Sdtrk: ‘On through the night’ by Blues control

As I missed the opportunity to perform my civic duty before my workday, as a lot of people more clever than I did, or even to make use of the absentee ballot to vote days ago, I had to get round to the polls after work. I predicted having to fight post-work traffic — incidentally, I managed to score a new job; more about that later — but it only took me 55min to get from my workplace in downtown Detroit to my local voting centre in the suburbs, which impressed me greatly. In fact, the entire process only took an hour! Admittedly, it might’ve taken less than that if 1) I’d gotten into the A-L queue, instead of the M-Z one I was idling round in for ten minutes, and 2) if I hadn’t gotten all OCD in trying to fill in those bloody circles. But it’s done! Incidentally, I was voter No.835 in my precinct.

The spider necklace didn’t help with my vote, but it certainly didn’t hurt

If you voted, well done! If you didn’t, get the fuck off the Internet, go back in time, and do so.
May the best man win, of course, but as fellow iDollator bbbjjjttt remarked, ‘I woke up this morning in the USA. Hopefully I won’t go to sleep tonight in the Republic of Gilead.’ Fingers crossed, people

UPDATE (11.55pm): Looks like the 47% did it, baby *subtle but proud fist pump*

Sdtrk: ‘I’m Bruce (Dimension 5 Mega mix)’ by Fantastic plastic machine

I’d have to say this is pretty mental. Looks like someone Photoshopped something onto the picture of a courtyard, right? But there’s much more behind it…

They’re really small Toclafane! And THEY WILL END US ALL

Beginning October 23, 2010, MASS MoCA will present a new site-specific sculpture by Prague-based artist Federico Díaz. Created from 420,000 black spheres precisely milled and assembled by robotic machines, the 50-feet long by 20-feet high sculpture, Geometric Death Frequency-141, will fill MASS MoCA’s entrance courtyard with a fragmented wave seemingly caught between movement and stasis.

An interior installation of one of the robotic machines used to manufacture the work will accompany Díaz’s presentation at MASS MoCA. The robot will assemble additional spheres to be later added to the massive sculpture, providing viewers with the opportunity to experience the process by which Geometric Death Frequency-141 is created. The Díaz-developed process is unique-in addition to utilizing modern computer-aided manufacturing techniques, pure data and algorithms based on particle physics are the guiding forces behind the sculpture’s shape, texture and size.
taken from this article

Frankly, I’ve no idea which is cooler — the fact that it’s a solid thing that resembles something liquid, or the entire gigantic sculpture is assembled entirely by robots, or the title itself — ‘Geometric death frequency-141′. Sounds like the name of a piece by Masonna. Very nice!

*Yes yes, I apologise for the title

Sdtrk: ‘I see, so I see so’ by Broadcast and The Focus group

Earlier today, I peeked through the blinds outside, and checked my calendar, and it appears that yes, it’s about time for the Q4 Davecat Writer’s Block! Which would explain why I’ve not written anything, really, since the last two posts. Technically speaking, ‘Micromoscow‘ doesn’t count, as I completed that in the summertime, and ‘Answer the Question, Mr A. Rorschach‘ was actually started round this time last year. I’ve always said that we here at Deafening silence Plus work at tectonic speeds; people chuckle and think I’m kidding, but it’s no joke, more’s the pity.
And I’m sure you’ll ruefully note that there wasn’t any ‘Any Doll/Synthetik news…?’ entry for last month? That’s cos I was simply out of it as far as writing, to be honest. It was literally a case of there was so much to report on, that my brain just kinda shut down due to information overload — a lot happened that month as far as affictitous companions, and I couldn’t effectively tackle it. So what that means is that you’ll get reports on breaking news that get reported several weeks after the news broke! My saving grace is that most of the people that read ‘Shouting etc etc’ aren’t involved in either the iDollator or technosexual communities, so it will genuinely be news to those of you who aren’t. Yessir, that would be a cop-out answer!

Now to other ephemeral bits of interest that aren’t embarrassingly late! Today, one of my favourite personalities would’ve turned 79 today, the eerily prescient writer JG Ballard.

The American Dream has run out of gas. The car has stopped. It no longer supplies the world with its images, its dreams, its fantasies. No more. It’s over. It supplies the world with its nightmares now: the Kennedy assassination, Watergate, Vietnam.
— Interview in Metaphors No. 7, 1983

Coincidentally enough, his birthday happens to fall one day after the birthdays of two other people I’m keen on. Turning a distinguished 70 years of age, you’ve got Wendy Carlos, the musical prodigy who revolutionised the use of analogue synthesisers, particularly through the albums ‘Switched-on Bach’, and of course the soundtrack to Stanley Kubrick’s ‘A clockwork orange’; and, as SafeT put it, being in 37 years of operation would be yours truly.* I’m loping closer to 40, and that’s freaking me out. But I’m sure when I’m loping closer to 50, that’ll freak me out even more. I am lucky, however, to have friends and family that love me, and a very patient audience!
What’ll I do in the meantime, however? Get my head down, and get back to writing

*In the interest of full disclosure, he’d gotten my age wrong. The sentiment still stands though, I’m sure

Sdtrk: ‘House of Kaya (Jim O’Rourke remix)’ by Merzbow

Remember that article I’d written highlighting New York City in miniature? Well, Soviet-era Russia did the same thing for Moscow, back round 1976.

‘New York is now small? Bah! There is no smaller city than glorious tiny Moscow!’

This is a Moscow city scale model. It is back from USSR times, when Soviet leaders had a little craze on making such epic compositions. It was ordered from an artist Efim Deshalyt in 1976. The size of the model exceeds 400 sqft. [...] After the Soviet era ended, exhibition started loosing the interest among visitors, it attracted only foreigners, travellers to Russia from USA, Europe and other countries. It has been said that some museum workers even wanted to destroy it because it “takes too much space and electric power”.
taken from this site

Apparently it’s for sale as well. Current asking price: $3 million USD. Hmm.

Wouldn’t it be something if somewhere, in the vastness of that HO-scale city, there was a couple endlessly walking the streets, trying all the doors of every building, wondering why none of the cars will start or go anywhere, periodically shouting to see if anyone will help them, and yet receiving no answer? And when they finally do encounter people, they’re all gorgeous-yet-motionless women that all have the same three faces? That’d be pretty wild.
Wait, hang on — the, ah, ghost of Rod Serling has just phased through my front door, and wants to have a word with me about something

Sdtrk: ‘Shoplifters of the world unite’ by the Smiths

Today marks the 155th birthday of a man whose rapier turn of phrase deserves to be an even greater inspiration to not just those who write, but anyone who uses language, Oscar Wilde.

Sdtrk: ‘F for fake’ by Wallpaper

*flips through stack of papers* According to my records, it seems that I’ve been using Twitter, the microblogging service everyone loves to hate, for exactly one year, which is a surprise to me as it is to you, more than likely. To be honest, I didn’t think I’d get that much use out of it! But it’s not a bad little service if you use it right, apart from all that timewasting I manage to do with it, when I could be writing legitimate posts. Ah heh.
It’s actually connected me with more than a few fab individuals with similar interests; or, at the very least, people who are willing to put up with me going on about how I’ll be joining the lads for another tokusatsu-watching session, or whatever videogame that’s captured our collective fancies that eve. Also, I like to view my Twitter feed as like the secret Davecat Fan Club newsletter of sorts, cos with it, I can share stuff with my followers that might not necessarily get posted to ‘Shouting etc etc’, or, thanks to this blog’s WP-to-Twitter plugin, they’re always the first to know of any new posts that get published, which they can ignore at their leisure.

One of the personalities I follow is actor and writer Stephen Fry, a man who has been likened to a contemporary Oscar Wilde due to his breezy and witty approach to things, wrote a post to his blog in defence of Twitter:

The clue’s in the name of the service: Twitter. It’s not called Roar, Assert, Debate or Reason, it’s called Twitter. As in the chirruping of birds. Apparently, according to Pears (the soapmakers presumably – certainly their “study” is froth and bubble) 40% of Twitter is “pointless babble”, (http://is.gd/2mKSg) which means of course that a full 60% of Twitter discourse is NOT pointless babble, which is disappointing. Very disappointing. I would have hoped 100% of Twitter was fully free of earnestness, usefulness and commercial intent.
the rest of the article is here

Twitter does a rather good job of conveying information and ideas in a pretty expedient and fun manner. You can keep your Mybook or your Facespace; I’ll stick with the birds instead.

Speaking of Wilde, yes, I’m reading my copy of ‘The Soul of Man under Socialism‘ again, as it’s a fantastic essay. Also, I’m in need of new books.

A great deal of nonsense is being written and talked nowadays about the dignity of manual labour. There is nothing necessary dignified about manual labour at all, and most of it is absolutely degrading. It is mentally and morally injurious to man to do anything in which he does not find pleasure, and many forms of labour are quite pleasureless activities, and should be regarded as such. To sweep a slushy crossing for eight hours on a day when the east wind is blowing is a disgusting occupation. To sweep it with mental, moral, or physical dignity seems to me to be impossible. To sweep it with joy would be appalling. Man is made for something better than disturbing dirt.

Try to tell me he’s wrong! Try to tell him he’s wrong! The answer is simple:
you can’t

Sdtrk: ‘I’ve changed my plea to guilty’ by Morrissey

Just a heads-up to friends and regular readers of ‘Shouting etc etc’ in general: as the Good People of National Geographic will be descending upon Deafening silence Plus at the tail end of this week-end, I’ll be busy prepping the place, as well as the Missus. Why am I noting this publically, you say? Basically, I’ve been delinquent with responses to people here, and on compatriots’ blogs, and, well, Emails, various messaging programmes, phone calls, telepathy, carrier pigeons, etc etc, and I don’t want anyone to feel as if I’m ignoring them, cos that simply isn’t the case.
So next week, I should be theoretically be back up to speed. Whatever that speed may be, exactly. Heigh ho!

One question: anyone know the best way to get blood stains out of carpeting? We’re talking a couple of stains about four feet wide, on a kind of putty-coloured carpet. As much as I’ve been scrubbin’, they just won’t disappear!
Err… y’know — just out of curiosity’s sake