Loscil, The Making of Grief Point (feat. Dan Bejar)
- posted by cjb @ 9:48 AM

 
Calculated Risk Media Inquiries Policy

I didn't write this, but sure wish I had.

"You want to talk to us because of what we have written on this blog, instead of simply engaging with what we have written on this blog. You are saying that blog entries we have written, [of] our own inspiration, on our own time, for our own intellectual purposes, backed up by our own research, are not good enough for you to use as source material (properly credited). It only 'counts' if you get to ask the questions, form the story angle, edit the material, and put names on it. This is the message we’re getting from you, and the only reason that our answer to many of your inquiries is 'No' is that we are—CR at least, is—too polite to make it 'No, and go take a hike with the horse you rode in on.'"
- posted by cjb @ 9:47 AM

 

Today's soundtrack: Boz Scaggs, Miss Sun

Dusty August Saturday light on the Lions, clear blue sky.

Thankful for (in no particular order): the bookstore; my sweetie; the cats; many art and climbing friends; music; economics; photography; landscape; this life.

(Image: Emma Lake at sunset from Canada Ridge. Snowy Mountain visible at rear center. Nb. the 500+ foot waterfalls coming off the headwall. Also various assorted stinging and biting insects, visible as grey smears in the exposure. And the moon.)
- posted by cjb @ 9:26 AM

 

A New Hope: Uncut

(For JT, and also relevant to certain photographs that appear here from time to time)
- posted by cjb @ 11:11 PM

 

Partial answer to an exam practice question for Urban Land Economics 300, hosted here for a few days so my course tutor can look at it:

Bid rent functions for carrots and tomatoes, using Equation 5.7 from the text:

r(carrots) = 60 (p/carrots) * 1 - 10 / 1 - 5 (cost/transport) * 1 / 1 * d
r(tomatoes) = 40 (p/tomatoes) * 1 - 10 / 1 - 1.5 (cost/transport) * 1 / 1 * d

Simplified:

r(carrots) = 50 - 5d
r(tomatoes) = 30 - 1.5d

To solve for maximum distance from city, bid rent equation must = 0, thus d(carrots)=10km, and d(tomatoes)=20km

To find the boundary between the agricultural activities, locate the point where the bid rent functions intersect.

Thus: 50 - 5d = 30 - 1.5d
20 = 3.5d
d= 5.714km

The boundary between the agricultural zones is 5.714km.

Km 20 is the boundary between the outermost agricultural zone and the hinterland, where the return from tomato farming drops to 0.

I'm terrible at making graphs, so I drew one by hand, photographed it, and put it up on my blog.

- posted by cjb @ 10:20 PM

 

Corrections Dept.

L. writes:

"Hey, Doofus!

The tune I was ACTUALLY singing [yesterday] morning was nothing like the inane dribble of The Gummy Bear Song. Oh, no. What I was singing was the theme from Disney's Gummi Bears cartoon (note the name change to the able-to-be-trademarked 'Gummi' and which had a stuffed toy tie in of course, which [my dad] bought me on learning a piece of Robert Frost poetry):

Dashing and daring
Courageous and caring
Faithful and friendly
With stories to share
All through the forest
They sing out in chorus
Marching along
As their song fills the air

CHORUS:

Gummi Bears
Bouncing here and there and everywhere
High adventure that's beyond compare
They are the Gummi Bears

Magic and mystery
Are part of their history
Along with the secret
Of gummiberry juice
Their legend is growing
They take pride in knowing
They'll fight for what's right
In whatever they do

CHORUS

(Repeat first verse)

CHORUS

Gummi Bears
When a friend's in danger they'll be there
Lives and legends that we all can share
They are the Gummi Bears!

They are the Gummi Bears
They are the Gummi Bears!

Find it here:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DbJmWyZlW2sE&v=bJmWyZlW2sE&gl=CA


Please don't ever again let the world think that I would sing something as ridiculous as the un-trademarked and probably public domain The Gummy Bears Song. Nope. Disney (with my father's complicity) had me completely brainwashed from birth..."
- posted by cjb @ 8:38 AM

 

Suspended Gear, 2010
- posted by cjb @ 10:37 PM

 

Don't Like Our Exhibition Programming? Fuck Off. PROBLEM SOLVED!

SOME GUY: Anything on in your little gallery upstairs?

CJB: Yup. Want the keys?

SG: I guess.

[Tempus fugit]

SG: That was interesting. Do you know, is the artist familiar with South Korean art?

CJB: No clue, sorry.

SG: Because...the works look exactly like the work [UNPRONOUNCABLE SOUTH KOREAN NAME] was making...five years ago.

CJB: Thanks for the valuable feedback!*

*Subtitles. See above.
- posted by cjb @ 3:12 PM

 

CJB'S SWEETIE "L.": Too bad I'm missing the [Dukes of September] show in LA. I hear they're playing "Iggy."

CJB: Ah, IGY. What a great song. I still remember hearing it for the first time back in 1982!

L. [thoughtfully]: Back in 1982, I remember wanting a Pound Puppy.

Later:

CJB [singing, off key]: I keep forgettin' we're not in love any more / I keep forgettin' things will never be the same again / I keep forgettin' how you made it so clear--*

L. [on key]: Oh I’m a gummy bear / Yes I’m a gummy bear /Oh I’m a yummy tummy funny lucky gummy bear / I’m a jelly bear / 'cause I´m a gummy bear / Oh I’m a movin’ groovin’ jammin’ singing gummy bear / Oh yeaoooh--**

*Michael McDonald, I Keep Forgetting

**Some flaky, un-trademarkable song that L. apparently wasn't singing. See her correction ("Hey, Doofus!") above.
- posted by cjb @ 2:02 PM

 

No Pussyfooting, 2010
- posted by cjb @ 9:30 AM

 

The "Theme From Sea Hunt" Rhythm Revue

"Boz and Mike didn't think it was such a good idea."
- posted by cjb @ 1:26 PM

 
Bjork's Moomin song
- posted by cjb @ 9:55 AM

 
I Love The Life I Live

Dusty August sunlight, US mail packing, Dukes of September (lead vocals: DF) performing IGY, most beautiful of pop songs. "Spandex jackets, one for everyone." 30 second melodica solo at the bridge!
- posted by cjb @ 9:29 AM

 





How I Spent My Summer Vacation (Extended Remix Version)
- posted by cjb @ 8:56 AM

 

In the Coast Range for a week. Back soon.
- posted by cjb @ 5:57 PM

 

Meager Creek debris flow, photographed by David Steers.
- posted by cjb @ 2:13 PM

 

Stairwell, 2010
- posted by cjb @ 2:27 PM

 
Update from Meager Creek, courtesy Whistler's Pique Newsmagazine. Second biggest landslide in Canadian history!

"One of the group hopped out of the truck and dropped a backpack on a picnic table when out of the dark they heard a rumble that sounded like a thousand freight trains coming towards them. Another member of their party, unfamiliar with the area, wondered if there was a railway in the area and whether a train was rolling by. Smith quickly set him straight.

'It sounded like the mountain across the river was coming down on us,' Smith said in an interview.

The friends debated what to do for about 10 to 15 seconds as the rumble grew louder and trees began snapping all around them. They piled back into their truck, a Yukon XL, and drove in pitch black on to the Forest Service Road where they came face to face with a wall of black water.

'We were just shy of the Meager Creek turnoff,' Smith said. 'We basically turned off, tried to get up that road, tried to outrun it, drove for literally five seconds and then the headlights hit this big wall of water, probably about two feet high and it was just bubbling black water coming straight at us.'

The driver hit the brakes, spun the truck into a reverse and did a 180 before water started to overrun the vehicle on two sides. They had to punch the accelerator hard just to get away and head down the road.

They drove about 500 metres before they saw giant, old growth trees flowing across the road in a torrent of mud. They stopped about 50 metres short of the torrent and found themselves stuck on the road with water and debris flowing up behind them. . . ."
- posted by cjb @ 12:02 PM

 

The Nearer Your Destination the More You’re Slip Sliding Away

"Mr. Slater asked for an apology. The passenger instead cursed at him. Mr. Slater got on the plane’s public address system and cursed out all aboard. Then he activated the inflatable evacuation slide at service exit R1, launched himself off the plane, an Embraer 190, ran to the employee parking lot and left the airport in a car he had parked there."

(Not the definitive version of the story, but the funniest)
- posted by cjb @ 9:43 AM

 

Despicable Me (2010): excellent summer film full of visual invention; superb comic timing; complicated art historical in-jokes (one of the bad guys is modelled on a Daumier sculpture) and occasional jaw-dropping set pieces (two rocket launches; a wild ride on a fish-themed roller coaster by the sea). Plus a pulsing disco-funk soundtrack by Pharrell Williams. Rose T. Cat sat entranced with us in the front row at the local megaplex; that she attracted no undue attention says a lot about the expanded demographic the film draws.

(Plus: minions!)
- posted by cjb @ 12:54 PM

 

Meager Creek Landslide

(Note the size of the downed trees for scale)
- posted by cjb @ 9:13 AM

 

The Tiger Oil Memos, by Edward Mike Davis

“Do not speak to me when you see me. If I want to speak to you, I will do so. I want to save my throat. I don’t want to ruin it by saying hello to all of you sons-of-bitches.”
- posted by cjb @ 5:32 PM

 

DF Remembers Vintage SF

"In September of '66, my formerly tweedy, graying poetry professor, Anthony Hecht, showed up for the new term in black and white-striped Uncle Sam bellbottoms, a bright paisley shirt, a suede vest and Beatle boots. We all assumed that these, along with a new laid-back, goofy expression, were the souvenirs of a summer spent among the flower children of Haight-Ashbury, a section of San Francisco that was just starting its climb to glory. Of course, my pals and I had to check it out as well. So, a few months later, I drove out there with a couple of friends.

The scene, made eerily vivid by the combination of psychedelic drugs and its own outrageous novelty, was pure sci fi: all these dazzling young girls dressed up in home-made outfits inspired by Pocahontas, Maid Marion, Annie Oakley and whoever. Tall, bony drug dealers with ponytails would walk past you muttering the names of their wares without the vowels, just in case you were a narc: Hsh! - Grss! - Zd! - Spd! Blue Cheer, a group that touted itself as the loudest band in the world, was playing down the street at the Straight Theater.

It was fascinating, for about a week, anyway. Then you started to notice that a lot of the kids looked all waxy and wild-eyed, and that they were talking much too slow or much too fast and then you got that Oh Shit feeling like Lou Costello thinking he's talking to Abbott and then realizing he's talking to the Wolfman. On the corner, you'd spot the hustling predator[s] (whose consciousness hadn't been raised as yet) looking to score off the middle-class kids who'd walked right onto their turf. It was over, bro, before it even hit Life magazine. . . ."

- posted by cjb @ 4:51 PM

 

Metropolitan (7), 2010
- posted by cjb @ 8:45 AM

 

Tonight's soundtrack: Emily Haines, Swimmers.

Bright pink sun sinking behind the ballet academy.

Bruised August light, great warm wind.
- posted by cjb @ 9:27 PM

 
Today's soundtrack: Linda Ronstadt, Heart Like a Wheel
- posted by cjb @ 10:50 AM

 
Metropolitan, 2010

Digital pictures of places in Los Angeles previously unknown to me, found and framed in Google Street View. A sequence of autonomous photographs, not a "series." Best viewed at full-screen resolution. (Click the upper-right tab in each image). Suggested by conversations with Stephen Shore and Owen Kydd.
- posted by cjb @ 9:07 AM

 

Metropolitan (5), 2010
- posted by cjb @ 5:30 PM

 

Metropolitan (4), 2010
- posted by cjb @ 10:41 PM

 

Soundtrack for a dérive

"[T]he primarily urban character of the dérive, in its element in the great industrially transformed cities — those centers of possibilities and meanings — could be expressed in Marx’s phrase: 'Men can see nothing around them that is not their own image; everything speaks to them of themselves. Their very landscape is alive.'"
- posted by cjb @ 10:22 PM

 

Metropolitan (3), 2010
- posted by cjb @ 6:31 PM