As the de facto tech support for my grad program, roommate, and family (which is weird with a PhD electrical engineer and a M.A. in technology education), I am often greeted with awe and wonder (well, not by the immediate family). Not that this is not nice, it is not exactly warranted. It’s not really [...]
Author Archives: Zach
Classic Music Gear
7 Sep 2008 – 12:55 pm
Rising Storm has a nice overview of some classic music gear from the 60s and 70s. Now, whenever I mention the Rhodes, I have a website for good example recordings. Points for well-known and chestnut example recordings of each instrument/effect. Triple bonus points for mention of the Tannerin (A.K.A. Electro-Theremin), which is the actual instrument featured on “Good [...]
Presidential Word Counts
5 Sep 2008 – 5:51 pm
It’s conference submission season around our department, so I am very sensitive to word counts. I noticed during the primary that Obama’s website featured lengthy policy documents in PDF format, whereas McCain and Clinton had much skimpier policy positions on their respective sites. The goal of this study was to see if there were actual [...]
Os Mutantes: Parody or Tribute?
15 Aug 2008 – 3:42 pm
In honor (or despite of) McDonald’s use of “A Minha Menina” in a Olympics commercial, I wanted to share some thoughts about Os Mutantes. Despite being championed by Beck and David Byrne Os Mutantes are still relatively little known, so exposure in a commercial is a good thing. Even those hip to the band don’t [...]
Good design
16 Jun 2008 – 4:53 pm
Many architects and designers, when talked down from the theoretical towers of “sculptural forms” and “floating volumes” and made to speak of their craft in humbler terms, are apt to use a phrase as naive as it is loaded: “good design.” It suggests such an apparent universality that any of us should be able to [...]
Old Politicians never die
7 Jun 2008 – 11:56 am
;they only get forwarded… I was curious about what happens to old political websites when the candidate has not been running for several years. All of the 2008 candidates still have active sites because it’s too soon, but what of the 2004 candidates? www.howarddean.com forwards to the wikipedia page about Howard Dean. Much easier than [...]
The Aesthetics of Brewing
4 Jun 2008 – 6:49 pm
Fort Collins is a town that loves it’s beer. With at least 5 breweries in town, we do not drink Coors (stop asking!). I have to give a shout out to Odell Brewing Co. for it’s design. Their logo is fantastic (see right) and so are it’s label designs (see left). Not only do they [...]
This really happened…
3 Jun 2008 – 9:52 pm
at my high school. This explains any grammatical or spelling mistakes; I had teachers like this. Yes, I did have “Crapo” in high school. This is not exaggeration. Names have been changed to protect the guilty. I present for your enjoyment a brief vignette of high school English class, in dramatic form: SCENE: A classroom. [...]
Lineages
3 Jun 2008 – 9:36 am
I was thinking about the progression from exponent to godfather to grandfather status in a movement (literary, musical, etc.). It seems fuzzy when someone goes from an “Exponent” (a more gender neutral term for “Father”) to a “Godfather” (no gender neutral term, maybe “Elder Statesperson?”) to potentially “Grandfather” (“Grandparent”) of a movement. To help clarify [...]