Wednesday, May 31, 2006: Witness

It’s definitely rainy season now. Tonight I looked out across to the west and saw that the condos lights three or four Sois over were fuzzy. I went out to the laundry zone and could hear the rain approaching. I called Sandy and we quickly managed to get all the laundry that was hanging to dry down before the BIG rain hit. It was the biggest rain this year so far and it went on for quite a while complete with thunder and lightening.

We watched “Witness” which is a real 80’s flick but certainly better than the crapulent recent stuff we’ve watched. Harrison Ford is certainly one of the best action/adventure guys to come along in a long time. No one today really matches what he did back in the 80s. I remember seeing “Witness” the first time with Alison Mitchell at The Bloor Cinema back in 1985. At the time the sound track seemed so big and new and I remember thinking “They must have used a Fairlight…” Although the soundscape-like bits still sound quite good I was shocked at how cheese ball thee rest of the sound track sounds now. There are some nice tones but the suspense music that has this tuned down piano sample layered onto this tweezy square wave which was mucho annoying. The barn raising music was diabolical and sounded like a poor-man’s “Switched on Bach”. I half expected to see the Alex and Droogies come charging through the ranks of the Amish during that part for a little of the ultra-violence. The end suspense had more of that tweezar 4000 piano sound and slowly grew in cheesaphonic strength with the addition of the ultimate 80’s sonic cliché… SIMONS DRUM HITS… GAAAAHHH.

That being said though it is a great movie.

One laugh we had watching it was that one of Amish in wagon that is being hassled by the redneck with the baseball cap that Harrison Ford punches out is none other than the guy who plays Aragorn in “Lord of the Rings”. Vanbeezerbrooken or what ever his name is.

Sunday, May 28, 2006: Sandy's New Cowboy Hat

Sandy decided today at about 3:00 pm that she needed to buy a cowboy hat. So she went to the weekend market with Dexa and Pooh to find one. I didn’t go as I’d rather pay more some where else NOT to go to the weekend market which lost its charm for me about two years ago.

I spent the afternoon and early evening messing with both the MRS8 and the Giga Delay as well as the GR-30. I had the 12 Second delay run into the 23 second capable Giga Delay and then out to the MRS8. I tried various settings and arrangements on the new delay box and one that was great was the “reverse” delay set at 23 seconds and with lots of feedback so it all just becomes this soundscape of Belewish joy. I recorded it all on several tracks but it may never be anything more than an experiment.

Suddenly it was 7:00 pm and the power went down although not because of my noodling. It hasn’t been very rainy and its very hot so a transformer must have blown as the power drop was proceeded by a boom. I wasn’t about to stay in the Redoubt while the temperature climbed so I packed up the toys and took a walk over to Siam Discovery and had a coffee at Starbucks. I wandered around and over to Siam Paragon where I met up with Pooh, Dexa and Sandy in her strange new cowboy hat.

Dexa, Sandy & Pooh

We went over to MK for a meal. It was pretty crowded and we had to wait about 15 minutes before being seated (this at 8:00 pm on a Sunday night). We had a big MK pig out that left me stuffed but starving again two hours later.

After we ate Sandy and I walked back to the Redoubt and watched some of the first season of HBO’s “Six Feet Under” which I got on DVD recently. I watched some of it back in 2002 but never saw the end of the first season or any of the following seasons after I shipped off to Laos.

Saturday, May 27, 2006: MRS8

Well I finally broke down and bought the digital 8 track that I’ve been looking at for about a year. I walked over to Siam Discovery Center and shocked the owner by actually pulling out 14,000 Baht and buying it. I had meant to buy it in March but the GR-30 came along instead. After getting the 8 track I went over to the little digital media shop where I bought my iPod and got a 1 gig memory card as the MRS8 only comes with a 128 megabyte card. The 1 gig card gives me 40 hours of recording time. That should be enough. The other plus about the MRS8 is that it records at 44,100 Hz. The MRS4 which has served me so well since 2002 only recorded at 32,000 Hz.

After I’d picked up the 1 gig media I headed over to Pantip Plaza in search of the appropriate USB card readers so I can back up my 1 gig card and transmogrify everything on to Acid Pro. I have considered switching to a different software program like Sonar or Cakewalk but for now I’ll stick with what I’m used to. Pantip was a zoo since it was late Saturday afternoon. I found the card reader I needed pretty quickly then did my rounds looking at the two used music shops for anything “interesting”. There was a MC-307 groove box but if I was to buy another groove box or drum machine I think I’d go with a Korg Electric Tribe as they are more easily tweaked and don’t run on “sampled” wave forms. I keep waiting for Roland to introduce some kind of groove box that is based on their new “V Synth” technology but that doesn’t seem to be in the pipe. (I’m also hoping that they will put that technology into a future GR-? Guitar synth)

Back to the MRS8…

Here are the basics. Eight tracks recording, divided between four mono tracks and two stereo tracks. The stereo tracks can be de-linked but as I record everything in stereo who cares. Each track also has 10 virtual tracks which really means I have 80 tracks. That should be enough. It also comes with about 400 modeled effects divided into line effects, mic effects, guitar/bass effects and mastering effects. There is a built in drum machine that has four or five kits and can be programmed in step or real time as well as a bass program.

I messed with it a bit and the inclusion of an alpha wheel for scrolling data is a real plus over the MRS4. There a few things I don’t like. The track display is different where the MRS4 would show you visually which virtual tracks were full all at once the MRS8 does it differently and you have to scroll through to find which is which. On the upside you can “name” your track for easy identification. The drum/bass gizmo is in my opinion sort of useless. The sounds aside from the TR-808 “analog” kit are too something for my liking and the programming procedure is annoyingly complex. I sort of wish it came without the built in drums as it would make the foot print smaller.

Really though MRS8 is a pretty powerful machine for such a low price and small size. I think my next recorder purchase will be much larger system but this should last for another four years. I can imagine in four years there will be a 16 or 24 track machine this size.

Thursday, May 25, 2006: Pooh's Birthday

Today was Sandy’s Sister Pooh’s Birthday so we met her, Dexa and a friend named Sum at Coco Walk for dinner. We ate at the large barbeque place there but sat under the roofed over part as it felt like it might rain. Sandy and I used to eat there every weekend but that stopped for some reason after my first trip back to the Frozen North in 2004. This was the first time I’d been back there in a year or so.

Sandy, Pooh and I got there first and got a table. The place was packed as usual, mostly with high school and university student and some families. They brought us our “barbeque” which is comprised of a small metal drum full of glowing hot charcoal which on top sits a metal thing that looks like a hubcap. It has a metal mound surrounded with a little moat the idea being you fill the moat up with broth and vegetables while cooking your selected meat on the mound.

Sandy and Pooh went off to the buffet style meat and vegetable selection area and I stayed with the table while they brought back several plastic plates of stuff to cook. They of course like all the stuff I won’t touch like pig liver and so forth. I stick with this peppered strips of pork that end up tasting like really peppery back bacon. The first thing that is done after the trough being filled is heaping a little pile of pork fat on the top of the mound and greasing it the sides with some as well. Then the cooking begins.

Dexa and Sum showed up a little later and I had already eaten my fill by the time they were brought their barbeque. The peppered pork is one of those thing I can eat and eat until I can’t eat any more even though I sort of want to. So the last three or four strips are always forced.

While they continued to eat and talk in Thai I got bored and decided to walk over to the music shop which is just beside the restaurant which is called “The Music Society”. This is the same place I bought the GR-30 from. I went and started looking around. They have an older GR-09 but I am content with the GR-30. I looked at all the guitars and was shocked to see they have an electric “Doraemon” guitar. Sandy has several Doraemon items from when she was a kid including an alarm clock that goes off randomly and plays the Doraemon theme song. My favorite thing about Dorameon is his tag line which is “I am cat like robot”. I had to take a picture of the “Cat like robot guitar” which sort of sounds like the title of an Adrian Belew song.

After laughing at the guitar with the staff I discovered they had a Boss DD-20 Giga Delay (23 seconds of delay time) sitting on the counter. It was cheaper than at the Roland Store and I just happened to have more than enough in my pocket to buy it. So I did. Sandy gave me this funny look when I came back carrying a bag. She is used to me taking three months to decide to buy something and for me to just see something and buy it is apparently out of character.

It will be interesting to see what sort of sonic sacrilege I can commit by combining this machine with the 16 second delay. I think I officially have enough machines now. Maybe.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006: Ocean World

Sandy and I promised her nephew Pet that we’d take him to Ocean World at Siam Paragon for his Birthday. As the school year began on Monday we had to take him last weekend. Sandy brought him back to the Redoubt the night before from her Sisters and he was entertained by my Playstation which I never use any more. Then on Saturday we got up and headed over to the Siam junction and met Pooh at MK where we had brunch. It started raining as we finished and we had to make a mad dash over to the BTS stairs. From there we went up and across then down to the Siam Paragon on the opposite side of Sukumvit Road.

Ocean World is located below the mall and seems large based on the Sea World thing in Singapore. However in true Thai style it has to be bigger and better than the Singapore one and with the exception of dolphins it is much bigger and much better. What Ocean World lacks in dolphins it certainly makes up for in sharks.

I was afraid there would be an overwhelming mob of people on a Saturday afternoon however it wasn’t bad. There were a lot of people but everyone seemed to move along at a good enough pace that we didn’t really line up for much. The cost of getting in, including a glass bottom boat ride was 2000 Baht (50 bucks) for the four of us. Refreshments and that sort of thing weren’t expensive either even for Thai pricing.

There were lots and lots of fish. Some in tanks the rest in this large tank that seemed to be built over top of the whole thing, which you could take a rather dull glass bottom boat ride on. We did that but it wasn’t that thrilling really. The water seemed to dark to see much and the only thing I saw that was cool was some sting rays that swam beside the boat. But it was a chance to sit down.

As you went along through Ocean World you passed on to lower and lower levels. There was one large “rain forest” area complete with trees and a waterfall as well as viewable Amazonian fish. There was a tank of piranhas and I was amazed that there wasn’t a screen or some sort of safety device over the top of them. Then again the Thai view of litigation would be if you were stupid enough to stick your arm in a tank full of piranhas then it serves you right. If you child fell in well why weren’t you paying attention to your child?

We made a pit stop in the Amazon as there was a coffee shop there and I needed an ice latte. Then we headed down into the area that featured some viewable glassed off habitats which such exotic creatures as otter and beaver. There were also some penguins that drew a large crowd. The last stretch of Ocean World was the long tunnel under the sharks and other fish. This went on quite a way and gave an excellent view of the large number and variety of sharks they have. There were also some amazing sting rays which I love to watch. At the very end of the whole thing there were a few things to pose by and some odd Science Center type games that seemed to occupy Pet and Pooh forever.

To get out of course the escalator up brings you right into the large gift shop so further time and money were spent there. I would recommend Ocean World to any one visiting Bangkok though. It is so cheap to go to as well. The only thing that I didn’t like is that the toilets aren’t clearly marked and wandering around in the dark having to pee while surrounded by burbling tanks of water and fake Amazon rain forest water falls isn’t fun.

And remember when you go to the toilet, if you can find it, don't flush any "foreigner objects". I'm not sure if they mean the many objects we foreigners carry with us, or if they are sick of people flushing items from Foreigner rock concerts such as "Cold as Ice" hats and "I'm Hot Blooded" t-shirts.

Friday, May 12, 2006: Rainy Season

I have been ill much of this week. Rainy season has offically arrived. As I had predicted the poorly thought out "wheel chair access ramps" pool the water from the storms and make crossing the road even more difficult that normal.

You can also see the tire (tyre?) tracks of some motorcycles coming up off the road and on to the side walk. I don't know who thought this idea up but I'd like to personally push them into the water.

Tuesday, May 9, 2006: Walk the Brokeback

Sandy wants a cowboy hat. I am not sure what has prompted this. In the spirit of cowboy hats we watched two movies over the last few days that involve them. The first was “Walk the Line” and the second was “Brokeback Mountain”.

“Walk the Line” didn’t have really that many cowboy hats. But it was great. I had to laugh at the scene with Ma and Pa Carter chasing away Johnny Cash’s dealer both armed with shotguns. Now that’s the kind of in-laws you don’t hear much about. I have by the way a huge collection of Johnny Cash. I liked him as a kid but only started collecting his stuff after a both Justin M and Brengun sent me mix tapes in 2001 containing more recent works.

“Brokeback Mountain” had lots of cowboy hats. But it was depressing. Beautifully shot in Albert but as depressing as the most depressing country song you can imagine. Everyone is miserable, the two cowboy poking cowpokes are miserable, their wives are miserable, their kids are miserable and then one of them gets beat to death by some miserable rednecks. Depressing stuff. I found the killing scene bit extra depressing as my favorite art teacher from George Vanier Secondary School was murdered in 1981 for the same reason.

I am less of a fan of depressing movies now. If I want depressing I can fly to Phnom Penh.

Sunday, May 7, 2006: Losers Weepers

I lost my phone yesterday afternoon. That sucks. So this afternoon after Sandy and I went to MK for 3:00 pm Brunch we walked over to MBK (the mall) and went up to the mobile phone floor and I checked out various models. This made me even more peeved off that I’d lost my last one. The phones again are bigger than before as the various cell manufacturers try and cram even more stuff into them.

Last time I bought a phone (which is only Dec 2004) the new craze was a color screen and a camera. This time around it was MP3 players. I ended up buying one for 5,000 Baht that did what I needed it too, namely make phone calls and send text messages. It also has a camera, a video recorder, some sort of music player, internet, and tons of other stuff I will never use. It sadly doesn’t have any good games and it lacks blue tooth which the old one had but I never actually used.

Tomorrow I will have to go switch the SIM card over so that I can have the same number.

Saturday, May 6, 2006: They Speak, We Listen...

Jon Bon Jovi is on CNN yapping about his “political views”. I have the volume turned off and am listening to the mullet free stylings of Miles Davis. I’m sure Mr. Bon Jovi’s opinions are worthy of a ten minute segment on the self proclaimed “worlds most trusted news source”. Mr. Jovi would have plenty of time to read interesting news magazines while sitting in the hair salon having his mullet streaked or while waiting for his plastic surgeon to show him how he can stretch all those rock n roll wrinkles out so he looks even more like a female impersonator. These magazines would give him the information he’d need to be able to form an opinion. Since he’s so rich and famous you know I’m interested in his insights into current events, politics and whether or not it is still cool to wrap a red bandana around the leg of your skin tight acid wash jeans.

Rock on, Jon!

Meanwhile it would seem that Pink (the plump girl’s Britney Spears) is worried about famous people giving youngsters the wrong message about body image. All these skinny models and actresses are making young girls have eating disorders. Of course in ten minutes CNN will have yet another report that today’s kids are eating too much junk, they are all to fat, and something must be done.

So which is it? Are the kids too fat or too skinny? I can’t keep track.

Oh and apparently U2 vocalist Bono has examined the latest Canadian budget and by using the power of his amazing unremovable sunglasses has found that budget wanting.

I am so glad people like Bon Jovi, Pink and Bono are here to guide us mere mortals through the complex age in which we live. What would we do with out them? We'd have to resort to casting bones or looking for signs in the sky.

Friday, May 5, 2006: Some Holiday

Today is some sort of Buddhist / Thai holiday. I have no idea what or which it might be. Some offices, Government and all banks are closed however shops seem to be open as are the money exchanges. There is however no sale of alcohol. That doesn't effect me much these days.

Lappy has been having problems. I believe that it is a internal hardware thing, possibly RAM. Oh well. I have learned to keep everything backed up. Increasingly I desire to cross the line and go MAC. As much as MAC-types annoy me I am weary of all the Windows related crashes and stupidity. Also the MACs are very music-production friendly.

I am also thinking of going back to Acid Pro 3, which is the version I run on old clunky. The Sony buy out of Acid Pro was a bad thing really. The new versions don't really work any better and you're stuck with the meddlesome Sony Media Manager wanting to poke its nose into all your tracks.

Sandy took off to her Sisters this afternoon. I had dinner with Bonhomme then we hit the Bookstore at the Emporium. I picked up "My Early Life" by Winston Churchill. I also hit the CD shop and picked up the remastered "Tales from Topographic Oceans" by Yes. All the hipsters will roll their eyes at that but I need something to put in my ears that will counter-act the daily asshat assault of The Black Eyed Peas and their infantile melodies.

Thursday, May 4, 2006: Mousing Questions

I can’t decide whether or not I like the final results of “Times Change”. The process of converting the final moused mix to mp3 seems to sap all the bass frequencies in an odd way. To my ears the mp3 version sounds not squashed but hollowed out. The other problem is that the music existed with out the vocals for a very long time. The vocals being only recently added are UNFAMILIAR to me, thus I am suspect of them.

I still have to tackle re-mousing “February Heart” which I had intended to post before “Times Change”. I have a rough mix of it on my iPod proceeding “Times Change” which makes more sense to me as well. Ultimately I need to streamline my recording procedure with a new digital recorder so I don’t have to jump back and forth between the recorder and the computer as much. However with the Thai Baht at 37.5 to the dollar I am in no rush to buy gear.

Tuesday, May 2, 2006: HOT

Oh man, is it hot. 43 degrees C plus humidity. It has started to rain at night but not enough to really qualify as "rainy season". Hopefully the thunderstorms will start soon and drop the temperature down by ten degrees.

Monday was a holiday here but it most shops were open. Sandy and I trekked over to the Market where her Sister and Husband have a shop that sells watches, radios, some cheap eletronic toys, and of course knives, swords and pepper spray. We weren't there for too long though (by Thai visit standards anyways) as the primary reason for stopping by was to pick up some English tea that Sandy's Brother in Law Mike had left there for us.

We watched the recent movie version of "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" which I thought was pretty funny but Sandy didn't like as much as I did and was preplexed at why I thought it was so good. I have never read the book, and I have yet to see the BBCish mini-series that was done at some point or other. I would now like to do both.

I have finished mousing a track, and of course am not satisfied with the results BUT since it has been so long since I've posted something new in the Music Room I will stick it up...