The Sensorium Project has not yet reached its funding target and has just 5 days to go; I have just doubled my pledge and encourage any Australian VJs and visualists to contribute if they can.

See the new Supported Projects page for more links, videos, etc.

-spxl

Sourcemap – Open Supply Chains

An incomplete Sourcemap for LPM 2009 in Rome, Italy.

Data is based on the artists list on the LPM site.

This Sourcemap was started as a Travel Map and saved, but when attempting to re-edit the map, the “passengers” have each been converted to 97kg of cargo. It would be nice if the map remembered that these were supposed to be human passengers (eg 1164kg is a bit mysterious!).

-spxl

-G.

MIND! :: Roots :: Reggae :: Dancehall :: Drum & Bass :: Dubstep :: Breakbeat

Music by:

• Earl Gateshead (Trojan Sound System)
• Unity Selekta

Visuals by subpixel

Second gig: Wed 17 September, 10 til 2

The Dogstar. 389 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton SW9 8LQ
£3 on the door, £2 with flier

Directions: Exiting Brixton tube station, turn left. Turn left at Coldharbour Lane (KFC is on the corner). The Dogstar is a couple of minutes walk away on the right hand side of the road. Easy! :o)

Suffering from attachment. Attachment to the bag, which on days gone by traveled and journeyed with me to faraway places attached to my main backpack. Attachment to the jacket, which, while I didn’t really like it, served a purpose. Attachment to the stack of fliers I’d stickered and written on the night before, which I was going to give away of course, but had some intangible (and potential financial) value. Attachment to the £1.49 can opener that I’d bought last year in London, taken home to Sydney and brought back to Europe with me this year; on a few occasions it gave access to that basic necessity of food, and with that a small feeling of power and majesty. Attachment to the £3 mini tripod I’d bought for my camera at a computer fare off Tottenham Court Road; though I’d only used it a few times, it held so much potential. Attachment to the daggy emergency rain poncho that my mum had given to me as one of the many small items she thought I might need just before I left home for Europe last year. I drive her crazy sometimes, but in her own small ways she still tries to protect me. Attachment to the tiny bottle of Blink’n'Clean, which i don’t think I can reasonably leave home wearing contact lenses without, even though I often don’t use it while I’m out, and I knew I’d have to replace eventually. Attachment to the memories that are triggered by any and all of the physical objects that are now gone. In the bag was more than stuff, it was a connection to my past, to where I have been and to who I am. I’ve always been a hoarder, and I think I’ve just discovered why. I’m afraid of forgetting. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how many words is an object worth? It is a picture, many pictures, and more.

It is a strange situation that the entire area of the carnival was teeming with police, but something basic like theft of personal belongings goes on regardless. I asked one of the several officers standing outside (some five or ten metres from the scene of the crime!) about reporting it and was given the location of an area designated for making reports, a few minutes’ walk away.

Before going there, I spoke to the manager at the bar and was surprised at how helpful he was. His opinion is that theft is really terrible, that taking other people’s things to sell for maybe a few pounds is really low. He took me up to the office to review the CCTV footage. Unfortunately, even though there was one camera facing that corner, it was too dark and far away to be able to reasonably make out details of who was there or what was going on. He took down my details, but I don’t think there’s anything more he can do.

I made a report at the special location then headed back towards the tube. The bar was just closing, so I had a quick look around inside to make sure my things weren’t on the floor somewhere – of course they weren’t, but it didn’t cost much to check. The main cost left was the fact that this fussing about meant that the tube had now closed and I had to find another way home. The P.C. who took my report called to let me know that he’d entered the report into the system, give me a reference number and ask for a couple of more details. The police here seem to be mostly polite and helpful where they can be.

There was a long queue in the Biegel shop in Brick Lane on my way home. All I wanted was a sausage roll, and I had to have an argument with the guy who’d jumped the queue in front of me. Somewhat by accident, perhaps, but his explaination to his friend that it was better I be let in front because I was angry (about the theft) belied the fact that he was the person who was being unreasonable in the first place.

Good news when I arrived home – I’d asked SCEEN Magazine about how to obtain a copy of issue #2 and they wrote back to me to say how (and that i can get it delivered to London). Yay! More good news that a Couchsurfer in Linz can host me for the duration of the Ars Electronica Festival next month. Double yay! I also have an email from Unity Selekta about some tracks to practice with for Mind! – even though it is ‘work’, it is still good news. Oh, and I left out that just the fact that my home is still here and it hasn’t been robbed is good news! My laptop is still here (typing on it now) and iPod, left on the table in my room, and I’m supposing everything in my pack, which is (unlike the day bag taken from the bar) locked and cable-attached to the wall… there seems to be a little bit of inconsistency in my managing of security!

-G.

In preparation for that, and for Mind!, I had a good session of being absorbed into my screen on Wednesday night, working on some new ideas and compositions for visuals and how to control them for a performance.

I’ve also decided to book some flights and make Ars Electronica happen. The part where I go to the Ars Electronica Festival, that is. The fifteen quid flight to Salzburg (with no taxes for some reason) had of course disappeared, but I found a cheaper flight back to London from Berlin, so it wasn’t all bad. I’ve also made a reservation for a festival pass. The wording in the confirmation email is a bit strange, with an incorrect date and words to the effect of “if you don’t collect your ticket at least an hour before the event, the reservation will be void”, so I’ve written to them asking what the deal is. Hopefully upon careful consideration they can sort out what they really meant to say, as “the” event isn’t so clear when there are many events on during the festival.

Rather than repost updated travel plans in the “blogstream” (I just made that word up), I’ve created an Ars Electronica 2008 page that I’ll update with the latest info.

Other exciting news is that I noticed a piece of mail in the kitchen when I arrived home last night that says the power company is going to come to disconnect the service in the week starting… yesterday. Well that’s just great. I’ve only just moved in and already there are major problems! When I spoke to someone at the power company (EDC) about the outstanding bill (from before the time I moved in) I was assured that the power wasn’t going to be cut off any time soon, and I see the letter is dated three days after that conversation. I’m now not so confident.

-G.

Keep in mind that I’m putting on visuals at Mind! in Brixton on Wed 03/Sep and Wed 17/Sep (10pm-2am).

Investigations:

London (Brixton) to Linz on Thu 04/Sep

Note: a direct flight from London to Linz is not viable at this time.

London Buses N35 Brixton to Liverpool Street: ~25min.

Stansted Express (GBP24 return): dep 03:40/04:10, ~46min.

RyanAir FR304 (GBP15 and no taxes!): dep STN 06:30, arr SZG 09:25.

Oebb.at train (EUR20.70): Salzburg to Linz, ~135km.

Spend some days in Linz for the Ars Electronica festival! Need to find a CouchSurfing host or two.

Linz to Prague on Wed 10/Sep

Oebb.at train(s), as yet unkonwn. Perhaps ~EUR30. Linz to Prague: ~250km.

See discussion on Tripadvisor about trains from Linz to Prague.

Spend the weekend in Prague for the Czechsurfing Central Europe CouchSurfing meeting. Meeting Venues Map

Prague to Berlin on Mon 15/Sep

Bohemian Lines bus Praha to Berlin ZOB Am Funktum (CZK490 ~GBP16): dep 17:45, arr 22:45, ~350km.

Spend a couple of days in Berlin… though it isn’t a weekend, so should really find out in advance is anything is happening.

Berlin to London on Wed 17/Sep

easyJet Berlin Schoenefeld to London Luton ($47.19) dep SXF 09:45, arr LTN 10:35

Check Airfares to London from Berlin in September at Skyscanner.net for options.

Need to be on time to put on visuals for Mind! at the Dogstar in Brixton tonight!

-G.

I had a vague idea to live in Europe for a year or so. I don’t really know for how long, or what I’d do, or where I’d be: so much unknown, so little actually planned!

Leaving Sydney on Monday 9 July 2007, I passed through Vietnam and Paris on the way to Rome, went to Venice on the way to Rototom Sunsplash and later ended up in Bavaria, Germany. And now: ich bin Berliner! Well, I was for a couple of weekends. Went to Hamburg for a day to visit a CouchSurfer on my way to Denmark. Spent a week or so in Ringsted then caught the night train to Munich to visit friends met in Sydney. Stayed just over a week then got a ride in a BMW to Cologne, nearby to Essen where I went to the Love Parade (Sat 25/Aug/2007). After a few more days in Cologne I took a bus to Amsterdam.

There was an opportunity to meet the Funcken brothers (of Funckarma) at a small festival in a forest in Souest, about an hour from Amsterdam, but I had some last minute plans to make for going to Portugal, and spent too long researching my options, making bookings etc to make it.

Instead of the forest festival, I caught a party in the catacombs beneath a church in the city, which was pretty good (though could seriously do with more ventilation).

Leaving Amsterdam I was 5-10 minutes late for checkin at the airport – bad news! There was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth, flights were rebooked – with a small window to transfer in London – and of course the flight in to London was then 15 minutes late to land, causing near-exponential panic at the prospect of then missing checkin for the not-really-connecting flight to Faro, especially as I had to go through customs, collect bags and go back through security!

Miraculously, my bag was one of the first few out on the carousel, and I’d spoken to a guy at one of the luggage desks who’d called ahead to the checkin desk – they said they couldn’t hold checkin open, even if they knew I was coming, but the guy encouraged me to run, and I did make it. Just.

The weekend after arriving in London I went to Waveform Project, a festival in Exeter, a few hundred km west-ish of London. MegaTrain advance-booking tickets were about 13 punds each way, but missing the return train meant buying a ticket back to London on the day, at a ludicrous price close to 70 pounds. You’d think after the fiasco with flights from Amsterdam to Portugal I’d have learned my lesson, but I didn’t know just how vicious train pricing is. I’ll know next time!

After that, nothing much doing in London for a couple of months. Apparently September is the worst time of year to be house hunting, as all the uni students descend on all available forms of housing at any sort of reasonable (escalating to unreasonable) price. I heard that people would grab the Loot newspaper around 1am or something when it was delivered to newsagents, etc, and start making calls early in the morning, or people checking Gumtree all day at work with places being taken within half an hour or so of ads being posted. Crazy

I went to Denmark again, this time to celebrate my mate’s 30th birthday. Now, according to tradition, if a man turns 30 before he is wed, then a pepper grinder is placed out the front of his house. I think it has something to do with saying that people might be allergic to him or something like sneezing from pepper. In any case, there was a story of a ‘pepper grinder’ so big that it had a car sitting on top of it, and my mate was worried as to what monstrosity was going to be out the front of his flat on the big day… No pepper grinder, but his mates “found” a caravan, which they tastefully decorated and parked out the front. (Note: tastefully, where that might not imply good taste, and somehow accidentally with flat tyres.) Much fun was had by all. I think. I’m not sure, I don’t remember some of it. The Danes do like to drink, and who was I to say no?

With the cold weather closing in, job hunting not started and being frustrated by the housing market, it became glaringly obvious that going back to Sydney for warm weather, friends, Christmas, and a bit of a general regroup and further preparation was A Really Good Idea. One of the original ideas about going to Europe was to be settled in before winter: I’m not a massive fan of hot weather, but I really don’t like the cold! And so the next available flight back to Sydney was booked. That was a good three weeks away, so I had to wait.

Then came some exciting news – an offer to put on visuals for one of the warm up acts at an Amon Tobin gig. Woah! Hang on a second… that date… is the day before my flight out of here. Argh! Call the airline… “When is the next available flight after the one I have booked?” – Another week away. Er, I think I’ve had enough of London now, so write to the artist, asking how serious this is. The recommendation was to keep my travel plans, which is what I did. The next couple of days drove me crazy wondering what might have come of such a gig, supposing it went through, and had to stop thinking about it. The decision was made. I didn’t find out in the end if he did the warmup; maybe it’s better if I never know.

Just before leaving Europe I managed to get over to Austria to see my favourite Austrian, T (see earlier travels below), and had a really nice few days. She reckons the weather wasn’t good – and it wasn’t, really – but I thought it was charming, if a little cold, as the first snow for the season came. Ate good food, watched some movies, listened to music from a few years back with great memories of fun times, and met with some friends. So much more welcoming and warm than London had been for the weeks that seemed to drag on.

On my way back to Sydney I had a few days stopover in Vietnam – Ho Chi Minh City. Such a different place to really anywhere else I know (mind you, I don’t know that many places). First day in Vietnam, just a few days from home, is when I was relieved of my camera and my phone. Crap, crap, crap! And double-crap that with the camera went the photos from the nice time in Austria that I’d not yet transferred to my PC. Grrr! I suppose it could have been worse – I still had my laptop, my passport, drivers licence, credit card, etc. But still… grrr! Made the hours spent walking around taking photos of nearby traffic and building and stuff that first day seem like such a massive waste, too. So I didn’t do much the second day, nursing a hangover and sulking over the loss, but went on day trips to see some interesting stuff the last two days.

A day trip to the Mekong Delta, a visit to the Ku Chi Tunnels, and a ceremony (prayer session?) at the Cao Dai Temple – architecturally/decoratively quite trippy, with things like the “divine eye” in windows.

Of course, with a flight to catch in the evening after coming back from a day trip, there was a massive traffic jam, and we were held up for something like an hour… an hour I didn’t have to burn. Stress.. level.. rising… Talk of perhaps getting off the bus and finding a motorbike taxi to take me back to my hotel – something that scared me just a bit more than a little. In the end a mad rush for the airport – the hotel staff had collected my things together for me in preparation and arranged a taxi. That taxi ride to the airport was the wildest ride I can think of: I almost couldn’t look as we thread our way through crazy amounts of traffic – sometimes oncoming! – at a speed that I could not in all conscience recommend as safe for the conditions. This is normal, apparently, in Ho Chi Minh. What was important is that I did, against the odds, make my flight, and I was on my way home.

Arrived back in Sydney on Sun 18 November. Just over four months away. Not too shabby!

Photo updates from my European adventure are posted in my photo gallery.

-G.

I flew over from London early Friday morning with S&J, and we caught a ride with T&M from Salzburg to Leiben. Today I am in Salzburg, returning to London late this evening. Photos to be posted soon. :o)

-G.

Orders of what, you ask? Space. Not to move, but maybe to ‘grow’. I’ve been long suffering with disk space issues – Windows telling me that volume D: is low on space, and Volume C: is very low on space – seemingly every few minutes – was starting to get to me. It’s only taken me a week (since I took it down from the cupboard) to get my external drive reconnected. We’ve been ‘apart’ for about 8 months now… the separation anxiety must have passed some time ago. Probably swallowed up by the experience of roaming about in Europe for a few months. Anyhow, my hundred-meg-or-so between two internal drive partitions situation has improved by over a thousand times: the external disk G: has 255 gigabytes free. Even though I know it’s true, it’s hard to really fathom. Two and a half thousand times more space. Wow. Who’da thunk it? It brings into perspective how much we really take technology for granted.

My first hard drive, an A590 side-car unit for my Amiga 500, was 20MB, with an (at the time) impressive 2MB Fast-Ram expansion. Sure, it was a step up from using floppies, but it wasn’t all that massive; only – around 25 discs. These days you can score a Terabyte drive for not much more (actually… maybe less!) than the A590 was back in the day. Of course you need to account for inflation, and back then I didn’t have so much spare cash… but still, a terabyte is over 200 DVDs. Er, let me recalculate that – to be fair I should probably be talking dual layer DVDs, not single layer… Well, you do the math. It’s still an impressive number of whatever units you’re talking about.

I’ve used my ‘little’ USB memory stick these past couple of days (not amazingly effectively, but at least got it out of my bag and plugged it into something!) – even that raises the question of how this $100+ piece of technology from only 2 years ago can now be had for around $10 (for 1GB, and okay, maybe the brand makes a difference, but sill). The mind boggles. In the same timeframe it seems that drink prices have gone up a couple of bucks… who is making the money? (Or, perhaps more worthy of consideration, what are we, generally, wasting out money on?) Something isn’t right.

In all, I wish I was ‘wasting my money’ out at Wiseman’s Ferry this weekend, catching the likes of Kruder & Dorfmeister, Steve Bug, and Tiefschwarz at the Playground Weekender music festival. Had a case of the kinda-sensibles and decided I need to focus a bit on work… what’s happening to me?! For future reference, leaving the office nearly 24 hours after you arrive probably isn’t that sensible. At least not without a proper nap. :o)

I think K&D are doing a 4 hour audiovisual set tonight. Probably right now. Can’t hear it. Can’t see it. Missing out! Actually, I think Tiefschwarz are meant to be playing at the Chinese Laundry tonight… I went down to Laundy a couple of weeks ago to see Gui Boratto – I went to see him at Fabric in London last year, but was disappointed by the situation with the room being too crowded to dance in. And what was it like at Laundy two weeks ago? Bloody awful… stood outside in the queue for an hour, watching dozens of people on the ‘guestlist’ go in before me. Even after 1am. Poor form, Laundry. Poor form. When I asked about the situation at the front desk, I was informed that ‘this is common now in Sydney’. News to me. I can only hope the girl was lying or sadly mistaken. In any case, Gui did good, but the venue failed. I don’t think I’ll be heading back there for any more gigs in the near future. 25 bucks for a 1 hour wait with inconsiderate door staff and/or a really awful door policy (most of the people waiting were pretty pissed off).

Enough of the bad stuff already!… I’ve been rearranging some files on my drives (internal and external) to make better use of the available s.p.a.c.e… and became distracted by some software lying about. A mysterious ISO I had sitting in a temp folder: OpenCD v07.02, file date in March last year. What’s this?.. Ahh.. an Open Source software compilation. :o) The Open CD project is no longer active, but seems to have turned in to Open Disc – High quality open source software for Windows. Worth a look. In any case, as a result ended up downloading a newer version of Inkscape (an Open Source vector graphics editor) and had a squiggle. I should get my Wacom tablet out and start doing some more squiggles… I want some more vector-art-type stuff to use as overlays in my visuals, and would prefer to use my own content if I can, though might have an experiment for a while mixing ‘available’ materials.

-G.

PS: News just in (shortly after posting this item) via text message from a friend:

Hey giorgio! Future music fest 2day-night, chemical bros best fucken visual show i ever saw! U missed a good one.

Double damn!! ;o)