"The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes".--isaih 35:7, KJV
I have a little infatuation going lately with www.anvilstudio.com and the Crystal and Crazy Diamonds VST plug-in softsynths. It all began when I finally figured out how to loop properly in Anvil. Now I write a little songlet in Anvil, have it played through a plug-in synth, record a Wave file of the resulting song, and then run it through my beloved Slicer sampler. The results this evening were almost as breathtaking as yielding 42 points in less than three quarters to the New Orleans Saints.
Tonight I'm celebrating because my initial EP at Negative Sound Institute just achieved its 200th download in less than six weeks.
verian and I find our netlabel to be popular and fun. I rather like the idea of the Crazy Diamonds synthesizer. So often, software synthesizers emulate big picture things from the "analog" world, like the fabled 808 synthesizer, or the early Moog and Yamaha models. Not so with Crazy Diamonds--it instead emulates the sound of the keyboards on the Pink Floyd bit about shining on and crazy diamonds.
I love to live in a narrowcast but very sharing and caring world in which such things are made and released as freeware.
I'm about mid-way through my next release, which will be called Tallgrass Canticle. I hope I can find a suitably Victorian poem which uses the term "canticle" in a nature setting to use to write the liner notes. This time I am aiming for shorter pieces, in keeping with my general belief, contrary to the customary ambient song length, that the Ramones got it about right about such matters. If it cannot be done in 2 to 3 minutes, I ordinarily think it ought not be done. Of course, that did not stop me from going over five minutes with the piece I completed tonight.
I finished Robert Gallenga's novel Philosophy Made Simple today. I found it an incredibly charming read, about a widower in the 1960s who sells his Illinois home and buys an avocado farm in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. So many writers would have written this as a gag book or as a sheer satire. Gallenga opts for plot and character instead, and I found the book delightful.
Today at Weight Watchers they debuted new minor changes in the point count formulae. Because taller people get more points, and because they recalibrated their system as regards men, I theoretically get to eat a bit more each week on the program. I still wonder if I should have had that microwave popcorn tonight, but I strenuously try to live my life without having to worry all the time. I will remain on track with this program, at which I stand at 75 pounds lost, but still have 6.6 pounds to go. I have had the experience 3 times lately of people not recognizing me, which is a fun feeling, but also rather odd.
Two dozen wild ducks swam on Glendover Pond today. We cemented plans this week to take a brief trip to the Texas coast at the New Year. It's almost time to watch Miracle on 34th Street--I always dab a tear or two when Kris Kringle sings in Dutch.
I had a restful weekend. Onward, upward, forward.