phocks

“Wow, they looked a lot clearer before I put my glasses on” she said, seeing the sharp block shapes of the simulated pixels, blown up for effect, an emulation of times when that was as good as it gets, jagged lines and vivid imagination. Her brain was filling in the gaps where her eyes, unaided were missing vital data. Such happens all the time when information is scarce; reality is altered to fit.

A need had arisen for yet another Strange Attractors poster. The long, hard push to win favour in the eyes of Ric’s Bar had begun a while ago, and while other bands seemed to have no difficulty in attaining the regular weekend Ric’s spot, emergence somehow for The Attractors would prove more difficult. Complex is the game, when you’re aim is off the board entirely. It could also have something to do with the fact that we can barely fit the band on their tiny stage.

I remembered buying a little novelty book for a friend a few years back, containing a multitude of celebrities drawings, only they were drawn in tiny pixelated form, as though being displayed on an old Atari 2600 or some similar computing device of that day and age. I wondered if I could do the same with the band, and perhaps use the images on the poster.

Experiment number one with James and his tambourine exceeded quite meagre expectations, and after that, without too much effort the whole band was born into 8-bit existence. Just some quick aliased text added and then we had perhaps the smallest Ric’s band poster, staring us down. Could I really hand them a poster only a few centimetres across? Blown up to A3 size, the pixelation effect is enhanced greatly. Shall be interesting to see them up on the walls, out in the wild, with the others, the contrast, the minimalism, to see its influence, its effect, whether it gels, meshes, provokes, or is just mocked by the other kids, too cool for school.

If only I had an A3 colour printer.

The Strange Attractors: Zoran, Lauren, Jason, Josh, James, Hendrik, Fletch

Not long has passed since the last release, I know, however there were a number of little tweaks that needed to be disseminated to the public before too many people downloaded the old one.

The good old chaps down at WordPress Themes rejected my update at first, saying that there was a problem with the theme, that the sidebar disappeared on single page view. I replied, assuring them that this was a feature, not a bug 🙂 (same functionality as the default WordPress theme, interestingly enough)

But anyway, the latest Darwin Theme is available now to download directly from WordPress Extend. Vote high stars for it if you like it.

Newly developed features:

1. Changes in colours of links and text
2. Font and typography changes
3. Corrected theme URI in the stylesheet
4. Merged updates to WordPress default Kubrick theme with Darwin code
5. Footer changes in wording and style
6. Added query count and page load timer to footer

I’m currently trying to work out how to upload the source to Google Code so that others can come in on the development. This will happen in due time.

It has been a while between drinks, but here is the next revision of the Darwin Theme for WordPress. The evolution continues. The WordPress website has opened up its new themes section, so the new version should be available there once it is approved.

For those who can’t wait that long, here it is for download here:

Darwin Theme 0.1.2 download

To install, simply unzip the file and upload the folder to your WordPress themes directory. For a preview of the theme, just browse around this site 🙂 (note: you may notice some differences being worked on for the next version).

Favourable mutation log:

1. Made the title lighter and closer to the top.
2. Took away the grey footer that was breaking the page sometimes. Replaced it with a groovy dotted line and changed the text colours around a bit.
3. Changed header 3 size in archive and category page to match the normal posts because it looked strange.
4. Changed the browser title bar display to show the page name first and then the blog name on single posts and archive pages.
5. Changed attribution in the footer to link to the Darwin theme category.
6. Made the <body> background colour white as it showed up during loading sometimes.
7. Moved the <?php wp_footer(); ?> inside the footer div so that the little smiley face they use with wp-stats wouldn’t break the page layout.
8. Cleaned up css a little from the mess that was the Kubrick css.

Enjoy! Subversion repository should be coming soon so that you can add your own code to the theme and stay up to date with nightly builds.

Existence of late has been as that of a nomad, a wanderer, for quite some time now in fact. Back now in the small room above the snack bar in Albion, hauled up for the night, but it has been days and days away, with other places to stay, never too far away. Those places we always seem to stumble across on our travels.

Home still no longer seems as such, except for a certain quick moment just before, a pop in the head, my mind rationalising itself, its place in the world, its (almost) inseparability from myself. Awaiting a friend’s return from a far off land, one found only in the peripheries of my knowledge. Plans to find a new place hang in the air, until then.

Tired, can you tell? The weekend sprawls out, with most events past that point of non-disclosure, especially at this time of night, at this sleepy hour. Goodnight.

When a man gains the high ground, an elevated position upon which to perch, and to cast a firm gaze over what was once his incomprehensible surroundings, he begins to see things in a new light. That is, those things that once surrounded him and dazzled his senses become arranged in a new way when reconstructed and rethought.

This may well be fiction, as may any string of words you should come to hear in all your days. In the end, I sometimes wonder, what’s the difference? A recent venture to the top of the hill did not meet with a genuine imparting of the divine. Not at all in fact. What was I thinking?

In truth, an idea has been kicking around the insides of my skull for quite some time now, and it seems this idea is attempting a prison break manifestation in any shape or form it can persuade my body into creating. I did have a kind of revelation in the shower before. Never start from the beginning, so I’ll be certain not to even try.

Restless wanderer waiting to be free, awaiting release, it seems you must stay, as least for a short while longer. Shapeshifting mist of a beast, settle on a more permanent form, solidify your existence, that you may be released, and your institutional torment ended at last.

So I had this idea that I would like to get into a bit of photography, I mean, for more than just myself and a few shots for friends, just to try it out for a while. I have an Olympus EVOLT E-300 digital SLR and have experience shooting a few bands and weddings, but mostly I just play around trying to capture the light.

Anyway, just get in contact if you’d like to book a shoot for band shots, etc. Just getting some experience to start out with, then I might have to start charging.

Photo shoot for Hot Liquid Sex

A long exposure from the suburbs

So it seems I have unwittingly found myself fronting this psychedelic band called The Strange Attractors for just about a year now, ups and down and all, and still I seem stumped at what to tell people when they ask about it, so it usually comes out just the same old stuff, when what I really want to say is… I’m not sure. It has played a permanent role in the direction of existence however these past few months. What I’m still trying to figure out is if it is an enemy or a friend.

The group is still evolving, like all else, and we’re still to record a proper album. A video emerged on our YouTube channel the other day, something from a recent rehearsal: a cover of Anenome by The Brian Jonestown Massacre. See for yourself.

Purchased my ticket for The Brian Jonestown Massacre the other day. They’re coming to Brisbane in August.

Got this email just then:

Hello Joshua,

I am writing in regards to the Brian Jonestown Massacre tickets that you have purchased through OzTix.

Upon receiving your tickets you may notice that the date on your ticket states the 7th of August. This date is incorrect; the correct date is Wednesday the 27th of August. All tickets will be valid for the correct date.

Once again the correct gig details are as follows:

Brian Jonestown Massacre
27th of August
The Arena

I would like to apologise in advance for any confusion that this may have made. If you have any questions or queries, please contact OzTix on 1300 762 545 or simply reply email.

Cheers,
Dean.

Wouldn’t miss it for the world, regardless of what day it’s on.

Written at lunch, streams of words.

When the terrors of the night come wandering by
I know for sure that we all someday must die,
For the walls are painted with a million shades of grey
Telling a story of when the wind ran away.

Into the ocean, into the sea,
We alone will believe what no one else will see.
Try as you might, you will never walk down
All those paths in your lifetime you might not have found.

Actors and agents they claw at my door,
But letting one in means they all must want more.
Today is the day that they all throw you back
What news do you bring from the old weathered shack?

I’ve been keeping an eye on Oasis’ Wonderwall song in the last.fm charts for quite some time now.

Before the whole Radiohead digital only release and subsequent digital only releases from other bands which seem to be skewing the charts a bit, just due to the nature of last.fm audioscrobbling software counting only tracks played on a computer, Wonderwall would often be up there usually within the top 10 or top 5.

Even now, the track still regularly places up and amongst all these newly released tracks.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the track, and am glad that it is up there. I do however find it kind of an anomaly.

Any thoughts?

It’s currently at number 19, but last week it placed at number 9. Seems to have been pushed back by the Portisehead release.

http://www.last.fm/charts