bbluesman=Mark Forman

Ha! Thanks Dave Winer for taking this screenshot at this point. I felt this was my funniest Tweet ever. Now I can say that I’m Twitter famous-oh boy!

Some Australian jewelry company: Re:vision is making pieces out of recycled camera parts! Kudos for recycling and for using such cool objects to make jewelry from. I can think of many photographer friends that would want something from their collection.

Seesmic Blog Test 

My buddy Jeremy Vaught aka the Seesmic Blogger Dude informed me via chat this morning that Seesmic’s new plugin for WordPress was available. This is what is showing above. So let’s give it a little road test shall we?

First I mentioned John Williams Gordon to a new music friend that stated a preference for blues and jazz musical forms/ He responded that he hadn’t heard was very, impressed by brief listening and would return for more later. He then mentioned a West African virtuoso from Benin-Lionel Loueke. Knowing that this guy had some serious musical taste I got right over there. I’m listening as I type this, in fact. Man, Lionel sounds a lot like a guitar oriented Weather Report-beautiful playing and inventive singing with the exuberance often found in African musicians.

Don’t want to short change John Williams Gordon or his Mutant Jazz  by any means. He offers a more minimalist, cool kind of vibe. It reminds me of Bill Evans in some ways and also Monk, more by abstraction than by actual sound. If innovative guitar music is your thing then run don’t walk. Better yet, just click…

Last Sat. was a great day to get out and enjoy some of the early summer weather here in central Taiwan. There was an event at SOHO mall with 9 bands and a chili cook-off to raise money for local Kidz charity. Later I went to a barbecue at the home of Steve and Rhonda and their lovely kids. There were also some “new media” friends in attendance there including the Dark Lord of New Hampshire (aka MJ Klein) and Michael Turton (who I also ran into earlier in the day at the SOHO event), and a new friend Ashish who took some ribbing over his name rhyming with something. I’ll do a video soon with some music from SOHO and MJ rocking out on his new rig.

The stuff of legend, the veritable “Stinking Rose.” I have always had a love for this herb as a flavoring agent and have since come to know and appreciate as a health food. Wikipedia has the following to add:

Allium sativum L., commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. Its close relatives include the onion, the shallot, and the leek. Garlic has been used throughout recorded history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has a characteristic pungent, spicy flavor that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking.[1]. A bulb of garlic, the most commonly used part of the plant, is divided into numerous fleshy sections called cloves. The cloves are used as seed, for consumption (raw or cooked), and for medicinal purposes. The leaves, stems (scape) and flowers (bulbils) on the head (spathe) are also edible and most often consumed while immature and still tender. The papery, protective layers of ’skin’ over various parts of the plant and the roots attached to the bulb are the only parts not considered palatable.

There are many materials and experts that will attest to the health benefit properties of this wonder food. My wife comes from a family of garlic farmers. We are blessed with a good supply of the particularly pungent Taiwan varietal. Last night I accidentally bit into some that was still raw. I was tricked! Actually, this was in brine from my wife’s delicious “pao tsai” 泡菜 a pickled cabbage concoction with carrots, cucumbers, chilis and garlic. I had an instant almost virulent reaction to the garlic reaching my stomach. This reminded me of when I first came here over 20 years ago and went to a dumpling restaurant. They had abundant supply of raw garlic on each table along with chili paste, soy sauce, fragrant oil and vinegar-the usual acoutrements for dumplings. I spotted an old mainlander(many of the Chinese in Taiwan came from China with Chiang Kai Shek in 1949) taking a garlic clove and eating it after he had scarfed a dumpling. So naturally wanting a genuine experience I followed suit. Dang-talk about the China syndrome! Total nuclear melt down in my gut.

My wife saw what was happening and poured me a glass of water. She added that garlic helps prevent cancer-I can’t see how any microbe can withstand heat like that.

OK  I know there is no shortage of narcissism or self promotion here on the Net. You need to work with me on this one. I was chatting with a friend that blogs for some Web App company and giving him so feedback on how to create some fresh and exciting media for his community. While we were brainstorming he mentioned a domain name he had that he might do a new project with. I though project sounded good but wasn’t 100% on the name he proposed. At that moment I flashed on another name that would be perfect for me. Ready? Sure now? OK:

BIGIN.ASIA

Will probably tie in with business projects more than media but you never know. These things seem to be merging more and more and that fine white line that once seemed so clear is starting to blur…

Anyhow, sure love the name!

Received by Justin a friend from SL. I’ve played musi of theirs before on GLU-worth checking out folks.

REDZONE are releasing their 3RD album, ABSTRACT REVOLUTION, on 20th JUNE. HANDCRAFTED SAMPLES created from ORIGINAL MATERIAL performed on REAL INSTRUMENTS bridge the gap between electronic and concrète genres. HEAVILY processed ethereal FEMALE VOCALS, rock beats and HIPHOP drums integrate with TEXTURAL SWIRLS of ELECTRIC violin, DOUBLE BASS and ebow GUITAR. The LYRICS explore DEATH, criticize MEDIA, challenge PREconceptions and MOURN the future. AMBIENCE and EXHILARATION in equal measure. Join the ABSTRACT REVOLUTION!!

Check out Ami’s weekly video blog on YouTube www.abstractrevolution.info
Get the inside story on how some of the new tracks were composed, performed and produced, and what they are about, plus the latest REDZONE news.

We’re probably going to release this album in download format only, but it’s still possible that we’ll cave in and duplicate some CDs

Ami + Justin
REDZONE
www.redzone.tv

Are you a music freak. I’m not usually susceptible to cutesy,cutesy. yes, My Hello Kitty collection is nil. Hello Kitty Hell probably more my speed. However I saw this photo over at my buddy Carrie’s blog-and it made me grin big! Since I am a music freak how could I resist. Cool toy expo if you are in the YongHe area!

Was gonna embed Rick James-Super Freak video at youtube but Universal won’t allow. Dummies-more people promoting for free and they pull that dinosaur anal reflex move-oh well. Here is link any way because Rick was one big freak.

This is a screencast I did outlining some concerns I have over Adobe Photoshop Express online image service Terms of Serivce(TOS). The key is section 8 here on this page. Please read it carefully and voice your concerns to Adobe as needed. Basically, love the product as I do most of the Adobe products, but would like to see some Creative Commons licensing brought into play or at least a statement from Adobe saying they will not take our work without prior approval or negotiation to make money off of it.

Thanks to my research buddy Paul fro digging out TOS.

Update: I have been using the Photoshop Express tools on my photos from over the weekend and I’m really tickled over the result. I have been eliminating my pictures from their site once I’m done processing them. Don’t know if this will help safe guard against any possible issues mentioned/questioned in there TOS section 8 but… Just thought you should know.

Final Update: here’s to all of the folks on the internet that cried,”foul” over Adobe TOS issue-the recapitulated. You can see new terms here relinquishing ownership claims to rightful owners-content authors.