Mylo and Annie Mac at Fabric on Jan 12

Just found out Mylo and Annie Mac will be at Fabric on Jan 12. Hopefully the delightful and energetic Jessica will want to venture down to London with me, as M* has finals. I must go.

Things I Like: Mylo Sitting In For Pete Tong

Mylo sitting in for Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 last Friday, Nov 24. It's only archived until tomorrow night, when Pete returns. I'm thinking of adding Mylo to my Killer Party DJ Wish List. Currently the party is set in Belize, but that could change.

Tracklisting:
19:00
Mason – ‘Exceeder’ (Boss Records)
Eric Prydz – ‘Proper Education (Daft Remix)’ (Data / Positiva)
>Roxy Music – ‘Same Old Scene (Glimmers Remix)’ (Mute)
Mylo – ‘Paris Four Hundred (As We Fall Remix)’ (Breastfed)

The Weekend Shuffle
Depeche Mode – ‘Just Can’t Get Enough (Dirty South Remix)’ (Mute)
Roger Sanchez – ‘Lost (D Ramirez Remix)’ (Stealth)
DJ Shadow – ‘This Time (I’m Going To Do It My Way)’ (Island)
Klaxons – ‘Gravity’s Rainbow (Van She Remix)’ (Meron)
Moby – ‘Go (Vitalic Remix)’ (Mute)

One For The Weekend – Annie Mac
Nicky Van She & Dangerous Dan – ‘Around The World Again’ (Bang Gang Records)
Rio – ‘Race Is Set (Part 2)’ (White Label)
Booka Shade – ‘Darko (Booka Funk’s Da Funk Mix)’ (Get Physical)

Tiefschwarz on the phone
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Tomboy – ‘Flamingo (Tomboy’s Ta-Ram Mix)’ (Gomma)
Antenna – ‘Camino Del Sol (Joakin Remix)’ (White Label)
This Weeks Essential New Tune
TJ Korg & Nino Dos Santos – ‘Circus Bells’ (Compost Black)

20:00
Freeform 5 – ‘No More Conversations (Switch Remix)’ (Fine Records)
Justin Martin – ‘The Fugitive’ (Buzzin Fly)
Leopold Gregori – ‘Pigeon Dance’ (L&V)

DJ Yoda on the phone
Eris – ‘Pitch & Hold’ (Love Triangle Music)

Annie Mac In The Studio
Greg Churchill – ‘Shock Rocket’ (Gung-Ho)
Franz & Shape – ‘The Man Who Played Before’ (Relish)
Eclectic Selection
Squarepusher – ‘Hello Meow’ (Warp)
TTC – ‘Telephone’ (Big Dada)

Essential Hot Mix
>Herbert – ‘Moving Like A Train (Smith & Hack Remix)’ (K7 Records)
Robbie Williams – ‘Love Light (Soulwax Ravelight Dub)’ (EMI)
Digitalism – ‘Zdarlight (Paranoid Asteroid Remix)’ (Kitsune)
Metric – ‘Monster Hospital (Mstrkrft Remix)’ (Metric)
Surkin – ‘Radio Fireworks’ (Institubes)

November 29 - Pictures

Sun setting, long shadows at 3:15pm.

Backup Your External Hard Drive

While I definitely love the aesthetic of my MacBook, I can't say that I think it's a better machine. There have been a few issues such as quirky battery life, compatability with certain software, the way iPhoto saves imported images in three places and doesn't let you view and chose images before importing them, and it's not recognizing male/female connected headsets. That's all I can think of right now.

My big issue is it's firewire bugginess. I was playing iTunes off the computer on Sunday night, and the majority of my music files were on my Seagate external hard drive. Well, I was in the other room and the battery ran out. I forgot that I had the external hard drive on, and I turned my computer back on after plugging it in. Turns out that my directory on my external hard drive was most likely overwritten. The MacBook wouldn't mount the hard drive, and it showed up as an unformatted drive on M*'s PC. I felt so ill. Almost of all of my music and all of my photos are on that external hard drive.

After much online research, I downloaded Data Rescue II as a trial and I saw all of my files. I was able to recover one file for free, and luckily the jpg was not corrupted. The only thing is that all the file names are gone. For pictures this is fine, as most were some variation of untitled. As for my music - well the thought of going through 5,000 songs and naming them just makes me sick (especially I can't identify half of them). I did read that even if the name is gone, the mp3 files should contain metadata with the song info. We'll see. It's my fault for not backing up my precious external hard drive. I've just bought one (luckily for the same price as in the States), and once it arrives, I'll recover my files using Data Rescue II (I'll buy it) to the new drive. I can send the old drive off to Seagate, and see if they can recover the file names. Usually they charge a $50 assessment fee, but since I'm sending it to their new Amsterdam facility, the fee is waived.

So, all will be ok in time. I've learned my lesson. Oh, the new hard drive is USB only. I'm not chancing the firewire connection. Apple even changed their iPod to connect via USB vs. firewire. Guess I should have suspected something.

Sarah Wigglesworth- Sustainable Solutions Lecture

I've been hoping to find a way to volunteer or partake in some training related to sustainable building or farming. I know that it's trendy right now to be concerned with such things, but I do believe that there is some career in these areas that I would be happy pursuing when we settle somewhere after M* is done school. Since I have the time now, thought it would be good to follow through with this. It did take me a bit of online research to find some opportunities. One is with the group Shape East which is located in Cambridge and "aims to engage the public in the issues affecting the local built environment. Shape East’s programme includes workshops, interactive events, exhibitions, talks, training and on-line resources."

They hosted a lecture last night, which I attended, by architect Sarah Wigglesworth (ok, her name makes me giggle because my sister calls her dog, Chester, "Mr Pigglesworth," and I always think of that). She came across as passionate, energetic, educated and, above all, creative. All of her work is not sustainable, which she attributed in part to clients' desire to be more focused on cost than design and sustainability. In response to a question, she touted legistlation as the only way to get people to focus on sustainability and design. The American in me just thought, "Oh God that's the last thing you want. Governement=good, sustainable design regardless of cost? I just don't see it." Afterwards I realized that it was just the way that she couched her response in the idea that cost shouldn't be the main focus. It was a reminder of how pre-fab has become a wealthy person's domain. I didn't want to hear that sustainability and good design can only exist in absence of a tight budget. That just sounded so classist. However, she never said that good design had to cost a lot, just that it would not often be the cheapest bid. Also, she did point out that sustainable buildings often do cost more up front but end up saving money in the long term through reduced energy costs.

Her overall philosophy appealed to me. She does a lot research about and for her clients, and has an artistic, creative sensibility in terms of seeing the connection between design and expected use. A number of her projects have incorporated ideas inspired by artists and she has collaborated with artists on a few projects. She made me laugh when she described the supports that she used for her project know as "The Straw House." It was the 1990s, and she was tired of architects being into minimalism - skinny design is how I think she termed it. So as a statement, they made these very large supports made from discarded concrete.

Another thing that I really liked about her - she used great words such as diaphanous and detritus that I rarely see written and almost never hear used in conversation.

I'm suppose to be in touch with Shape East this week to learn more about volunteer opportunities. Hopefully something interesting will come of it.

Native Americans Performing on Sidney Street

I should always carry my camera. On Sidney Street this afternoon, there were three Native Americans in traditional dress performing music, which I also assume was traditional. Lots of people perform in this area of downtown Cambridge, but it just struck me as odd that I'd never seen Native Americans perform in such a fashion in the US.

November Rain

cue the g n' r

Brea and Titchou

Spent three weeks visiting family/friends in the DC area in October. I also got to spend time with our friendly, beautiful cats that we cannot bring over to the UK. We thought that we could bring them over in February - as we went through the DEFRA Pet Passport protocol. However, our furnished flat - no furnished flat we looked at- would allow pets. After 6 1/2 years of being greeted by them as soon as I walk in the door, coming home is a lonely experience. Luckily my mom graciously stepped up and is happily looking after them. They have more room, more sunlit window perches at her place than back in LA. They've adjusted better than we have to the switch. They did sleep with me every night in DC, and they were happy to pose for a few photos.

D&D on the Cambridge Green

M* and I took a walk through Grantchester Meadows yesterday, and we happened upon demons lying in wait. While visible to us, I guess the archers and maiden who were passing by must have missed the black cloaked, masked baddies. Once passed, the demons made their move. One of the doomed humans shouted, "Look behind you," but it was too late. They were captured.

Never saw anything quite like this in LA, but Cambridge provides a more appropriate bucolic setting.

The rest of our walk was uneventful. We made it to the safety of the Red Lion pub and enjoyed our beer, wine and chips in peace.

A Quick Trip London

Ventured down to London so M* could meet with an entrepreneur that my dad knows, and the lovely fellow took M* to a conference on RFID where he was a guest speaker. We stayed two nights, and I bought tickets on lastminute.com to see Bent with Alan Cumming at the Trafalgar Studios. I'm a fan of Mr. Cumming and he did not disappoint, although M* thought it took him a little bit to warm up. We then ate dinner at Thai Square which was on another spoke of the wheel of streets that is Trafalgar Square. It was fine, but the best thing is that it was open as we were starving and it was 10:30pm. The woman who came around with the credit card machine looked like a Thai Barbie, as she was wearing an almost-perfect replica of Ms B's classic pink satin dress.

While M* was attending the conference, I walked from Shepherds Bush to Kensington. Along Kensington High Street, I saw something that almost made me dash madly across the street: a Whole Foods sign. It wasn't until a car moved out of the way that I saw the remaining bit of info: early 2007. It'll be the first one in the UK. It's just another reason to take advantage of those £5 train fares from Cambridge to London.

Above are a few photos of Kensington and Hyde Parks. My favorite is the coon (the black bird with the white bill) sequence. Coons will completely disappear under water to dive for food--reminded me of the cormorants from Wachapreague.