realize this.

He would chizzle stone for hours until his hands cramped like crawfish claws aching, and screaming. In the evening, he would soak his lobster claws in animal fat; he’d then sing tenor/bass range notes to the Giant Stone Goddess. His songs were famous throughout the region but he had no idea his voice was so loud.

The stone was always delivered by the Upward Connection – he would usually grunt this name in a spiteful kind of way. He’d then work on a piece for months, and once during the beginning, it took a year. He was patient and tried to maintain the integrity of the stone. But, The Upward Connection was about units. Or, as they were called in 1220 BC, “Wughs.”

“Locate its hard spots and round the softer ones.” Bahr’s pragmatic voice never said these words but his mind just might have said this if consciousness had already been discovered. Instead, it was his instinct. And for some reason he listened to it.

Repetitively.

Like his crudely made chisel that smacked stone almost 12 hours a day, he was largely a creature of habit. His trade would later be advanced on Petra’s red-earth-face, some 1000 years later, but at this point the technique was still being developed.

Texico Bitches -- Broken Social Scene

An artistic critique of oil company, big money creepiness ... ???

World Sick - Broken Social Scene.

Recent Pictures (May 2011)

<------- My good friend Tatiana took this one near Boston (A Massachusetts Double Rainbow, Spring 2011).








The rest...below....were taken by me
(California, Spring 2011).

Take Me Away Fast

"Take Me Away Fast", a film about a DJ who journeys throughout West Africa to discover rare, vinyl recordings of Afro-beat and Afro-funk music. Learn more about this project here.