tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29534429319424636702024-03-13T22:22:45.044-05:00Upon the Souls of SparrowsColin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.comBlogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-11184318653223237762009-09-02T23:21:00.002-05:002009-09-02T23:32:37.715-05:00those crows sick their starving wings on choking out the sun full sinking pinksI had great questions to ask you all, polls and open thoughts. They're gone now, as these things go.<br /><br />I'm fixing to have a great time.<br /><br />I didn't mean to do a short post like this, but I'm not sure of what to say. I've had a good while (along the same lines as a good night, or a good weekend), I'm happy, and excited, and nervous, and worried, but flowing, and laughing my way through the day (and I'd laugh through hurricanes and fire, to be sure). I'm rereading favorite books, and exploring new ones, I'm revisiting old pleasures and giving credence to new ones, I'm delighting in noise and in color and wordplay, and along with that I owe someone an apology, for hypocrisy. Sorry.<br /><br /><i>Dreadnought</i> is such a word... it's used to describe a certain shape of guitar, usually strung with steel strings, with the 14th fret at the body. The word is very ... acute at the moment? Maybe not the right word, but it has that pointed, somewhat painful feeling that I'm trying to convey.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-13924330516444403972009-09-01T13:37:00.004-05:002009-09-01T13:52:45.048-05:00Check upI was really busy in August, I apologize. I only got, what, 4 blog posts up in the entire month? Pitiful. Or something like that. Anyways, having gone to Morris, MN, and stood on the lawn in the center of UMM's campus, and listened to Cloud Cult perform for an hour and a half or so, I have decided to sit here and plug them shamelessly. Which is too bad, since they aren't going to be playing another show for a bit.<br /><br />Last year, Cloud Cult, which is a homegrown Minnesota rock band that has been around for about 12 years, released an album titled <i>Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-Partying Through Tornadoes)</i> with the intention of releasing it, doing perhaps a small tour, and then retiring to a life of hobby farming in northern Minnesota. Or maybe that was just the lead singer, Craig Minowa. Regardless, that's <b>not</b> what happened, thank goodness. The album brought them heaps of critical praise and general popularity - they even had a song on a commercial spot. So they kept touring. As I finally got around to seeing them, and hearing them for the first time (which makes me sort of a terrible person, I know), in Summer 2009, I am quite pleased with this turn of events. I'm hoping they are too.<br /><br />Anyways, they're a rock band in the sense that there are drums, a guitar and a bass; the full instrumentation is as follows: violin, cello, drums, electric guitar, and electric bass. The guitarist sings main vocals and also plays the keyboard and manipulates artificial noise (loops, sound bites, and such), the cellist also sometimes plays keyboard, the bassist also sometimes plays trombone and a children's xylophone, and everybody already mentioned but the drummer sings vocals. BUT there are also two full-time painters that tour with the band and paint during shows (the paintings are auctioned off for charity at the end of the show; UMM bought one for $500); one of the painters also sometimes plays the keyboard, and sings, and the other sings and sometimes plays the trumpet.<br /><br />So "rock" isn't a very good description, but the point is, they're amazingly talented, and make amazing music. It sounds as if they're going on a small hiatus (one of the painters is married to Craig, the lead singer, and they're expecting in about a month), and almost everyone in the band is married, and not necessarily to each other, so families and lives beckon. So even though you may not be able to see them live anytime soon (unless you live in River Falls, Wisconsin, in which case go see them on 9/11 at the U of W there), you can check out their music and buy their 7 or 8 albums at <a href="http://www.cloudcult.com/">cloudcult.com</a>.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-59321538491971928142009-08-23T20:38:00.007-05:002009-08-24T02:21:27.218-05:00Have heart.I watched a lot of movies while I was on vacation with my parents. The full list is this: <i>Iron Man</i>, <i>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</i>, <i>Last Chance Harvey</i>, and <i>Good night, and good luck.</i> Iron Man is a great movie, BB was also good, but long and troubling, Harvey was mostly adorable, but what I really want to talk about is GN,AGL.<br /><br /><i>Good night, and good luck.</i> is a movie about Edward R. Murrow and his conflicts with Junior Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_R._Murrow">history</a> lesson is short: McCarthy founded the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and unconstitutionally tried people for Communist ties. Murrow, perceiving the illegality and immorality of the Senator's actions, did a series of specials covering the hearings on his show, See It Now. The Senator responded by attacking Murrow without refuting any of Murrow's allegations. An investigation into McCarthy and his actions occurred shortly thereafter.<br /><br />The message I took away from this concerned a topic that is very prevalent today: what is good journalism? Part of this question revolves around the idea of the "purpose" of journalism. A friend ponders it <a href="http://summatusmentis.com/2009/04/29/the-role-of-the-media/">here</a>, and Andrew Sullivan often does it <a href="http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/">here</a>. For my own part, I view the purpose of journalism as I view many things, as a spectrum, no pun intended.<br /><br />On one end is objective journalism: news delivered with as little bias as possible and as accurately as possible. Most news sources attempt to deliver this type of news. The idea is that the news should be one step removed from the event, and that the reporter is a collator, or a curator, <a href="http://bikesnobnyc.blogspot.com/">if you will</a>. In this case, a reporter is analogous to a mapmaker - the best map is the land itself, but that doesn't fit in your pocket, on your doorstep, on your television, in your browser, so a map is made, a news story written.<br /><br />On the other end is subjective journalism. I don't have a ready definition for this, so I'll give examples. Socialist newsletters are subjective journalism. Hannity is subjective journalism. Andrew Sullivan is subjective journalism. Perhaps a good word for all this is simply, Editorial. It's the word used in GN,AGL by Murrow to describe his show and his department at CBS.<br /><br />Is one of these "better" than the other? Arguably, yes. If I want to find out what happened in Ghana today, I would turn to objective news. If I wanted to know how well the American economy is doing, I would turn to objective news. But say I want to know what the American far right thinks about the War on Terror: I would turn to <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/">WaPo</a> editorials.<br /><br />The assumption in answering affirmatively to that question is that news without bias, news written for as wide an audience as possible, is better news. News can still be accurate <i>and</i> biased. Look at <a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/">John Stewart</a>: the Daily Show is a nightly program that does a very good job of covering the daily news, but it does so with a leftist bias. MSNBC does much the same thing, albeit a lot less entertaining. Sean Hannity also does a daily program that covers the news, with a far right bias. I'm not sure entertaining is the right word, but there's my opinion showing. It's affirming. I don't hold the same beliefs, but I can sense that.<br /><br /><i>See It Now</i> was an editorial program. The nature of the program was subjective. But it's segments on the McCarthy hearings were revolutionary. For really the first time, the media directly affected politics. Murrow's journalism was solid. It was deep. It was thought provoking. It was accurate. Was it objective? Possibly. His intentions <i>were</i> objective: he was trying to tell the truth.<br /><br />And that's the rub. Truth is subjective. Watch the interview<a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/246932/thu-august-20-2009-betsy-mccaughey">here</a>. Both of these people believe fully that they are right. They are argueing their positions with a passion that cannot be denied. Yet the text agrees with only one of them.<br /><br />Where does this put journalists? I think you can safely say that journalists should tell the news as accurately as possible. What they tell will be based on their bias. How they tell it should not be. Ideally, people should seek to consume news from multiple sources: good journalists will give out accurate news that they care about, and each news consumer will receive news from a variety of biases. That is a news world I think we could have.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-47511097933606067532009-08-20T01:21:00.003-05:002009-08-20T01:27:10.079-05:00There's a mural up on east 14th, it said, "Hallelujah, RIP"I have resolved to try and face more of my fears, and to try to work past them as best I can. In some cases, this means steeling up and doing things that I want to do, but am afraid to do, in other cases it means telling people how I feel and trying to get them to work with me, and in still others it means doing things that I don't want to do at the moment, but should. Some of these cases overlap, in ... some cases.<div><br /></div><div>Or something like that.</div><div><br /></div><div>I would really like to stop being afraid of things, afraid of people; or, really, I want this gutfeeling of apprehension to go away. Living is no fun when your insides strangle you.</div>Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-54897990790802042132009-08-18T21:46:00.004-05:002009-08-18T21:56:55.809-05:00The blue light was my blues, and the red light was my mindA checklist of sorts, or maybe, a really, really long mastercard commercial, from my vacation:<div><br /></div><div>Hours of guitar played: 3-4</div><div>Number of times I played Love In Vain Blues: 3-4</div><div>Number of mochas drunk: 2</div><div>Number of poems written: 2</div><div>Number of beers had: about 5</div><div>Glasses of Syrah: about ... 5</div><div>Glasses of Chardonnay: ... about five</div><div>Nights spent: 4</div><div>Fears faced: many</div><div>Fears defeated: maybe not that many</div><div>Books <s>read</s> finished: 3, working on a 4th</div><div>Friends missed: a lot of them</div><div>S'mores eaten: 0</div><div>Mountains circled: 1</div><div>Chocolate Mouse-es ate: 2</div><div>Trips to the swimming pool: 3</div><div>Scrapes from the swimming pool: 1</div><div>Mild Sunburn: check</div><div>Things jonesed for: 4</div><div>Trips yearned for: 3</div><div>Days I wanted to come home: all of them</div><div>Days I wanted to see someone special: all of them</div><div>Days I didn't want to leave: all of them</div><div>What could be the last vacation with I take with my family in a long time: absolutely wonderful, and, yes, priceless</div><div><br /></div><div>More starting later this week. Real journalism, not being a theater person, things like that.</div>Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-70919901994015185422009-08-06T15:33:00.004-05:002009-08-06T16:08:11.729-05:00Maria came from Nashville with a suitcase in her hand, I always kinda sorta wished I looked like ElvisI seem to always be saying this, but, "it's been a while." Summer is bad for blogging. I spend too much time hanging out with friends, and as those friends are mostly the people that read this blog, it's hard to be motivated to write. That, and when I'm hanging out with friends, I'm not doing anything interesting that can't be tracked in another manner. Like, a month or so ago, a friend was housesitting for some folks with a chicken coop, so some friends and I went over to see the chickens. I took some pictures of them playing with chickens, and then put them up on facebook. That was the end of that; it felt like there wasn't any need to write about how fun it was playing with chickens, when the folks in those pictures are the people who read this the most. :-\<br /><br />In addition to summer not being good for blogging, I've been in a different sort of mood since school ended. I've had a lot less desire to share generally (as opposed to individually), and a desire to be quieter. I've been listening to a lot more indie and folk music this summer, which is quite different from the punk and hardcore binge I went on at the end of the schoolyear, or the hip hop binge I went on last year. I've spent a lot more time thinking about my problems, and a lot less time writing about them, which means less poetry. The same is true for events in my life, which means fewer blog posts.<br /><br />Spring semester was very intense for me, academically and emotionally. Academically, I was very busy, doing homework, planning for the coming year, planning for the future, writing papers, writing code, writing poetry. But I also made new friends, forged stronger friendships, missed some people more than is usually healthy, forgot how to breathe, and remembered just in time to fly away.<br /><br />This year I lost some independence, and gained some self-esteem, and realized both of those things are important to me. I realized that what I want isn't always compatible with current situations - something that is completely contrary to the lessons I learned as an only child in a supportive household. I was taught, all through my life, you can be anything you want, you can do anything you wish to. I never thought that I wouldn't know what I wanted. I also never learned that sometimes what you want involves others - it takes more than one egg to make an omelette; some things cannot be accomplished alone, and sometimes others don't want the same things you do. And... in that case, you *can't* do whatever you want. Sometimes people won't be there to support your endeavors.<br /><br />And sometimes, people will be there. The people who love you should inspire and support you, and you should do the same for them, out of love for their dreams.<br /><br />I'm coming home again.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-85550639846598447472009-07-21T23:00:00.002-05:002009-07-21T23:06:17.996-05:00Open E-mail to Lisa GoodmanMight do a weekend recap tomorrow or Thursday. For now, an e-mail I sent to Minneapolis Ward 7 Council Member Lisa Goodman regarding 18+ shows.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ><i> Dear Council Member Lisa Goodman, </span><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;">I've become aware of an initiative by your office relating to 18+ music shows and the availability of alcohol at those shows. I read an article in the City Pages (link below), which I recognize is most likely biased, but as a resident of the Twin Cities and a frequent concert-goer, I feel the need to inform you of my concerns, and make a humble suggestion for future action.<br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Firstly, the main concern of your office seems to be the potential hazards of having underage youth in such close contact with alcohol while at concerts. One of the dangers, in particular, is that of individuals aged 21+ passing alcohol off to minors. I agree that this is a major problem. The issue is that the minors who get drunk and attend concerts aren't getting their alcohol at the show itself. Most of them are actually pre-gaming the show - that is, procuring alcohol through a legal adult before the event, and then going to the event after they're already drunk. This is the logical source of alcohol for the minors - if their alcohol consumption were restricted to the show itself, they would not be able to preform the binge drinking that has been observed, due to the restrictive cost of drinks at venues and the suspiciousness of a patron continually purchasing a large volume of alcohol. I don't know of any venue that wouldn't investigate such behavior.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Secondly, 18+ shows represent a unique niche in the world of bookings. The main issue at hand is a matter of ambiance. All Ages shows have a very particular feel - the average age is much lower, the performances less serious, the crowd more rowdy. 18+ shows on the other hand, allow young adults to attend concerts with people not closer to their physical age, but closer to the age and maturity level that young adults wish to have. This, along with the general increase in maturity, makes for a more intimate atmosphere, less rowdy crowds (particularly at punk and metal shows) and better performances. There have been many times when my friends and I have forgone seeing great bands, simply because the show is All Ages, and we'd rather wait for a better atmosphere in which to appreciate the music.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">I'm sure that your office will weigh all the positives and negatives of any restriction, and make a well-thought out decision. Also, if I may, I would like to make a couple small suggestions. The primary problem with this initiative at the moment is that it appears to the public as an instinctual, puritanical strike at underage drinking. To help you learn about the source of the problems, as well as give the public an impression of consideration and deliberation on the part of your office, I would suggest you conduct some research about the source of underage alcohol consumption, the strength of venue underage drinking policies, etc. Along with this, you might also consider other solutions to this problem besides a booking restriction on venues.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Here's the City Pages link: http://www.citypages.com/2009-07-22/news/proposal-to-ban-18-shows-could-kill-minneapolis-s-music-scene/</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Thank you for your concern in public health and safety, and thank you for taking the time to read this. I would be willing to discuss this matter further with you, and I trust you will make a well-informed decision.</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Sincerely,</span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Colin Welch</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:100%;" ></i><br /></span></div>Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-63982347329591785462009-07-17T19:15:00.004-05:002009-07-20T00:03:29.405-05:00I saw taillights last night in a dream about my whole lifeWeekend! I've got evening plans, but not day plans, which will be nice. I like it that way. I've got a couple of ideas for things to do this weekend, but I'm not sure what it'll end up being. Anyways, here's some:<div><br /></div><div><ul><li><s>Practicing stuff for open mic on Saturday. This should probably happen...</s></li><li>Cruising around MPLS on bike and photographing good graffiti. :D</li><li><s>Sitting in a coffeeshop writing. :D :D</s></li><li><s>Uploading all the pictures I'll be taking this weekend. I'm taking on the role of historian.</li><li>Grocery shopping. Checking out the Dale/Selby coop. Randolph is closing. :(</s></li><li>Rolling down to the central library to get my card renewed and pay my $15.00 fine from senior year of highschool. :p THINK OF THE BOOKS</li></ul><div>In other news, I'm 9.5 hours back into Resident Evil 4. I'd forgotten how awesome that game is, and I'm remembering now. I just unlocked the area leading to the second boss, so I'll be done with the Castle soon, and then I can move onto killing zombie commandos. No, I'm not kidding. I sort of wish I was... at least to save myself from their fucking stun batons. -.-</div><div><br /></div><div>As for night plans, I'm going to Highland Fest for a little bit tonight, mostly just to take pictures of friends, Saturday evening is an open mic and Sunday there's a little get together at a friend's apartment for board games and beers.</div><div><br /></div><div>I should probably glance at work as well... but I really don't want to. I'll talk about it later in the weekend, but it's just a frustrating bug I have to deal with because no one else will.</div><div><br /></div><div>EDIT: <s>Things I did</s></div></div>Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-51326309579401977812009-07-16T18:17:00.003-05:002009-07-16T18:36:43.736-05:00here's to theLots of smaller ideas today. :)<br /><br />First, I finished what I was working on for the last couple of days, specifically, getting references working in conversations. Basically, if you make a post in a conversation on our site, the system will scan your post for possible references and suggest them to you. This is totally up to you, so you can select which ones you want.... which is great, except for one thing: the system can pass the reference (which has more fields than just "text") to the website, but the website can only pass back strings. It passes them back in a standard data communication object called a hash map, which works by specifying every value as a key-value pair; you type in the key, you get the value back. The solution we chose was to put the "text" of the reference (for example, "Timothy Pawelenty") in the value, and make the key into a standard pattern.<br /><br />Parsing this pattern took several days to code. And now its done. And works. Finally. I spent all day on the test alone. Or rather, I spent all day fixing the bugs that the test helped jiggle out of the framework.<br /><br />Meat Tape 2 is growing on me. It's most definitely not Meat Tape, but it doesn't really have to be... I'm unsure what to think of it, but individual portions of it are growing on me. It's much less of a local roundup and much more of a "P.O.S Presents" type thing. Still good, just different.<br /><br />Speaking of growing on me, I'm definitely starting to dig the Bruce feel of The Gaslight Anthem's second LP, <i>The '59 Sound</i>. Worth a listen if you want "if Bruce Springsteen grew up listening to punk." Solid writing, solid guitar lines, solid percussion. I think one of my favorite moment on the album is at 0:48 on the title track -- the 'chuckas' are absolutely wonderful.<br /><br />Oh hey, it's James, the guy I used to work with at Borders. Nice.<br /><br />Would anyone be interested in doing a one-shot Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition game this summer? I miss dm-ing, and I sort of want an excuse to learn the system. Let me know.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-49224490208651888072009-07-15T15:31:00.003-05:002009-07-15T15:39:40.236-05:00Open mic pressure pops -- 1.99 at your local gas stationSounds like it's open mic this weekend. I'd prefer it being somewhere with better acoustics than my apartment (which isn't hard to do at all), and there's a real possibility of a good spot, but... I feel that elements of our group would resent the highly likely parental prescence. I don't really care, personally. The echo in my apartment is a real annoyance, and I feel that we'd be better served in a different environment.<div><br /></div><div>But what open mic does mean is a review of what I can preform this time around. I've got some coversongs I've been idly working on that I could ramp up productivity on, and I could sit down with my own work sometime soon, which is something I've been meaning to do anyways, so this could be a good excuse to get started.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the poetry end of things, I have some fresh slam poetry I could practice up, or I could do a reading of more traditional page poetry. I could read my sonnet crown (ahahahahahaha) (<-- not a laugh track).</div><div><br /></div><div>So, in short, I'm not sure. I guess it depends on how many people will be there, and how long we have, and where it is, and ... well, pretty much anything else. That's longhand for "I dunno yet."</div><div><br /></div><div>Redundant statements are redundant.</div>Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-17733133057733136152009-07-08T15:57:00.002-05:002009-07-08T16:09:28.165-05:00like a walnut, in your guts.I'm working on another postscript session for the Serenity campaign that was conducted last school year. The majority of the game was played second semester of sophomore year, and the players really bonded over it. Since then, we've revisited the game twice; only twice because one player moved back home, 1000 miles away, and one player moved to a new home, about 60 miles away. Regardless, it's been a while.<br /><br />The plot of the game was a small crew of morally solid Firefly/Serenity universe denizens attempting to survive on a whole lot of not much. It occurred in the months leading up to the Message featured in the movie Serenity. While the crew of Serenity was on Miranda being scared by dead people, the crew of the Mick was on board an Alliance cruiser, aiding in a mutiny against one of the scariest Admirals in the fleet, who also happened to have bought one of the PCs when she was a small child. The PC, Evie, escaped when she was about 17, but had been haunted by memories of her childhood and her surrogate "father" ever since. The campaign culminated in the captain of the Mick, Ian O'Malley, shooting his childhood rival in the halls of the cruiser, sparking the mutiny, and finally a showdown between Evie and the Admiral which ended with Ian putting a bullet into the Admiral's head.<br /><br />The additional two "postscript" sessions occurred both before and after the climax of the "first season", so to speak. Due to me losing the character sheets, they were light on combat and heavy on the talking. Now that I've found them, expect more skills tests, ridiculous combat mechanics and blood. I chose to not deal with the direct results of the climax because I felt that I wasn't ready to narrate and resolve the issues that came up in it in the most dramatic, but also mature way possible.<br /><br />The reason I'm telling you all this is because, in working on a session for this weekend (all the players will again be in town), I've realized quite exactly <i>how much I miss this</i>.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-54082787307349794892009-07-08T14:20:00.002-05:002009-07-08T14:35:57.713-05:00bad posturingDo you ever get the feeling that you're too big, or too small, for normal, everyday objects and situations? I often experience this, even with very common things, or things you wouldn't think would be difficult. Many of my common mishaps include:<br /><ul><li>Sinks and mirrors. They're always too low. I like being able to see what my hair is doing, but sometimes that's not allowed, apparently. Washing your hands should also not hurt your back.</li><li>Cups. I've got a big nose, and sometimes cups don't line up right, and I just can't seem to drink out of them. It's too bad.</li><li>Small-necked string instruments, like violins and mandos. I've got big fingers, and big callouses. Not as big as mando players, but still. Makes me wonder how <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Skaggs">Ricky Scaggs</a> manages to play, because, man, does that guy have sausage-fingers.<br /></li><li>Urinals. Sometimes it's so bad that "splashback" occurs, and that's not even with the floorlength ones.</li><li>Toilets. Believe it or not, sometimes they're <i>too high</i>. I know, right? Turns out my thighs are just huge, both in length and in girth, which means all my height is there and in my abdomen.</li><li>Ellipticals. These are the <b>bane of my workout existence</b>. It's not fair. Everyone looks so graceful, loping along, watching TV, listening to <i>Single Ladies</i>; me? Nope, turns out my legs are too long, and I <i>don't bend in the right places</i>. I end up bouncing along, the gait not long enough, the machine trying to bend my knees somewhere around the thick portion of my shin...</li><li>Keyboards. this comes back to the whole big fingers problem, and is a big reason I'm waiting on getting a netbook (the other two big reasons being money and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorestown_(CPU)">impending hardware advances</a>).</li></ul>Well, that's all I can think of at the moment. Thanks for tuning into another pretty awkward blog post.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-87530024497421833202009-07-02T13:01:00.003-05:002009-07-02T13:09:12.022-05:00full of steel wool, safety glass, and loosed teeth.Well. It's now July. I haven't posted since the middle of June. Like, c'mon Colin, what's been keeping you? Well, you know... life.<br /><br />There's not a whole lot of extra amidst the helterskelter of everyday, between <s>dollar and drumond</s> work and play. !time == being busy. Makes for a lack of energy, any kind, but still...<br /><br />Ajoyous playing, a feeling of completeness in the singularity of a group, the relentless feeling of outsidership amidst friends, the constant tension of closeness and distance, all in one night, Dancing, always foot tapping and twostepping, we are, in thought, ascending (alabaster), making love, in companionship, In silence after speech I'm losing thought<br /><br />and creativity is being kept in. This is not the thing that bursts out when the container is full...it is a tide. It follows the pull of some other body, but, like the water of the metahpor, still seeks to fill in all cracks and me, sprawled out in the way of the sun,<br /><br />sinking or singing.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-46331812613679522022009-06-17T14:00:00.002-05:002009-06-17T14:15:02.180-05:00How now, a rat!What have I been up to, eh? Well, not much. Just hanging out with friends and working, mostly. Lots of band practice. Big plans though. I guess this'll be an art post.<br /><br />Planning a variety of projects for this summer. First, hello blacksmith will be recording and releasing our EP, which will be good, since then we can give those with t-shirts their cds, and sell both at once! Anyways, we played a show last Friday at The Basement, and it was probably the best show we've done so far, and we think we're ready to record. The settings have been difficult to ... set ... but otherwise, we have a rough take of all our songs (minus the one without a drum track). We started writing new material this week, and we're looking to get an opening set at Eclipse sometime this summer.<br /><br />On the subject of shirts, it's my hope that we can restart the "production shop" to get some more, and new, shirts out there. The gangsta penguin shirt is a fan favorite, but we have some other ideas we'd like to see put out there. Look for the other half of our 'record label' name, for example, and don't be surprised at other animals appearing as well...<br /><br />As for my personal projects, I'm writing more acoustic music. I'm considering fooling around with recording, we'll see where that goes. I've discovered that I get rather impatient with the recording process -- I'm that guy that just wants to play the guitar. Now. Please. Still, it'd be fun to try. I'm also wary of what I sound like when I'm not singing punk music. I don't have a lot of confidence in that respect.<br /><br />But life goes on. We've got a can of spray paint that I plan on using in conjunction with some stencils on my new water bottle and my pickguard. Should be cool. Also, poetry. Slam poetry, regular poetry, lyrics, whatever.<br /><br />I'd like to collaborate with people more this summer, too. I got a few responses, but one of them is in Maine and another is always wary of doing things with me (running, for example). I do have a joint poem to revise though, with <a href="http://poetryiscomposedofalcoholandvanity.blogspot.com">this gal</a>. Oh, and apparently I'm getting skyped for some team slam poetry. Although... he's sort of dropped off the flats of Texas, so we'll see.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-80268132456904916682009-06-12T10:56:00.003-05:002009-06-12T12:30:59.045-05:00Hence shall we see, if power change purpose, what our seemers be.Big problem:<br /><br />I can no longer post poetry.<br /><br />The reason?<br /><br />Policies like this, which are not uncommon for 'first serial rights' submissions:<br /><br />"Work that has appeared online is considered to have been previously published and should not be <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/submissions.html">submitted</a>."<br /><br />Facing this realization has caused me not to want to post at all. If I can't post my own poetry for fear that it'll get crawled and archived, and thus be available 'on the internet' for all time, how can I feel free to post anything at all?<br /><br />How can I share my work with my friends and loved ones if I can't physically give it to them, and cannot post it somewhere?<br /><br />And further, where does a policy like this stop? "[H]as appeared online" is incredibly vague -- obviously publishing on a serious website would be a problem, but this idea encompasses more than that. This blog has incredibly low traffic (I've been tracking it, it's pitiful), but still counts. If I upload things to dropbox, are they "online"? How about an even more ubiquitous example: can I even use <i>GoogleDocs</i> to type up my work?Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-89137265610813439792009-06-10T23:17:00.003-05:002009-06-10T23:21:21.477-05:00Scarce confesses that his blood flows, or that his appetite is more to bread than stoneMore tomorrow. I'm addressing one of the other issues that has caused me to stop doing blog updates.<br /><br />I'm looking for collaborators on creative projects. If you're interested, send me an e-mail. I do visual art (not very well), poetry (much much better), slam poetry, prose, limited composition and guitar. I also really like reading. :) That's more of an aside though. =PColin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-19665313462426255452009-06-09T01:09:00.002-05:002009-06-09T01:15:32.841-05:00Thou, nature, are my goddess; to thy law my services are bound.I wanted to apologize for the general overshare going on here at the moment. I'm trying to deal with things and this is a pretty good outlet, it seems. I'm reading again, at least. :) Still, bear with me while I figure things out.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-69379055788400789262009-06-08T15:30:00.004-05:002009-06-08T15:41:37.570-05:002 stepAnother issue that has been occupying me recently is my own lack of motivation. I've been getting tired very easily, and the answer to that is to eat well and exercise. But that takes time and more energy, and so it all just sort of spirals down into not doing anything and being tired. This is similar to my loneliness spiral.<br /><br />It makes it very difficult to do anything when I'm always tired. It also makes it difficult when I have very little personal time (due to work), and even less time personal creative time (due to hanging out with people). This means that I don't get anything done creatively and get frustrated about it. Hello Blacksmith is currently where I get most of my creative energies out, which is cool, because it's hanging out and creativity at once, but I also do more than play punk music.<br /><br />I write music, poetry, lyrics, I draw, I sing, I practice spoken word.<br /><br />All of those? Haven't happened.<br /><br />Sitting outside enjoying the sun? Nope.<br /><br />Reading? Hah!<br /><br />Time only factors into the motivation issues. Time is not the problem. Motivation to use the little time I have for creativity is.<br /><br />Now I know why people never leave school. It's a completely different structure for your time.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-34781312703817068762009-06-08T11:24:00.002-05:002009-06-08T11:44:26.752-05:00Updates from the sidelines<span style="font-family: verdana;font-size:100%;" >Sorry for the lack of updates. I've had a lot on my mind. This may turn into a "thinky" post, so watch your step with the ellipses and mind the gap.<br /><br />Still working. Life's still ... half working. We're hitting a slow spot at work in terms of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_Development_Life_Cycle">"development life cycle"</a> (not the best picture). We're stuck in design, as this is a large project, and there are still a lot of things we haven't talked about yet.<br /><br />I mean... we did go through the cycle once, and got our first super-rough test site up. The basics work, but now it's time to move on to a lot of other things. Our basic functionality is there, but all of the other "basic" functionality people seem to want needs to be implemented, but first, designed, and that's where the difficulties are.<br /><br />All of this just leads up to the fact that I'm not too enthralled by work right now (hence, writing a blog post). And I still have to be here and wake up and be tired and all that big band. People being home means that I spend all my time seeing them, and I'm ... well, I'm still in school mode, specifically school mode without constant companions. I'm used to having and taking personal time whenever I feel like it. And I'm not used to people planning things -- the folks I started hanging out with at the end of the year just called and we did stuff, there was no planing stage.<br /><br />Don't get me wrong, I enjoy hanging out with friends, and seeing people. In fact, I've started getting lonely when I don't see people, and then my "must be independent of all people, ideas and objects" psyche feasts on that and forces me into deeper troughs of loneliness.<br /><br />Last week was really difficult for me. If you know emotional difficulty, fill in the blank.<br /><br />This all leads up to a friend telling me to "cheer up, emo wench!" Which makes more sense in context, but it was still sort of not what I thought I needed to hear. It did work though. I felt much better that day, and in subsequent days.<br /><br />So I guess ... thanks for startling me into trying to fix my life? Turns out you know me better than I do.<br /><br /></span>Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-73878196761592483622009-05-26T21:44:00.003-05:002009-05-26T21:50:26.860-05:00It's a pretty good night for a drive, so dry up those eyes, and dry up those eyesI got up late today, which was fine, because I was going to go into work early, worked until 5, went home and cooked dinner. Then I watched the news and ate, and then slowly cleaned up over several hours.<br /><br />...<br /><br />I don't know that I can do this for the rest of my life. Like, I enjoyed work today, but... seriously? At least I'm spicing up this domestic lifestyle with Risk and friends.Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-46641689264927153642009-05-10T16:35:00.001-05:002009-05-10T16:36:25.812-05:00beach beach beachI am at the beach. In NC.<br /><br />Hence, no blog posts.<br /><br />That is all. :DColin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-17275714719078183322009-05-08T08:06:00.003-05:002009-05-08T08:08:00.541-05:00a mighty big need to eat sometime this monthAfter the next 4 hours, I will have given a presentation, taken a multivariable final, and handed in my poetry portfolio. I will then still have to finish my digital electronics project, pack and do laundry, all for tomorrow. Also, somewhere in there I'm seeing Vinny. Aaaaaah!Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-71981776728932586512009-05-05T23:40:00.005-05:002009-05-05T23:51:06.731-05:00the party's over, the cd's skippin'. the same hook repeated grows more grating with each passing secondDoing a lot of project work this week. Got everything mostly wired up for my analog to digital converter. All that's left is an I/O select using NOR gates and hooking up the d-to-a to the correct range. And well, debugging assembly. :3<br /><br />Here's a list of influences for my poetry portfolio, just because it's a humorous mix:<br /><br />"Shakespeare, Elizabeth Bishop, Emily Dickinson, Adam Drucker a.k.a. Doseone, Kyle "El Guante" Myrrhe, Mike Mlekoday, Saul Williams, Neil Gaiman, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Patricia Smith, Katie Willingham, Neil Hilborn, Daniel Picus, Sarah Welch, Jeff Shotts."Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-26593819252975081952009-05-03T12:17:00.000-05:002009-05-03T12:18:02.093-05:00foreign policy<i>I was tricked by your scent<br />I was lured by your blouse<br />I was caught by your laugh<br />Now tear it out.<br /><br />Your smile fails to procure<br />The wish we had for you<br />Your teeth are sunk in us<br />And I had to tear them out.<br /><br />How could they pick you, how could you do?<br />What do we choose now to stay away from you?<br />What path do we keep now, what savior calls for help?<br />What savior calls to save us? I want change for myself.<br /><br />You lead him by his hand, an old pet too near to death<br />You watch us with shining eyes, I swear I'll tear them out.<br />We let you rise before us, fake eyes and smiling breath<br />I swear I won't let you lead us, I swear we'll tear it out.<br /><br />We need to be free, we don't have time for your sordid policy<br /><br />We need to be free, there's no time for your sordid policy<br /></i>Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953442931942463670.post-83862973944194063252009-05-02T14:38:00.004-05:002009-05-02T14:47:09.508-05:00there's a million more miles to runAlright, so gtk recap:<br /><br />After spending an additional 2 hours on Friday hitting my head against the the Great Dependency Wall, I gave up for the weekend and refused to touch the program. On Monday, I talked to my professor and said I was still having trouble with it, and he said he wasn't surprised. We then went back to his office and he explained what he had done in the meantime, which was actually rather ingenious. First, he set up a really basic makefile without any listed includes or libraries, just a compiling command. Then he used<br /><br />make 2>&1 | head<br /><br />to output stderr to stdout for head to recap it into useful dependency errors. Then he used the shell command<br /><br />locate<br /><br />to find them and add them to the include list. We ended up using the standard "pkg-config --libs gtk+-2.0" libraries, and then ported it to my system with little trouble. After making sure all the needed #includes were present in my program, we made the file with no problem, and it ran fine. Just to double check it though, I uncommented my code that wasn't working due to dependency issues, which was to undecorate the window (take away the traditional "window" portion of it - title bar, menus, etc). Worked! So after about a half an hour more work I now have a working widget! Huzzah!<br /><br />Now where to put it? There are 4 spots on the screen that a user can always locate, the 4 corners, so these are well used by operating systems and programs. One of the places that doesn't get used on Ubuntu or by most programs is the area directly above the taskbar, so I centered it roughly in the middle and threw it on there. Here are the results, plus MGMT and kitties.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xWa_AgaB5MQ/SfyihiZGX2I/AAAAAAAAADI/Pud8_7qtAe4/s1600-h/workingwidget.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xWa_AgaB5MQ/SfyihiZGX2I/AAAAAAAAADI/Pud8_7qtAe4/s400/workingwidget.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5331314755951288162" /></a><br /><br />What this looks like is the Songbird miniplayer mode on the bottom of my screen. But what it actually is is a widget containing the miniplayer that I can put anywhere, move anywhere, decorate however I want, etc. The real purpose of all this was to set it to keep_above(), meaning to stay on top of every other window, and to stick(), which means that it can't be moved and is present on every desktop. So no matter where I go, there's music. :)Colin Welchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13512525660610232642noreply@blogger.com5