Torley's techno music & anti-techno music
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2004.09.02 Thursday |
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Website downtime with 1&1
If you
have noticed lately that TORLEY.COM (my website) was down,
I apologize for this. My domain hosting company, 1&1, has been having
problems of one kind or another and I've sent them a support email
requesting help.
I hope
they get this fixed soon -- like real soon -- because it's not
the first time it's happened to me... more like the 4th or 5th now
over the last few months (not including "outages" I didn't know
about). I'd like to find out what's going on. It makes me
sad.
Sorry
about this. :(
Thanks, Paul, for the
heads-up!
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A visitor made this comment,
You're welecome ;)
comment added :: 4th September 2004, 13:22
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2004.08.31 Tuesday |
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In my dreams...
I
experience a lot of things while I am sleeping. I know my own
personal distinctions between fantasy and reality, and much as I
like to draw parallels between art and life, I do know that both
have a very valid place in one's person and that imaginations are
often too snuffed out or severely stifled by the time one gets to
even a young age of adulthood (that being, the window of 18-19 human
years).
I see
streets in my dream like "Whalen & St. Saint Boulevard" which
may have no real analogue/analog in my waking life, but they are
signs of something. I feel a continuing quest for an
Enlightenment, and as much as I'd like to care about Deja Vu,
sometimes even that pales in comparison to the sheer, Lovecraftian
alienness of encountering a stark yet oddly fertile wilderness of
the inner mind -- all when sleeping.
In my
dreams, I'm a great advice-giver. Better than Dear Abby and Ann
Landers (all of them, subsequent generations up to 2501 A.D. or so)
put together. When I'm awake, this is not so. My advice is to be
heeded cautiously like a fellow not even dipping his toe into a tub
of lava (and what is the tub made of?), because it has been known to
harm more than help. At times, anyway. This is why I would put out
more disclaimers, not for the safety of myself but my
care & concern for the wellbeing of others. And still, I
dream some more... without trying to come off too cautiously, I
dream of: great wax skyscrapers in the shapes of flowers and hybrid
eating utensils (the "spork" being only the tip of the
tongue); cyberpunk wuxia battles taking place across the
stormy, oddly sunny skies which laugh and cry at the same
time; practicing human interaction and socializing as to get
better and better at what I do not understand and what I may not
"get" but which I am deeply captivated by; and
Enlightenment.
Is
there a lot people don't really believe in because they know it's
not true but know of nothing better? I can only speak for myself,
and in my example, it once was true but the fakeness of those masks
have collapsed and the masks I employ now have more of a sinister
yet forthright sensibility, not unlike an Eyes Wide Shut-style
ballroom dance. A stoic lust. I've grown to challenge unconventional
ideas in my own quest -- whatever that is -- and although I know why
the sky is blue, technically, I can't help but wonder about it on
some philosophical level. Like that old
piece of poultry.
I'm a
friendly eccentric. I've come
to accept this. Not because I have anything against "normality", oh
no -- I am most fascinated by white picket fences and the mundane
things that most people take for granted like tying shoelaces and
making small talk (not SmallTalk the programming
language). I've come to find things about myself which I always
knew but could never explain with the relevation of Asperger's
Syndrome, and life continues on. As do the dreams.
I am
thankful for the blessings in my life. Blessings like My Very Own
Blog (TM), so I may express myself in some almost-coherent manner.
(I don't forget: I'm still frustrated and angry because of my
hearing problem -- hyperacusis -- it keeps me
from my music; my passion of sharing with you... we shall see, hear
what happens in a few months's time. *sighs*) Some days
have more clarity than others, but if diamonds had no coal, who
would know the difference? Sometimes the pearls need the swine, ya
know, and I stand to learn a lot from the experiences of others and
hopefully apply a distilled form of some of that to my own life. (I
could copy-and-paste some witty acid quote here, but I'll save that
for another day.)
I'm me,
Torley. And as long as I sleep, I will continue to dream.
^_^
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A visitor made this comment,
Now let me explain about how things are like
in MY dreams.
Everything's backwords. Normal people are weird and weird people are normal. Neurotypical people get obsessions (one of the main ones is this museum). The definitions in the dictionary are all messed up. And almost anything can happen. There are no laws in there. But that's okay (except for a couple where I got followed by annoying people trying to kill me [which is not my typical dream]), because the real strength in my dreams is weirdness, not necessarily peace (although peace is also important). In my dreams, I can fly. Not really a breast-stroke-type flying. More like a floating-on-my-knees-type. I'm actually pretty good at it. Well, that's all I have to say. Bye! Mich comment added :: 4th September 2004, 04:11
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Torley's techno music made this comment,
Thank you, thank you Jeremy. And HI. That's a
really cool story, and I thankya for sharing it with me.
Signed to a label? Me? Who knows what time holds. All I know is that my path has always been an eccentric one, much like myself. It is difficult to describe as I go along, but I think it will make sense in hindsight. I appreciate what you have to say! *does power chord twang* ;) comment added :: 1st September 2004, 19:11
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A visitor made this comment,
Torley Wong, the one and only! I heard your
beats back in my freshman year of highschool oh so many years ago
and couldn't get them out of my head. It was off a mix CD a friend
had gotten from a friend and he didn't know the name of the artist
who's music made my soul rave. So, i got depressed. The song was
Xristophan, both mixes. I looked for it for a very long time, will
my brother, http://www.inhhume.150m.com, got into the underground
music scene with his band. Their drummer/programmer had that song
playing in his car, and I finally found out who it was.
Your music is incredible, your genuis is obvious, and I think you should be signed to a label by now. You're up there with Oakenfold man. I just wanted to say hi, tell you that I'm very honored that you're going to be reading this, and that in my book you're a rock star. "Keep it rockin' in the free world!" Jeremy T http://www.xanga.com/starvingcollegestudent comment added :: 1st September 2004, 18:36
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2004.08.24 Tuesday |
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VOTE NOW: TranceAddict's Top 100 EDM
Tracks
System
J (the Rave Crab ;) ) initiated a new poll on TranceAddict. It's
formally titled:
* * * Tranceaddict's Top
100 EDM Tracks * *
*
As he said:
EDM stands for Electronic Dance Music, so all genres in the
umbrella are open to be nominated. The rules and
everything are posted clearly, so if you'd like
to chime in your Top 10 faves and see what comes out -- the survey
ends on August 27, hurry up! -- I wholeheartedly encourage you to
have some fun and share your cherry picks. If you don't have a
TranceAddict account already, you'll need to
sign up. It's a quick-n-easy procedure.
Here are my choices, mostly melodic and an aural
juxtaposition between the familiar and the alien:
My reasoning
behind each of these picks is explained here. It was
difficult so I spontaneously went with what was the cream of the
crop off the top of my head. There are so many great tunes, and
thinking + feeling about this helped to reaffirm my faith in the
future of techno music.
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A newbie asks questions; the TAs give their
answers; discussion continues
On
TranceAddict, a newbie aptly named NooBey -- although he'll be
chock-full of knowledge in due time and I'm not sure how his name
will suit him a few years down the line! -- asked this
politely:
These are very obvious, valid questions to ask because the
terms are used so often within the scene that it would render one
somewhat mentally bankrupt to even begin to discuss without a
further understanding -- or if not that, at least some insight into
the context of what is actually going on. I will say this: beware
of trance dogma. You must challenge conventionally
accepted ideas to find personal truths. The discussion
continues here.
Also, another hot topic:
Glad you asked, Millsy. My own feeling on the matter includes
this: imploding psychology and peer pressure get in the way of one's
enjoyment of the music, and instead of listening to what you really
want as I touched on in a previous post, you end up listening to
whatever avoids incurring the wrath of your "friends", aka
technosnobs who should stray far away from. UGH. Please don't do
that, it's really fake and lame. If you're going to live, you should
at least be entitled to select the soundtrack to your life. Even if
people bug ya and give you a ribbing, hang in there and keep on
keeping on. The discussion
continues here. Naturally, sometimes queries like this are unrightly shoved under the rug on the dancefloor because they can be perceived as a raving white elephant in the room and ignored... but ignored for how long? It's easier to give a "I don't care" than to buck the trend and introduce new ideas and execution into the ecosystem of techno music. In fact, it's downright hypocritical not to advance this, as technology -- and progress! -- are cruxes of the collective lineage. We need continuing, expanding diversity in order to flourish: there are many types of music for many types of people. And it's really that simple. |
2004.08.23 Monday |
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Chandrasutra blogs: "The wonderful world of
Torley Wong"
I
recently got in touch with Chandrasutra -- ne Melanie aka HTMel
(which is the best pun I've heard in ages) -- via Chatango (like you
can see below). It was a curious, timely incident as we had
both been on Joi
Ito's blog prior. Chandrasutra has a
very nice blog, and is a very
avid voyager in the realms of the blogosphere! To say the least, she
is a very active human being, passionate about her
interests.
Mel, thank you graciously for your blog about my blog! I am honored. I feel anything else I say will have to expressed through music, ha ha, so I hope my ears get better REAL SOON so I can assemble some more sonic constructs ;) |
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A visitor made this comment,
Thanks Torley! I just couldn't help writing a
post about finding your blog and sharing what I found here with my
readers. Onwards and upwards! ;-)
comment added :: 23rd August 2004, 10:49
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2004.08.22 Sunday |
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A special thankyou to Blog-City, Avril rocks,
J-pop, supersaw
I've
had this blog for a few Earth-months now and just wanted to make it
clear I appreciate and am thankful to Blog-City for hosting it. I
always knew there was something different about them, ever since the
time I started customizing. I wish them and all of this domain
much honor and prosperity. I don't quite recall why I wanted to have
a blog in the first place, but I did know I wanted to get torley.com up and running
again. And I am thankful for that as well.
 Oooh! I
just got an issue of Elle Girl magazine in the post. I like to read
fashion/megatrends/lifestyle magazines for both female and male
genders so that I might learn what is socially popular. Avril
Lavigne is on the cover. She rocks! In this magazine, she looks like
an edgy ballerina and her skin is like the finest porcelain slash
alabaster. I like her cat's-eye makeup. Always have, and I think,
always will.On the J(apanese)-pop front, it has been said that Japanese Acts Woo U.S. Through Anime. Obviously, cultural differences come into play and there's got to be more coming over than pretty girls singing pop songs, because we have plenty of that here as it stands. Interjective thought: Puffy AmiYumi have a cartoon I will likely never see because 1) I no longer get Cartoon Network and 2) I hardly watch TV, but I wish them well with their new audiovisual media enterprise. They have one song, "Tokyo Nights", which sounds very much like the standard "Radio Killed The Video Star" which is nothing less than a paramount favorite of Mr. Zephos's. *Ahem.* I would like to focus on unique personalities like that of Utada, who has her Stateside debut coming soon. I don't want to use the word "Americanized" (what does that mean anyway? There are so many pockets of Americana) but I'll go ahead and use it and I hope it reflects her original artistic vision. I am still stumped why something like "Travelling" was not released as a single here -- granted, the English translation of the lyrics was odd, but no odder than a Shakira hit featuring seven-legged cats. That is awesome pop production and the video is luscious sight to behold, a real visual feast slash treat. It has been noted that Utada admires Bjork. I hope the two of them shack up and collaborate. Speaking of obvious ideas finally exploited, Bjork has an exciting new album which is all (almost all?) vocals. Including vocals used as all manner of instruments including percussion beatboxing and perhaps stringy orchestrations too. If you think, "Rahzel must be involved in something like this", indeed you are right, and he is. In the trance cliche dept. which I enjoy having fun with: Got SUPERSAW? |
2004.08.20 Friday |
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What is techno music? What does it mean to
me?
More
thoughtful discussion over at TranceAddict happened today.
"TECHNO" is a big, puffy word, not unlike those
little pillowy guys who advertise toilet paper. Sorry, I forget
their names at the moment, but I'm a sucker for cute mascots. So
being a type of person who will knowingly embrace contradictions, I
wanted to respectfully answer mndeg's question:
Most
excellent question. Here's my answer
why I use the word techno as in all electronic
music. I also touch on part of what techno means to me, and
why I am obsessed with it... well, I allude to that bit subtlely.
;)
Words
like these really rely on personal truths within you as a unique
individual. What do I mean by that? Well, for 'stance, I mean that
someone who's never had a wonderful clubbing experience -- all
sweaty and smiley and perhaps on drugs, perhaps not, but undeniably
having an awesome time -- is going to have a very different view of
techno music than a lab scientist whose involvement in the music is
more theoretical.
I am, of course, a hybrid of both and an appreciator of diversity, and in the future I will grow increasingly hungry for these experiences like Urgo (of Stargate SG-1 fame) is for pie. I'm a staunch DISBELIEVER in telling others what they should think & feel when it comes to such a powerful, Teutonic word as "TECHNO", and so, I share my information but leave their decisions up to them. And this is how I learn! Speaking of learning, I came across another couple of pages highlighting peaks of earlier electronic music, the first from the 60s. (Wow, that girl on the floral mattress looks so happily fine!) Here's the second one -- the 70s! I don't think they ever completed this series though. It was supposed to go up to the 90s, and never did. Onwards, techno ho! |
2004.08.19 Thursday |
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Respect the roots of techno music, or the tree
might fall on top of you!
 It's no secret that the electronic world of
techno music is still burgeoning and growing shoots and
leaves in a variety of directions, spawning subcults of subgenres
and substyles every what-it-seems-like fortnight. Like a brilliant
symphony of firecrackers exploding across an already beautiful
Aurora Borealis, the variety and diversity of what is one freakin'
YUGE umbrella is staggering. Not to mention how electronic sounds
have infiltrated -- or more recently, boldly marched into -- all
manner of other kinds of music, from country to pop to rock to
rolling on... and need I say the instrumental section of most
hip-hop, which encapsulates not only synthesizers (i.e. Timbaland's
take on the acid house sounds and his stuttered swing beats which
bring to mind the jagged breaks of drum 'n' bass) and sampling (this
one goes without an explanation)? To channel Ben Kingsley via proxy
of Conan O'Brien, "Yes! Yes!! Yes!!!"It's no surprise then, that it is really hard to catch up with the present which bridges into the future. And by extension, that makes it all the more difficult to trace the roots of the music, and in a parallel way, enjoy what came before because we are so used to the beefed-up sounds of today that many younguns think that Kraftwerk sounds thin and tinny without even stopping to think of the context of the times. Oh, how we take things for granted! Yes, we have plenty of room of improvement, but we've come such a long way, baby. We live in a hyper-age of attention deficit. Next! Well, the pioneers pride themselves on their in-contrast-to-today beeps and bleeps, and perhaps that's the point. A stylistic beauty unique to them which heralded synthesizers as being part of pop music's repertoire of instrumentation during a time where most of these music-making machines were associated with academic experiments which the people by far and large cannot relate to. There is no room for ignorance in a TECHNOlogically-based music form that prides itself on attention to technical detail and inscrutable knowledge of digital facts, plastered all over the mind's ear like a beehive full of angry buzzers that has just fallen on top of a poor critter (take your pick: whale, porcupine, or amoeba). Clubbers talk about the trance of today and the house of here and there and the progressive which is oddly regressive, and they know what exists NOW, but they do not know of names like Kraftwerk, Larry Fast, Can, Perry & Kingsley, Juan Atkins, and onwards. Oh, perhaps they've heard of them, and the words do convey a message but remember this: the music is a message all its own, and it deserves to be heard. With digital technology such as the internet (capitalize it if you wish), finding music from previously in the timeline is no great chore, and one must not make excuses to search out "classical electronic music" dating back to the 60s and even before -- if you happen to have an itchin' for the eerie theremin stylings of Clara Rockwell. So if you feel tempted to discover more and expand your horizons and vertical/diagonal whatevers, go ahead! Enjoy! (It's like a family tree, albeit one that may prove to have far more chemicals involved and illegitimate children than your biological relations.) Seek out progressive trance before it was called that and was "humbly" known as epic house. Search for techno classics in the day before WYHIWYG sequencers or even the pivotal points where the trains of tech and hip-hop merged, coughing up many an electro breakdance spectacular in the 80s like the Bambaataa-beaten "Planet Rock". You don't have to like it -- and you should NEVER force yourself to -- but you should give it a spirited ears open, because you never know what gems you might come across that really move you. It's not ancestor worship; it's paying the utmost respect to the greats of the team who had a hard time getting the novel electronic sounds out to the public. And guess what? The next generation will say that about us too. All good things in time. Also, I wholeheartedly recommend that you read interviews with today's luminaries and look up who they looked up to, and track it back from there. Not only do you get a better appreciation of where X DJ or Y producer is coming from, you'll be able to fill in more pieces of the puzzle of your own listening preferences. Don't forget Google and Wikipedia! Speaking of information authorities, here are a few of many sources I, an eccentric autistic, am pleased to learn from:
From these pages, you will find oodles of further links to follow -- ain't hypertext and the World Wide Web a beauty for being such a beast? So who are Torley Wong's personal favorites of the old vanguard? Here's a sampling of ace memories: Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Rydeen" (this is not the original version); the lo-fi-before-lo-fi-was-cool expressions of Rob Hubbard; w-w-Wendy Carlos's Switched-On Bach; Vangelis and his "Chariots of Fire" antics and beyond, which everyone knows the tune of but how many people can name the composer?; Orbital's "Satan" (God bless them); the big, brassy tubular bells; Jan Hammer's soundtrack to Beyond The Mind's Eye, a certain Tangerine Dream album; and Yanni's Keys To Imagination which still ranks in my book today as one of the crowning achievements of melodic, emotional electronic music. Please DON'T namedrop the same albums that other people do if you've listened and found you don't actually like them. Don't contort to pressure to conform and "be cool" because you're a unique individual with tastes all your own. So don't pretend, just be you. It's one big musical buffet, this techno music palette. You may not like every dish but none of them are particularly lethal or poisonous (unless you play them at high volumes and kill your hearing :( ), so give each nook and cranny a try and come back for seconds, thirds, ad infinitum! It is only by knowing what you already like that you will find more of what you like. Above all, don't forget the fun. Go! (like the seminal Moby single) |
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Torley's techno music made this comment,
Awww, thanks Mel! :D
Visit me @ http://www.torley.com/ comment added :: 20th August 2004, 14:58
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A visitor made this comment,
Great overview. Especially for people like
myself who know very little about the history of techno but want to
learn more. I'm so happy I stumbled upon your blog. Your music is
wonderful and your blog is pure delight! ;-)
http://chandrasutra.typepad.com/ comment added :: 20th August 2004, 13:48
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Within the technosphere: "best artist" and
annoyances pertaining to it
DJ
Cinos had the following to say on
TranceAddict:
Good
question. Needless to say, this got
discussion started as to the possible deductive reasoning behind all
of this...
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2004.08.18 Wednesday |
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Of ears and technocultural differences on a
real train
Unfortunately, my hearing is still bad. I think it'll take
some time still until I can fully recover (I hope), and in the
meantime it's a frustrating grind so I do a lot of reading to make
use of my time. I know I have a blind spot for the obvious, so I'm
thankful to have picked up Neuromancer by
William Gibson for
reading, among other choice selections. Yes, that IS the "cyberpunk
bible", all de facto and bona fide and other words bursting with
polyglot virtuosity pointing towards its authenticity and relevance.
I had been putting this novel off for years. In a way, it's really
refreshing to get the words flowing again. I don't want to say
"blessing in disguise", but since I did, that goes. Funny how the
title sounds like "New Romancer" if you read it a certain
way.
When I think of a techno music track, another type of track comes into mind -- a train track. I think in pictures like this and this is one way I visualize music. When I was a child, I used to have a model trainset and I enthusiastically lorded over the little array of cars and stations, not to mention the trees and other simulated shrubbery, and called myself the conductor. Of course, the word "conductor" extends to music as well. In the case of electronic music, the baton is virtual, not a magician's stick, and it is more rigorous and mechanical than a human could ever wield it. As in, BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM to the beat of a different drummer, aka BOOOoOooO-O-O-oo-oooom! Which makes for interesting control possibilities and a new permutation of pluses and minuses. On the plus side, the clock keeps on ticking while you do your licking. I see the separate instruments -- for example, all of the grouped drum tracks from kick to snare to hi-hat and even jiggly little extras beyond -- as trains travelling parallel to one another. If one train carries especially heavy cargo, then it would most likely, but not always, represent the bassy low frequencies. Some trains have oats, others carry pastels and crayons, and some even have kittens on board. (Most, however, are hybrid passenger/freight.) Not dumped en bulk, mind you, but these kittens have comfortable accomodations sitting in their coaches, crossing their legs and sipping catnip tea. They have chaperones too, sage felines who groom the young and teach them how to read newspapers and X-Obsession and instruct them in the business acumen of Y-Obsession and the scientific wisdom of Z-Obsession. There is even a playroom for these cats to get rowdy in. Of course, fresh bedding cots and lavatories of the utmost quality are provided. The trains are colorful, neon... although there are a few monochrome, the "meat and potatoes" of the operation. The transportation devices have a rustic, antique sort of design to them, with baroque spires wiggling out of the tops of the cars (and a yuge unicorn spike jutting from the head of the locomotive), but they are fast hovertrains that travel at approximately the speed of sound. And why not? Sometimes two or more trains will run parallel at similar velocities (allowing for jitter), making CH-CH-CH and SHH-SHH noises as they barrel down into the distance. Occasionally, they will even merge and crossfade into one another, leaving you confused as to where one begins and the other ends. Picture this: take two lumps of differently-colored Play-Doh and mash them together repeatedly until they are seamlessly blended and rolled into a sphere. This is one aim of DJ mixing. Even with such superior technology, there are a few bumps here and there and the vibrations of these (desirable) imperfections make themselves known in several ways: distortion or flange effects, warped pitchbending, and even grainular synthesis. The latter would involve the aftershocks of the cereal trains, which carry Corn Popples and Frosted Fruit Loops and Gunmetal Tiaras -- the only cereal in the shape of a princess's crown (TM). They are located next to the milk trains, of course. (Lactose, but not of bovine origin.) Somewhere in the distance, the farmer-slash-dash-conductor smiles, knowing he/she/it has led the mechanical automatons to their Promised Land and that everyone will be home in time for dinner. The crops will be sown accordingly, and in due time, the trains will head back with new cargo. Somewhere, a three-headed cockerel goes cuckoo. As you can see/hear, this is a veritable trans-techno express! This is one of many things I see in my mind's eye when it comes to music. And I miss those feelings so very much. :( |
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Torley's techno music made this comment,
Thank you, Endless! Yes, I'm here. Life works in
weird ways... more to come, I hope! BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM ;) comment added :: 19th August 2004, 16:17
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A visitor made this comment,
hey man, you're site had been down for so long i
figured you moved on from net publishing, its really cool to see you
back!
http://endless.twistednode.com/ comment added :: 19th August 2004, 13:49
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2004.08.17 Tuesday |
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Wanna buy a casket at Costco?
In the
"life and death... but more death" dept., Death (capitalized) is of
course an obsession of mine. (As is life, and what's in between.)
Well then, thanks to Ian on
the DeadLikeMeOnline.com boards for bringing this
to our obsession, uh, attention: Costco Begins Test
Marketing Caskets. No doubt there
are reputable funeral homes, and I know I had good personal dealings
with the one that helped to bury my Dad six feet under. That's the
past now. But there are a lot of scammers out there and in a
capitalist market, something so sure as death (half of the taxes
certainty-probability pair) is sure to be a moneymaker.
I've got to hand it to Costco: I like their services, I like their prices. I DON't like their fluorescent lights. I'm sensitive to that part of the spectrum and it annoys the heck out of me. But, I suppose, like their quaint cement floors and unobstructed view of construction girders and other things-in-progress, it is part of saving bling whales, as my brother Merritt puts it. Thank you Costco for a good deal. In fact, I bought my Donald Trump book from them, which goes to show something! And even more surprising to me lately, after watching the appropriate Penn & Teller's "Bullshit!", was the story behind the seemingly innocent term "living room". Oh really? Well, that's where the story gets more complicated. Of course, I just have to be pleasingly trite and cliched and think: We each grieve in a different way. And as Emperor Palpatine, who looks like he's just about ready for a funeral aaany time now would say: "So be it, Jedi!" |
2004.08.16 Monday |
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Going to try out Chatango, some form of web
chat miniware
There's this neato as Cheetos little thing that the fellow
human being known as Joi Ito clued me
into, and it's called Chatango. Initially
perplexed, I've decided to check it out. Official help
file sez: Chatango
is a new way to make contact with people online. It's the first tool
for real-time, private, disposable, one-to-one communication. It
works just like one of those IM products, but doesn't require a
download, and is accessible from any computer!
Sounds friendly. I don't quite know why I got into it, because I'm not a big IM/chat person, but I like new experiences (think: Urgo) and I'm going to give it a spin. Looks efficient enough. Visit my Chatango page and just type a message. Alternatively, try this thing:  And... that should start a conversation? Oh girl, these are all experiments in progress, aren't they? How prototypical of me. Good hope, perhaps we'll converse for a bit tonight. |
2004.08.15 Sunday |
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A special thankyou to Crucibelle
I would
like to take this time to graciously thank Crucibelle, of Aspergian
Island, a community to discuss Asperger's Syndrome, whether you
have it like me or are curious about it. I have namedropped the
Island before and will continue to do so as I believe open, healthy
communication of this specific type and of more general issues is a
priority in the progress of the human race.
We have so many wonderments about each other -- be they what a man thinks of a woman, or what an African-American (Afrerican, my Dad used to contract) thinks of an African-African, and many more distinctions which may or may not be so literal. I only need state the importance of what lies within, and that is unplainly obvious:  She has given me a certain something that goes without saying which is like a magic key, and for this, I am thankful. So yeehaw and thanks, Crucibelle!! |
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The future of progressive house
Remember progressive house music circa mid-90s A.D.? This is
so obvious, that it's not even going to be filed under the
department of "Ironic walruses". It's been said that to go forward,
you must backup. Likewise, if you're going to progress, regression
can be your friend. PROGREG. There are no other analogies that come
to mind but something about using poison as the antidote would
consume the cake. So,
For
now, it stays a secret garden. I'm just waiting for the Meme
Propogation Squad (MPS) to get the scent of the fox. We all saw this coming in our own
way.
Another
ten years will make sense of this. But in the meantime, more has got
to happen!
|
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Torley's techno music made this comment,
It might be! We'll see when the time comes.
Thanks, Mich, for listening. :) comment added :: 24th August 2004, 11:41
GMT-08 |
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A visitor made this comment,
I just finished listening to your new song. I
thought it was good, but kind of short. Is it going to be in Wong
Songs (2b) when you make enough other songs for it?
comment added :: 24th August 2004, 04:39
GMT-08 |
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Into the Mind of the Autistic who is
me
From:
This article over
here! Tharrr......
"There are violent, hyperactive autistic people," he writes,
"and there are inert and gentle autistic people, verbal ones and
nonverbal ones, heartbreakingly retarded ones and astonishingly
brilliant ones, graceful ones and clumsy ones, obsessive-compulsive
ones and easy-to-please ones, beautiful ones and ugly
ones."
Can I
check off "all of the above"? :) Really though, I do tend to be that
dynamic. I'm more on the happy, friendly, subdued-yet-snappy side
for the most part, personality-wise. I sure wish I had more common
sense though. I'm dumb in that dept.. wish I knew how to pick
produce better. I go for the ones in the odd shape configurations
that aren't necessarily the tastiest -- and quite often, are
decidedly NOT. Can you say, "cubed watermelon time"? Also, I
just don't know when to end a conversation and I like talking on and
on. Too many ideas. Other times I might be found totally keeping to
myself though. I know pleasantness in most modes of life is
appreciated. (It's nice to be nice, which is just about
the biggest REDUNDANCY
 I can imagine.) I know I
perceive the world very differently from most and what most people
find boring like mundane everyday business, I find absolutely
fascinating. Eating fast food makes me utterly excited, it's such a
rare treat. The next time I have a bucket of KFC, I will explode. I
guess that's why I'm compared to Amelie!I
really liked that article. Every now and then and again, I'll
check the Google
feed on Asperger's Syndrome just to see what
up dawg. Remember: it's not an illness, it's a "condition"!
And with any conditioner, you'll eventually need shampoo. That's
just the way it is. So if I seem a little slow to you, please
forgive me and be patient with me, I am, and I'm trying to improve.
I'll do the same for you. It's not easy but that's life and I look
forward to many quaint antics and miscellaneous adventures to come.
As should you.
After all, why smell the flowers when
you can EAT THEM?!?
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A big fan of cyberpunk, that's what I
am
Words
like "cyberpunk" and "cyberspace" may be trite, cliched, and
flat-out overused, but I still have a soft spot for them. The
imploding psychology doesn't affect me and I figure even if they go
out of fashion to make way for new words, oh, they'll be back -- and
the funny thing is, if you think they're walking verbal cliches,
then you very well know what they're all about.
 I've just finished reading a novel while my ears heal (I
hope they are, mercy). You may have heard of it, since it came out
like a decade ago. I know I've heard it mentioned many times over
the last few years, but I finally got my paws on it at the library
and I'm really thankful I was able to read it. It goes by such an
obvious name and it's an unbridled literary adventure. I need not
even begin to explain how epic or wondrous the journey in 400-odd
pages is -- it's just that, that good. Bless you, Neal
Stephenson, for The Diamond
Age. It's "fiction" but it makes some really meaningful,
entertaining social commentary which applies to real life, and I
just adore the theme of growth and of contrasts (i.e. Victorian vs.
Confucian thought and the study between cultures). The ending felt
too soon to me, but maybe that's another notch on its
bedpost.Some of
the ideas within the book seem preposterously obvious (while keenly
being presented in some futuristic cyberpunk context), but
isn't it strange how often the very obtuse which juts out like a
square tomato in a blueberry patch is ignored? I wonder why. Lovely,
lovely book. I'm glad to hear that they still have KFC in the future
(21XX?).
Other
books I've read lately include From A Buick 8 by my
favorite master of the macabre, Stephen King -- you know who he
is. I was a bit shocked to open the first page to discover a
mention of a main character's father passing away a year
previous in the timeline. My own father passed away on
2003.08.08 so the timing was rather impeccable (as the Penguin from
Batman might say).
Oh, and
since I said "books" in the plural back there: I also read a nice
biography by Michio Kaku, one of the world's smartest human beings,
on none other than Albert Einstein; and Yanni's autobiography,
Yanni In Words. I wish I could give the latter a higher
personal rating, but alas, I cannot, for technical details behind
how Mr. Chrysomallis actually works his wonders are missing save for
a few meager breadcrumbs... and I was hoping to learn more. So this
one gets a 3/5 in my... book. Speaking of cliche,
it's certainly a cliche that the Y-man (Yanni is apparently
equivalent to "John" in Greek?) gets a bad rap for making "new age
elevator music" or somesuchsort, but that's an opinion held mostly
by the ignorant and unfriendly who have not heard a good wealth of
his musical output and do not actually take the time to listen to
what the man himself has to say. BTW, I never knew he went
through so much trouble to play at the Acropolis
before!
Coming
up next, I will likely be catching up with William Gibson's early
canon. He is unquestionably seminal to cyberpunk although he doesn't
like the term. I'm getting shades of 80s-90s nostalgia already. I
wonder what a similar situation in the 70s would be?
Discopunk? Right now I'm in a situation that is a
simultaneous curse and blessing because there are lots of books I've
wanted to read for years and get educated with, but because of my
techno music, I have been putting it off for a long time. Well, I
guess now's that time. I was also looking for a good cyberpunk
MMORPG -- why don't they do a Deus Ex one? :( -- but nothing as of
the here and now has caught my fancy. Got a recommendation?
Please, let me
know.
In
other news of the recent, Joyrex's WATMM has
got MP3s of the very last Orbital concert @ Maida
Vale, the whole shebang. Gracious thank-yous go out to the
webmaster for hosting such a historic event, and RIP
Orbital (tho *not* the Hartnoll Brothers) and much, much
respect ado ado ado due. Go there and download it and preserve a
piece of electronic music history that will be sure to be remembered
in the hearts of future technophile legions. ^_^
Threads of curiosity:
If I
could be a cat, I would be...
 |
2004.08.13 Friday |
|
something about peripheral vision
The typewriter-thing
began to hiss and fumble like a deflating football perched over the
Cayman Islands in an alternate reality, and words it began to spit
out. Coherent, yet babbling on and on. Not like a brook. More like a
torrential downpour. They came, many in their number, singular in
their vision. They spoke in the third and fourth person. Moreso,
they liked Cheetos -- no-name (TM) brand. Who could bring it upon
themselves to believe such things? I do. I am very thankful, very
grateful for life, mine and yours. There is enough pain and
suffering in the world as it stands/falls.
Thus it
went:
>>>
sppppt
And it all
looks so normal to you. So plain, so mundane (hey, that rhymes!).
But there are the little things out of the corners of your eye --
eyes -- or maybe out of the corners of your mind's eye -- again, the
possibility for plurality exists -- that kind of make you wonder..
Not wonder about whether this life is a real one, but make you
wonder if there's more magic out there to be had and experienced
because you haven't fully existed yet. But of course there is. I
know there are fringes of reality. This isn't about it. But it's
surreal. Definitely surreal. And I know there are gaps, things
most of us see and don't even do a double-take. It's like the
chameleon, but one that is all colors at the same time. A rainbow
chameleon. Crossed with an amoeba. And a zebra. Where's this going?
Somewhere I promise. Somewhere, I promise.
>> pizzaad
You know what's delightful? The
Neon Ones. I like the Neon Ones. They are elegant and classy, for
the most part. They can be crude when they want to, and it's far
more mutable and adaptable than turning refined oil back into crude
oil. Or something. Somewhere. There's such poise and grace and
balance and it all strikes out.
> green spuds bomber
<crossreferenced:with> mahjong. Roll The Dice,
Hoss.
I wonder why there aren't more
bios of the Americanime mavericks. Will there
be??3hrhfh3hf39r2934i8llll...........l....l.llllaaa
IV. tantalizing
cows
I used to do this every
morning. Not brush my teeth with Aqua-Fresh or eat Corn Pops --
those things, I do not do anymore. But every day toddling off to
school, I'd take time to sit at the terminal and write something. It
might be a story, it might be a true story, it might be somewhere in
between. And that's what comes naturally to me. Certainly a way
to express creativity. Certain words and word-pairings (and
sometimes, even more compound groupings making for increased simple
complexities) I really adore and like to use over and over again
over the course of the spacetime continuum. Sure, it might go away.
Your dog has to go in the doghouse too. But if your dog's a loyal
one, he'll come back. She'll come back. Same for your
cat.
That being said, why can't we
have a word that describes both male and female? I'm not talking
about "shemale". But notice he and she? "It" isn't valid. Can we
have "xer" (wisely suggested to me by several sages), as the X =
variable to be filled in later. Can we please have the gracious
benefit of taking that one on?
FIVE.
There's a twist to some tales.
But sometimes, no twist will be the biggest twist of all. Take note
of these: imploding psychology, mimetic propagation,
technosnobs, technocracy, Philip Glass Principle, state the obvious,
redundancy. More to come.
THE AFOREMENTIONED IS
STRICTLY FICTIONAL FACT. It is
not *the* puzzle.
It is a piece of the puzzle.
=^_@=
The
display shut down momentarily. The typewriter-thing seemed to
sooth itself, making sounds not unlike that of a sick hiccuping frog
-- Michigan
J. Frog if you need a name -- and somewhere in the distance, a
man with a wrinkled brow wrinkled it further, increasing the
temporal redundancy factor by a multiplier of 10x. It was like a
sick pinball game being played out not by God and the devil but by
Curtis Wilcox and George Lass. Cumulus came and went. Cumulus
came.
And somewhere, in the midst of all of
this, there were smiles. Ridiculous smiles, almost like those chibi
manganime characters you see advertised all over Fifth Avenue in NY,
New York. Somewhere in a park near there, there's a statue
celebrating the lives of a couple of great human beings. It's worn
and pigeons shit all over it but it gets cleaned nicely. The clubs
nearby pump out no end of delinquently restrained beats, content to
thump into the wee hours of the morning -- say, 3 AM and beyond. Up
into the sunrise. Where the cumulus came again, and comes again. All
for you. All for us. The human race. greetings, fellow human
being! :)
Yeah, there are smiles,
baby!
I hope you eat well too... techno
music plays on (like the mechanized marching band it can be
but not always is).
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2004.08.08 Sunday |
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Bye Dad, I miss you and I love you . .
.
Almost exactly a year ago, my Father, Lim Choo Wong (who I sometimes called Choo-Choo Train), passed away. I wanted to put up a website memorial shrine or something but I would have to do something that would really honor him (honor was a big thing to him, and yes, he was like a Klingon in that regard). I'm not worthy... yet! Dad, thanks for: -supporting me even though my eccentricity bothered you many times (I know it did) -listening to me when I told you about Asperger's Syndrome and serving me a hot meal... one of the last -spanking me hard enough to teach me a lesson but not so hard that it could be called child abuse -throwing birthday parties for me even though I didn't care -reminding me I have to appreciate my real friends in real life -showing me the value of hard work, even when you fall off a ladder all bloody -covering my eyes when we watched Tales From The Crypt, that episode with Danny DeVito getting chainsawed in half -not covering my eyes upon subsequent viewings of horror movies -taking me fishing -- maybe some day I'll get it -teaching me honor and the value of a handshake in this day and age of shame -cooking grilled cheese sandwiches. I don't think I'll ever eat one again, and if I do, it will have to be for a special occasion. -never forgetting my birthday -letting me be me, and being there since Day -0. Bye Dad, I miss you and I love you . . . "I'm growing up, but I haven't even begun to eat the first potato." |
2004.08.02 Monday |
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i'm asking this question:
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A visitor made this comment,
Well, I'd stop myself from going to that museum
I went to in 4th grade. That way I could stop having annoying
thoughts about it.
Mich comment added :: 24th August 2004, 04:46
GMT-08 |
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Raoul Asimov made this comment,
Thanks for the comment and I'm digging your
music, but considering all of the music I listen to I might not be
the person you want a compliment from.
Visit me @ http://mrenthusiasm.blog-city.com/ comment added :: 11th August 2004, 18:02
GMT-08 |
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Led
Zeppelin1999 made this comment,
thanks for the visit, come back soon!
I'd stop cameron diaz from meeting justin timberlake, and me and cameron would fall in love, happy ending! Visit me @ http://cjh9999.blog-city.com/ comment added :: 11th August 2004, 15:14
GMT-08 |
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2004.08.01 Sunday |
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what if you could travel back in
time?
I'm not
asking this question. :) But it is something worth considering. I've
had worse headaches lately, on a daily basis. Something like what
happened to the protagonist of that "old" computer game Dark
Seed, but this is my life. I remember where parts of me were
manufactured and assembled. Now this may seem odd, but let me
explain it this way: I don't mean, my biological self, but parts of
my mental ideology and how I think about things from within. It has
to do with techno music -- of course. A lifelong obsession,
continuing despite the fact I have a hard time with hearing right
now. It worries me that I'm here, and yet, I am optimistic for the
future. Why? I remember visiting Hyperreal for the first time.
Do you remember
Hyperreal? This archive of
techno music and rave info, a great-glorious repository of knowledge
from many souls, still stands. It isn't a spring chicken, but
neither is it some Ancient (capitalized) artifact left behind by the
Goa'uld. I visited there again today. I'll have to make a note to
add it to my favorites, as it definitely was an old fave... and is
again. I'm not sure how much is going on there right now (says it's
still being updated in 2004). I'll have to delve deeper. Dig deeper.
Get some answers.
Thanks
to Paul for pointing me to ilovebees.com. No doubt you've
heard of it so I don't need to explain more. I've never played
an ARG, much less (or more) Halo, but I'm an old-school Bungie fan
dating back to their Mac game called Marathon. The story still
impresses impressionably to this day, and the buzz (ha!) of this
latest campaign just continues this on. It's nice to see some things
continue. Some things can't continue, though, like MTV Amp. Ah, the
great failed revolution of electronica (techno music) in the late
90s, around the period '97-'98 and the big article in TIME Magazine
I used to have pasted up on my bedroom wall. It had big mugs of
luminaries like Prodigy (who are surprisingly still around, like 7
years later) and the Chems and . . . all of that excitement
faded. But techno music came back in a more slinky, subtle fashion.
Fashion? Yes, fashion shows, car commercials, video games aka
interactive entertainment, and all that. It's nice to know
what BT and allies like doing. YES, besides AI
rampancy, more awareness of electronic music is just what we need
and the tip of a warm iceberg. To deny ourselves the potential of
TECHNOlogically-based music forms is to deny ourselves progress, to
deny ourselves computers and the Internet and iPods and even, to a
certain degree, more affordable music lessons for the
tots.
 Back to
Hyperreal, there was a retrospective hindsight of the "Golden Age"
where the Ravers (with a capital "R", no less) ran free and a
diverse variety of techno music styles conglomerated and were
harmoniously mixed by the DJ-as-shaman under one roof, one night,
for all to enjoy. You can observe traces of this in the Amen
breaks in happy hardcore tunes still produced in the
veinful spirits of those neon lights... just a few years
ago. Perhaps there was too much romantization (spX) as far as
drug ODs and deaths went, but that wasn't nearly as bad as the
ignorance that followed in the form of the RAVE Act (named for a
reason) and other uninformed, misinformed,
anti-informed quackery. Things splintered over that after that.
There's a sad lack of unity in techno music today. Sure, we
have so many styles as Ishkur will keenly
attest to, but infighting and divisiveness is all too common,
segregating what should be a united people further. It is a
BROKEN CULTURE. Hey, it's music. Many types of people,
many types of music.
Why is "trance" such a
dirty word? I'm not asking this question. :) But it is something
worth considering.
|
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Torley's techno music made this comment,
Yes, unfortunately it is. "Trance" and "Cheesy"
can often be found sleeping on park benches together, crying out for
love. :( comment added :: 2nd August 2004, 19:49
GMT-08 |
|
A visitor made this comment,
Trance is a dirty word? I haven't been to Hyperreal since college. Flashback time. Pete [[email protected]] comment added :: 2nd August 2004, 16:31
GMT-08 |
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2004.07.31 Saturday |
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have you tilted your baby today?
It was
recently reported in World News that Tilt test spots
early Asperger's. Sounds unusually
simple to me, but then again: 1) I've never been tilted, and 2)
simple gets overlooked and makes easy eggs.
One
thing that's been making me angry lately, *especially* with the
tragic deaths of good people in the world, is the fact that quotes
like "Life life to the fullest!" are often tossed out, but who
really follows that up until the next grim reminder? And then the
cycle repeats. It's so REDUNDANT
I'm
beginning to understand why some animal lovers are reclusive away
from humanity and adore their critters so much -- it's partly
because of things like the aforementioned. You're nice to a fellow
human being, but they just keep acting hostile and like a real
jackass/bitch/[insert other insult here]. Nothing ever changes in
that contour regard... nothing. Or, it gets worse. That's
pathetic and shameful. It makes me all the more thankful for people
who don't bullshit their way through daily life (instead,
selectively saving the B.S. for those extra special moments ;) ) and
who honor their words. Like "I'll call you sometime" or "Live life
to the fullest!" BTW, if I ever seem overly serious and take things
literally, it's because I am. I'm slow in that department, so please
be gentle and clarify stuff to me. It goes a long way towards
earning my respect, and I will be thankful to you.
Lament Configuration is the Rubik's Cube from
Hell.
|
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A visitor made this comment,
My mom saw that tilt test on tv and said she
couldn't tell the difference between the two babies@_@
Bridgett comment added :: 31st July 2004, 15:53
GMT-08 |
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2004.07.30 Friday |
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sorry about the ending of the village
I don't
like typing. I really don't. Words don't come to me easily and I
*know* that there's always something off and quirky about my
phrasing and diction, no matter how straightlined I try to make it,
it always comes out as ME. :| I have to struggle really hard at
writing or even saying anything in order for it to make sense. That
being said, I need practice, and the only way I can practice typing
is by typing... so I hope this doesn't come off even worse. I'm
feeling bad right now for the hurt and pain I have
caused:
I'd
like to take this time to apologize to Andy aka torontotrance, JayD,
and everyone else I spoiled The Ending of The Village for. I'm
really sorry about that and for ruining a fun night for you
guys. :(
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rest in peace, adam spears the
starkid
In the
midst of my obsession with life and death... comes more heavy-handed
news. I was just living another day, watching an episode of Dead
Like Me, when I decided to flip to my favorite forums on the
Internet. Little did I know what I would learn next:
It was just
announced that producer Adam Spears, known as Starkid, has just
passed away. A lot has been
said about this already. My words echo the deepest respect and
sympathy expressed before me and if I had something to add, it'd be
this: we have another tragic death in the EDM family. Adam's loved
ones must be so devastated right now, especially because was on the
cusp of releasing more progressive productions and delivering more
dancefloor enjoyment in the due course of honoring his folks.
Starkid's best-known production, "Crayons", was not the the
kind of track I "got" at first, and I had to loop it several times
to really "get" it. So I "get" it now, but it took awhile. I think
that says something about life.
In
another eerie connection, Starkid & Blake Jarrell put together a
production called "Apricot". Now, Starkid is
among the Stars, no doubt, making music from the
unfathomable heavens above.
 PLUR+R
"When you can't make
sense of someone leaving, you sometimes try to make sense of what
they left behind. And it makes it whole a lot easier when what they
left you was beautiful." -
George Lass, Dead Like Me
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2004.07.28 Wednesday |
|
learning more stuff - some collected musings of
Torley Wong
Today I asked a
question at TheDarkTower.net, querying about
how Stephen King keeps all the connections in his books straight.
Now, I know there've been a few inconsistencies and slipups over the
years, but he does a pretty amazing job. It's really like there's
this galaxy in his brain and he writes to get it
out! Hopefully I'll get some keen insights to this
soon.
One
reason why I like Dead Like Me so much is possibly because I used to
watch My So-Called Life all the time when that was on -- well,
before it was cancelled, anyway -- and I can see a few similarities.
Such as: the introspective narration, the coping with life (life
after life in the case of the former, anyway), and good
characterization. As good as a group of grim reapers are going to
get, anyway.
I went
over to Photek Productions to listen to what was up with Rupert
Parkes and friends. My visit was overdue. To say the least, this
didn't sound like the Photek I knew! Not to slag him off because I
have a profound respect for this ninjar beatz as featured on Modus
Operandi circa late-90s and the like, but this sounded fun but...
generic? Cookie cutter? Cliched (without the cliches being twisted
around like I like)? Are those even words I should be using?
Maybe he wanted a change of direction, more for the dancefloor?
Maybe I should ask? Maybe I will. In any case, he has a classy name.
;)
I
should clarify that my position is not to rudely criticize
other artists for creative decisions I don't understand, because
really, I can only speak for myself. It's just not what I would do,
even though it may appear like it because *I am full of
contradictions. I come from a dark time and place in realspace of
being a chinstroking, wine-guzzling (well, not that part),
opium-toking (not that part either) classical music snob and
later a technosnob . . . . and while purist elitism has its place,
that place would be in a small cage -- where Exhibit A: Snobby
the Snob can be laughed at while cheap-ass crackers and filthy
footwear are thrown in its very specific direction. The world's a
big place. That's obvious, but all too often, I forget that. Planet
Earth has such a spectrum and rich diversity of artistic creations
for many tastes and if you don't like apples, maybe you'll like
oranges. Or mangos and kiwis and more esoteric fruits like the
PALMAPPLE. But I don't like blueberries, because to me, they taste
like soap. But you might. And that's okeydokeykaraoke.
Being
the reformed snob that I am, I realize there is a certain irony in
being an anti-snob to snobs and locking down on them. That irony is
not lost on me. The good guys have guns too. The attitudes behind
techno music creation and consumption do matter to me, and if
there's going to be one constant word driving the train like Blaine
the Mono, it might as well be: FUN. Sometimes people
don't really like a type of music genuinely and earnestly; they only
claim to like it because it makes them trendy and makes other people
like them. For a short amount of life, anyway. Then that phase
passes, and it's onto the next. But if you're not really enjoying
yourself, why listen? Why waste it? More people than will fess up to
it happen to like the music of, say, Avril Lavigne and/or Britney
Spears. I like both, and say it proudly. Am I ashamed to like...
music? Doesn't it sound ridiculous? I'd certainly be ashamed if I
was an abusive daddy who molested my daughter and beat/raped/killed
her mommy, but why should I be ashamed to listen to Top 40 radio?
Makes no sense to me. ABSURD AS A TURD! And alongside
that, I have many listening selections which are lesser-known but I
enjoy them too, additionally. Buffet time. Mmmmmm.
Gradius. You remember that
video game, Gradius? I'm sure it wasn't the first of its kind, but
it's a good example. You start with a basic bona fide
spaceship, and as you battle the bad guys -- a whole plethora of
spacefaring nasties from an evil empire -- you get upgrades.
Like: better laser beams, a shield generator on top, and these
curious things called "Options" which are vaguely amorphous
spermsacks that duplicate your movements and shots like shadow
fighters (Ninja Gaiden is another game featuring such a feature).
All of these varied enhancements make your ship more powerfully
well-rounded. Likewise, same with music. Until you've listened to
more of what's out there, how do you even know? Don't resist your
curiosity. Onlineness offers such easy access to tunes, more than a
whole orchestra at your fingertips.
I think
there's a sort of imploding psychology holding people back. We, like
robots in this culture, are programmed to handshake despite the
observations that:
I don't
like to handshake. Really, I don't. I could say "it's nothing
personal" but that's a lie. It IS personal! It's part of my person
and if I'm going to handshake, I'd *strongly prefer* that it means
something and isn't a token gesture. And furthermore, you'd better
have clean hands. Not just for my health, but for yours. Aren't you
concerned about where my hands have been, petting cats and all that?
It goes both ways. As such, I like to bow like the Japanese or wai
like the Thai. Getting down and boogying is fine, and I guess
slamming asses might be too since (most people's)
assspheres are cleaner than is popularly thought.
Please
don't get me started on "Hi, how are you today?" ;) I'll leave that
one for another time. Back to the flesh-and-blood automatons we are:
I'm convinced we have to strive to break our programming, and show
more honesty and passion in what we truely believe in and what we
want to show our enthusement/enthusiasm for. It will always be a
struggle in life, and this is NOT to say we shouldn't have restraint
-- as we should when it comes to retail therapy -- but what
comes positively and naturally to us, we should express, including
goodwill as channelled through the arts such as... techno music.
TECHNOlogically-based music is made on machines, but those machines
are made by humans. And it will continue to be this way for some
time, despite the increasing levels of automation
employed.
If
you're a listener, listen to what you want, and don't let the PPP
(Pissy Peer Pressure) get to you. Express yourself as only you can
and... just be you, just be fun!
If you
play a role in the electronic music creation process too, there are
some things I'd like to share with you. We'll call this
section:
TECHNO MUSIC TIPPAGE
*deep
breath* I gotta say it again: DO it your way!!! And always
remember, PLUR(R) to the giants who have come before us so that
your path is eased, your vision of the future clearer. There will
always be new, lofty tasks for humans interested and involved in
techno music (as in the umbrella, not "Detroit or
Cologne techno" specifically) to take on, and new styles
and substyles -- branches of that great, fabled Electronic Dance
Music tree -- that will explode progressively like so
many majestic, magnificent cloudbursts............ that tree is
hovering above us all, filled with bountiful promises we can't even
begin to fathom.
|
|
Torley's techno music made this comment,
Mette! As ya know, I haven't exactly been able
to make music lately. So one thing I *can* do is write.
Awwwwww *huggles* remember, FRIENDFAN. lol.. That's what I like to hear. Thanks for sharing a memory -- I haven't listened to that in a long time myself. What was your holiday like? comment added :: 30th July 2004, 15:35
GMT-08 |
|
A visitor made this comment,
(I can't remember my pass hehe..) Wow Torlington, you wrote a novel while I was on holiday! I take it typing doesn't tire you as much anymore =) I just listened to FOOTSTEPS again today, the very first Torley Tune I heard and I felt like reminding you I adore you and you have made my life so much better than it would have been without your music. Big hugs (no handshakes) from an ooold fan. metamay comment added :: 30th July 2004, 07:30
GMT-08 |
|
Torley's techno music made this comment,
Hey Bridgett, I wanna let you know, turn that
frown upside down :)
It bothers me only if the other person is NOT interested and just says it like a robot. If you're saying it from the goodness of your heart, then it's
all thumbs-up from me! comment added :: 28th July 2004, 23:08
GMT-08 |
|
A visitor made this comment,
I often say "hi, how are you doing?":( Does it
bother you if the person is actually interested in how you are
doing?
Bridgett comment added :: 28th July 2004, 21:46
GMT-08 |
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