danbruno.net/blog

I forgot to install the driver for my drawing tablet. This is from holding the pen down in one spot.

Two wholly unrelated things I’ve been consuming over the past week:

• Target Women is a segment on the Current TV comedy-news show infoMania. Host Sarah Haskins lampoons the bizarre and often nonsensical ways advertisers view women with shrewd observations and pitch-perfect delivery. Some favorites: birth control, laundry, Broadview security, yogurt.
• ErfWorld is a webcomic about a universe that works like a turn-based strategy game: cities have levels, characters have “move,” and the land is inexplicably divided into hexagons. It’s chock full of clever nerd-culture references and groan-worthy puns, but has enough depth to sustain a fairly engaging story as well. Check it out!

Well, this is the most unlikely ad I’ve ever seen:

I guess their previous campaign wasn’t working out.

I’ve been really into Paul Graham’s essays recently. They’re engaging, well-written, and charmingly hackerish. Some recommendations:

• The Age of the Essay
• What You Can’t Say
• Is It Worth Being Wise?
• Why Nerds are Unpopular
• See Randomness
• How to Do What You Love
• Post-Medium Publishing

From schadenfreude to inspiration:

• FMyLife.
• MyLifeIsAverage.
• GivesMeHope.

Pro:

• OS uses less disk space
• Marginally faster

Con:

• Breaks Keywurl

So far, that’s a net negative. I used Keywurl constantly, so I’ve more than cancelled out any performance increases by repeatedly typing search requests into the address bar.

Hello! I hope you had a nice summer. I have been busy not writing for my blogs!

I have, however, been working — today is my one-year anniversary — and Harmonix is doing some awesome shit that you might be interested in.

The Beatles: Rock Band comes out three weeks from tomorrow. This is by far the most exciting project I’ve ever been involved with, and I can’t wait to see what everyone thinks of it. For a thorough and accessible look at what we’re doing, I recommend the New York Times Magazine’s feature story from last weekend.

Last month we announced the Rock Band Network, an initiative that will allow you to author your own songs for Rock Band and sell them. There’s lots of potential here, and once I get my butt in gear and write some Rock Band-style music, you can bet I’ll be there.

Two music projects I discovered recently that draw on the power of the internet:

• In Bb 2.0 is a “collaborative music/spoken word project” from one Darren Solomon. It has aleatoric elements similar to Terry Riley’s In C, but uses a menagerie of pre-recorded YouTube videos instead of a highly interpretable score. It’s much easier to understand if you try it out, though — take a look.
• Kind of Bloop is billed as “an 8-bit tribute to Miles Davis.” Organized by Andy Baio and funded through Kickstarter, it will feature a collection of chiptune musicians covering the tunes from Davis’ signature album. Baio hoped to raise $2000 to cover licensing fees and other costs, but after three days he’s already gotten more than twice that amount.

Digital distribution is only the beginning.

Just saying.

Via The Beatles’ website:

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (9-9-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated “The Beatles: Rock Band” video game. Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

Oh hell yes.

There was a link on Waxy tonight with this intriguing summary: “Justine Lai’s oil paintings of herself having sex with each US President.” (Very NSFW, naturally.)

The paintings are all well and good, but the coolest part of the site is the loading throbber that comes up when you click on an image. It only lasts a fraction of a second, but after clearing my cache and reloading the page a couple of times I managed a screenshot:

A pencil! If you’re a gamer, it may be familiar to you as the infamous “pencil-shaped iron statue” from cult classic RPG EarthBound. Observe:

It’s a neat (if somewhat random) reference. Of all the painters who imagine sexual encounters with dead presidents, Justine definitely has the best taste in video games (or at least icons).

The retro-riffic shirts at Softwear got me thinking about the good old days of Windows 3.1. Some fond memories:

• I have no idea how I first saw the wonderfully goofy cool.avi. Googling around I see that it was included with VidTest 1.0 and the Microsoft Multimedia Demo CD-ROM, but neither of those sound familiar. In any case, I’m very happy it was preserved; this is why YouTube exists, as far as I’m concerned.
• canyon.mid was, as I remember, included with Windows 3.1. I’ve had the tune bouncing around my head for years but could never remember the title — as it turns out, “Windows 3.1″ and “MIDI” aren’t quite enough to go on. I finally thought of it today and was happy to discover that I can still sing along.
• It seems that everyone I know remembers playing SkiFree. Many even recall specific details — the slalom, the flammable trees, the snow monsters. Minesweeper and Solitaire might have been more ubiquitous, but it was SkiFree (and its bundlemate Chip’s Challenge) that had all of the style.

Behold: a press release!

New York, NY – March 5, 2009 – Apple Corps, Ltd., Harmonix and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today announced the 9/9/09 worldwide release of The Beatles: Rock Band (http://www.thebeatlesrockband.com). The music-based video game, an unprecedented, experiential progression through and celebration of the music and artistry of The Beatles, will be available simultaneously worldwide in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and other territories for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system and Wii home videogame console from Nintendo.

The Beatles: Rock Band will allow fans to pick up the guitar, bass, mic or drums and experience The Beatles extraordinary catalogue of music through gameplay that takes players on a journey through the legacy and evolution of the band’s legendary career. In addition, The Beatles: Rock Band will offer a limited number of new hardware offerings modeled after instruments used by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr throughout their career.

The Beatles: Rock Band will be offered as standalone software and hardware as well as a limited edition bundle. The game will be compatible with all Rock Band instrument controllers and other current music-based video game peripherals.

Available on 9/9/09:
The Beatles: Rock Band Software – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $59.99 MSRP
The Beatles: Rock Band Standalone Guitars – Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $99.99 MSRP
The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle: Xbox 360, PLAYSTATION 3, Wii: $249.99 MSRP
Please note: Pricing outside of the US to be announced at a later date.

The Beatles: Rock Band marks the first time that Apple Corps, along with EMI Music, Harrisongs Ltd, and Sony/ATV Music Publishing, has agreed to present The Beatles music in an interactive video game format. The Beatles: Rock Band will be published by MTV Games and developed by Harmonix, the world’s premier music video game company and creators of the best-selling Rock Band. Electronic Arts will serve as distribution partner for the game. In addition, Giles Martin, co-producer of The Beatles innovative LOVE album project, is providing his expertise and serving as Music Producer for this groundbreaking Beatles project.

Exclusive content created by Apple Corps, MTV Games and Harmonix will be made available to fans over the next few months who participate in a pre-order campaign through major retailers. More details on The Beatles: Rock Band game and pre-order will be revealed in the coming months.

Please visit thebeatlesrockband.com.

A few years ago my dad got me a Quamut guide on songwriting for Christmas. A section called “How to Write Lyrics for Songs” contains the following summary:

1. Pick a topic.
2. Choose a song form.
3. Choose a point of view.
4. Write an opening line.
5. Write the complete first verse.
6. Write the chorus.
7. Write the remaining verses.
8. Write the bridge (if applicable).

The guide then goes into more detail on each of those steps, and to its credit offers some useful suggestions. (Avoid cliches, don’t rhyme every line, et cetera.) But I’ve always preferred the summary on its own. It seems unhelpful out of context: “Start writing a song, and then continue to write it until it’s finished.” But sometimes I think that’s all the advice I need.

Here’s a strange issue I’ve encountered with NetNewsWire, my RSS reader: sometimes a particular item will change to unread when the feeds refresh, even though it hasn’t been edited. Currently the offending post is “Hawaiian Vacation” from Matt Haughey’s blog A Whole Lotta Nothing; for two weeks now it’s marked itself unread at least once per day. If past behavior is any indication, this will continue until the post scrolls off the list of recent entries.

I haven’t been keeping a close watch, but I believe I’ve only seen this issue with TypePad blogs — I know I’ve noticed it with Brainy Gamer posts before. Even then it’s fairly infrequent. I wonder what the deal is.