tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73698845550476077122011-12-18T05:25:31.436-05:00Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.comBlogger2081100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-9185178643209731432010-03-20T00:30:00.030-04:002010-03-20T10:01:16.352-04:00

Man... I write a lot more than I post here. If you think I'm wordy now, realize this is me trying to work against that.Today was a great day. My all-day photo class gave us a simple directive; go do street fashion. Different students were sent to different areas. Occasionally some students get an atypical assignment from the rest of the group. I was sort of one of those. Instead of a specific

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-78073026626425926702010-02-28T02:10:00.007-05:002010-02-28T03:40:10.618-05:00

Buzz summary:Okay, in a little over two weeks I've made 62 posts to Buzz. That's over a quarter of my entire blog posting (208) over 2.5 years. So... what the hell is all that? Well, predictably, it's what would normally be sinking into the bog that is my bookmark file. Maybe a fraction could have made it into the blog in a good week, maybe none of it.Now, instead, I can post just up to (and

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-45893342492250411132010-02-26T00:26:00.006-05:002010-02-26T00:39:50.387-05:00

[By me. Aww.]I've added what I hope are three very small and neutrally worded sections to the top of the sidebar. This is such a minuscule occurrence that it feels silly even mentioning it, but in fact each of them are connections to efforts that are more personally significant than they may seem.Anyways.Until I get a portfolio site squared away (2010?), this blog will be forced to serve the

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-35827554892000114742010-02-14T23:50:00.008-05:002010-02-15T00:11:43.711-05:00

It's been just four days, and the internet has changed fairly drastically for me.It's that goddamn new thing from Google that I'm sure you don't want to hear more about. Ironic, considering I had in the last post revealed that e-mail had essentially broken down for me, format/usability-wise. And it still has, I suppose.But I got sucked in, big time. Take a look, if you like. You can see my real

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-8394573452104596102010-02-10T00:27:00.009-05:002010-02-10T01:05:07.125-05:00

Yeah. Yeah. No, I just got it. Yeah. She's fine. Okay, listen, I was in the middle of Sally's Spa, though, so... you know... I've gotta go.I love the idea of Patrick Stewart standing in a queue somewhere pecking at his iPhone, identical in behavior to those around him, reading Shakespeare. Quietly, to himself, but perfectly enunciated; "Marvelous. The Internet. What wonders!"Digital_Nation: Life

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-64568440269882803742010-02-06T01:06:00.016-05:002010-02-06T02:10:45.195-05:00

[Image credit: Leonardo Vocino. I need my portfolio on indexhibit!]Been playing quite a few games recently. I always do this; in that I go weeks without playing anything, and then I obsessively play so many in such a short period of time that it becomes difficult to make sense of later.Little Rocket is a small, innocent, somewhat simple Flash game by Alex Miller in which you pilot a tiny rocket

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-39824751364178080452010-02-06T00:38:00.003-05:002010-02-06T00:44:38.124-05:00

Oh my GOD. I defy you to not sit there, blank-faced, eyes unfocused, pumping your fists, growling with pleasure. SamBA! SamBA! SamBA!I want this song to follow me down the street, blasting from a perfect old school ghetto blaster, forever. Why can't music videos go back to this shit? Concept? Pah. Dance! Footage! Mounted cinematography, so that I can see what's happening, and takes long enough to

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-23883155108685806802010-02-02T02:17:00.010-05:002010-02-02T02:35:21.316-05:00

Ho hum. I fell immediately and lightly asleep upon arriving home this evening, squandering most of my prime "futzing around on the internet" time. Shameful.I took a look at Rock Paper Shotgun today, which for the most part I've been avoiding, and came across this link to a lighthearted, simple little rant on indie pricing. Here's the link to the gag, which has a comments collection an order of

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-6165446647361715722010-01-31T22:11:00.002-05:002010-01-31T22:16:40.272-05:00

Ugh. I feel ridiculously nervous and uptight. Classes. Which can often be quite enjoyable, as I have some lovely, kind, understanding, frighteningly intelligent professors, themselves creators of very capable, thoughtful, and well executed work. They're good people.My classes, though. It's a struggle. I often wonder if they all (my professors, not my peers) view me as unlikely to be able to make

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-77526206620514134712010-01-31T02:40:00.000-05:002010-01-31T02:41:47.545-05:00

I can't keep staying up so late.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-89846933301339722672010-01-29T00:09:00.006-05:002010-01-29T01:06:06.706-05:00

Ubu viewing of the week:Poême électronique (1958)This is a fine piece of optimistic corporate art celebrating the technological wonders the future held for Philips customers back in 1958. There's quite a bit of back story and drama surrounding the original pavilion. It's a fascinating story, if you want to read further, but the eight minute film is in and of itself quite watchable and enjoyable.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-84701795945581399302010-01-22T02:11:00.002-05:002010-01-22T02:15:45.804-05:00

A fascinating talk on India's soft power and pride in its global dissemination of its pop culture. Even not being a Bollywood fan (I'm not), this lecture is beautiful, and this man talks the way I would like a higher power to. He's like a Bene Gesserit or something. Speaking of the power of the spoken word, this lecture on the global appeal of learning to speak in English, not just passably but

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-54862160700050772112010-01-22T01:43:00.005-05:002010-01-22T01:55:27.236-05:00

-Game Center CX New episodes may not be subtitled as frequently as I may like, but to complain of such things feels absurdly ungrateful. I'm ecstatic that the loss of the streaming episodes on Crunchyroll led me to discover the downloadable episodes, which have proceeded further into the series' second season than they had before.-DJOE's Youtube favorites How had I not known about these? Oh well;

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-3392350665811622102010-01-21T12:52:00.001-05:002010-01-21T12:54:06.134-05:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-2573116370490650392010-01-21T11:48:00.003-05:002010-01-21T12:09:29.065-05:00

Just a quickie recommendation today. You know the architect Antonio Gaudí, of course. You may also know the film director Hiroshi Teshigahara, director of one of my all-time favorite films, Woman in the Dunes. The score, one of the elements of that film that made it such an obsession for me, was done by Mr. Toru Takemitsu, who probably did the score for about a third of the classic Japanese films

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-59079608260403321972010-01-17T06:03:00.005-05:002010-01-17T06:39:58.015-05:00

Everything's falling apart all over.Manga and anime have essentially squandered what should have been a golden opportunity by making the same mistakes as their mainstream American comics counterparts.Wait, is CNN teaching me about manga? Apparently. Strange days we're in.What most depressed me about this alarmingly insightful summarization was that the things that I had thought were stifling

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-80381673400774636392010-01-11T03:38:00.002-05:002010-01-11T03:45:14.438-05:00

2010; the Year of High Culture.Although the opening credits may not endear itself to you, please wait until you enter into the actual episode. It's really, really worth it.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-55224776094417420192010-01-03T06:23:00.001-05:002010-01-03T06:24:55.334-05:00

Apologies for my absence and writer's block. I'm working on it. Maybe I've just been distracted.Merry new decade. What do we have to look forward to? Well, Copenhagen seems like enough of a disaster that after we hit our 2 degrees centigrade mark (3-3.5 in Africa), we'll be able to observe what the collapse of a continent looks like. I doubt it will be the only one in the coming century.Anyone

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-11429713658186264322009-12-25T23:32:00.008-05:002009-12-25T23:47:18.723-05:00

You know what's more fun and sometimes easier than actual writing? Lists. Although I won't be engaging in any of that "aught" shit. I can't remember the details of last week; I'm going to grandly pontificate on what I found significant in 2001? I was such a moron that when a bouncer at a bar that I was too young to enter wearily asked me my birthday (having forgotten my license), my exact

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-89628583795104602382009-12-25T23:14:00.001-05:002009-12-26T16:51:43.632-05:00

I'm taking this too seriously.For Christmas I bought my significant other a pair of eyeglasses. They're quite fetching, and she seems fond of them. When she investigated the designer later, she found out they were none other than Sarah Palin's glasses designer.That's probably my holiday highlight.I was going to attempt a poorly conceived quip that now I'm essentially sleeping with Sarah Palin...

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-15924205037323268682009-12-07T00:10:00.015-05:002009-12-08T11:11:38.934-05:00

Let's start this on a strength, and traditionally. Which of course means pandering toward my unsophisticated male gaze, and lasciviously critiquing poor examples of late 90's pop culture nonsense. Long ago I was rather in love with this young woman.Man, this video is terrible. Why were musicians constantly spinning in ornate leather chairs, mounted dead center in some preposterously over-lit

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-50248521227557410112009-11-20T00:00:00.006-05:002009-11-20T02:22:13.041-05:00

[Or, at least, let us agree to war with only our Olympic fencing teams.] Bouncy lexicographers. Brian Cox on the LHC, the building blocks of existence, and the history of the universe. [Introductory link.] David Perry on videogames, emotion, and the potential of the medium. One characteristic of gamers is that it is true that everyone inherently thinks their experience is uniquely transcendent,

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-61280884893964400632009-11-18T12:07:00.001-05:002009-11-18T12:07:52.230-05:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-33800912749781788482009-11-15T17:23:00.015-05:002009-11-15T17:29:23.816-05:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-19330771346259980382009-11-13T00:34:00.014-05:002009-11-15T15:47:27.649-05:00

These are accumulations. I've always taken great inspiration from things that exist outside of an "approved" aesthetic environment.The first is a bookmark clearly made for English grandparents. I had another adorned with two white Scottish terriers, above the caption, "A Double Scotch," and the red-scripted slogan beneath which stated: A book is a friend that never fails you. That one was lost

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-82722613418746883002009-10-27T00:18:00.011-04:002009-10-27T00:32:45.996-04:00

Unbelievably, the bird still continues to fascinate. Why would this be a decisive image in some way?I think what it boils down to is a question of intentions.On 7th Ave, the sun was at it's highest point. Everything around me was reduced to blinding glare. I could barely open my eyes, people were shoulder to shoulder, and everyone I saw had a glowing halo limning their entire body. I had a moment

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-69947036458518318852009-10-21T23:20:00.013-04:002009-10-29T02:30:03.001-04:00

Alright. So tonight standing around I took the opportunity to ask the young man in my class who was so bothered by the picture of the bird what the deal was.His eyes widened slightly. "It wasn't personal," he said."I know that. I wouldn't ask, otherwise."And then he told me about how after Freshman year he had hoped he would never have to look at another fire hydrant, hubcap, or pigeon on a

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-33440320600991827772009-10-20T22:39:00.009-04:002009-10-21T11:49:34.365-04:00

I'd say interesting critique tonight.Perhaps we frightened one another. It feels like that; we saw that we (my collective class) could rip one another apart, like feral gladiators, and ultimately, I think we didn't like it. The advantage is that it seems like maybe we can start talking about the work (perhaps even critically, carefully).Although... I don't know. Someone wanted to criticize me

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-59973028626877066952009-10-13T22:02:00.026-04:002009-10-13T23:12:40.567-04:00

Alright. I know that this demands some form of commentary. After all, if I'm attempting to challenge myself and talk about work; why not my own?I'm working on it. But... damn it. I finished something massive, and relatively satisfactorily. There are definitely problems with it, which maybe I'll get to, although tonight I was thinking that extended artist's critique (rather than statement) may

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-25473953702483110502009-10-10T22:17:00.008-04:002009-10-13T23:43:28.746-04:00

1st AD, Director.Listening to show archives, I found myself remembering that I had loved the lyrics to that weird Ukranian song. The one I claimed was Michael Jackson's Beat It?It was called Vorony; or Crows.When so-called friends tell you what to dolisten, just do what you really want!My friends said, "don't look at her,she is too young and doesn't understand"When amongst crows, crow like

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-42441558397132035452009-10-09T00:25:00.018-04:002009-10-09T11:20:34.588-04:00

Empire State Building lit to mark PRC's 60th anniversary. NYC, Sep 30th, 2009.Beijing, China, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009.Beijing, China, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009.PLA air force pilots. Beijing, China.Chinese President Hu Jintao. People's Republic of China.Meanwhile:Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson covered her eyes after defeating North Korea’s Kum Ok Han to win the gold medal in women’s freestyle at the World

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-70965778509320632892009-10-07T23:31:00.005-04:002009-10-15T15:25:03.315-04:00

[All images taken and, of course, owned by Anton Kusters.]For some reason these Kusters gave me a lot of anguish. It would probably be better to just go into talking about them in whatever way I'm able, but I've got to work through some of the issues that these raised for me.I found these through Burn. I've linked there before. I'm almost a little frightened to look at Burn. No matter how much

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-8663645838828933932009-10-05T23:42:00.002-04:002009-10-05T23:52:55.970-04:00

Twice recently I've managed to piss off classmates with not-very considered comments. Each time I've found myself somewhat surprised. For the most part, as I've gotten older I've found my sense of humor, and that odd adolescent drive to say something "controversial" and shocking, has mellowed and cooled. I don't really have any particular investment in upsetting anyone anymore, for the most

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-60524279422837453132009-09-29T23:54:00.012-04:002009-09-30T20:21:45.270-04:00

[Image note: you're welcome to re-post as you like, since I'm not a complete hypocrite, but crediting is always deeply and sincerely appreciated. Lin Swimmer.]

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-64842669678655537892009-09-29T23:17:00.023-04:002009-10-06T07:10:53.821-04:00

Alright... new combinations of image sources. I must say, my photo-history class has gorgeous material I'll have to mine. Unfortunately, this is inevitably a slow process. If you cast yourself backwards within the blog, adrift and listless, you'll find that I used to post many more historical photographs than what's represented these days, but they were mostly taken from archives of "found"

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-2123893166957420852009-09-28T04:05:00.004-04:002009-09-28T04:16:47.620-04:00

It's been a while since I threw a couple lectures at you. Sometimes, when Netflix doesn't feel like the answer, and you realize you've listened to all your podcast/interview things twice now and there aren't any new ones because they don't come out frequently (the good ones, which I've been meaning to compile and link to for a while now), and you watched quite a few multimedia stories (like these

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-25557586116358884072009-09-28T03:55:00.002-04:002009-09-28T04:00:46.305-04:00

A few thoughts on statistics. Take a look.That was fast! And, unsurprisingly, what we're seeing is that adult imagery (primarily the Sankaku-sourced Japanese erotica, which retains searchable image titles, and the handful of appropriately named Western erotica that's there), pulls in an enormous number of visitors. What strikes me is the importance of image titles, something I've always been a

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-86048255924925181952009-09-24T14:07:00.009-04:002009-10-08T02:28:08.369-04:00

Lets forgo formalities tonight. Let our hair down.Detailed information regarding the portrait can be found in the comments, if there's anyone out there curious about the mundane details of its condition and process. Although I still haven't transcribed my Photo Shop notes. Perhaps I consider those sort of impossibly boring for anyone to look at (as well as being reticent to publicly reveal the

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-76277598263233702112009-09-24T13:54:00.013-04:002009-09-24T15:12:10.520-04:00

Interesting. Kawanishi-san has anticipated my working methods. When I took these into Photo Shop in order to make them more web friendly, I found that at my threshold of jpeg quality (60) I was saving less than 100 kb per image. Meaning they're already perfectly web friendly. And big! Bigger than any photographer's work I've ever found online!Not everyone would get excited by this, perhaps. But,

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-43221538439740702192009-09-24T13:46:00.012-04:002009-09-24T13:53:40.430-04:00

A Canadian soldier. Panjwaii district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.... a day before their circumcision ritual... Algiers.Ramadan, Jama Masjid Mosque in New Delhi.Eid al-Fitr, Mymensingh from Dhaka, Bangladesh.The Montreal Canadiens’ Mathieu Darche, Quebec.Calgary Flames Leland Irving, Alberta, Canada.South Korea’s Na Yeon Choi, Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego.More photojournalism.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-73006707537988977642009-09-19T23:20:00.005-04:002009-09-20T11:46:37.027-04:00

Friday had an odd, very photo-centric morning. I was up and out early to go see an exhibit at the Greenberg Van Doren Gallery at 730 Fifth Avenue at 57th St of Tim Davis's The New Antiquity, which was really quite wonderful. Mostly rather cold, dilapidated ruins, but with instances of real, active, breathing contemporary culture seeping in, appropriating, commodifying, and generally defiling.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-86398056089247314612009-09-17T23:44:00.015-04:002009-09-17T23:57:03.306-04:00

Man, I'm stressing out lately!Looking at Bruce Haley's stuff is a nice way to attempt to step back and get a little perspective, while being just knocked backward by the talent and bravery of it. So inspiring!

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-41498071953109367812009-09-15T01:00:00.005-04:002009-09-15T01:05:23.985-04:00

Work of the caliber that I should be producing regularly. I'm not displeased.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-51321289347535908642009-09-15T00:13:00.016-04:002009-09-15T00:45:17.024-04:00

India Gate, New Delhi.“The Rights of Human Beings and Citizens,” Port-au-Prince, Haiti.“Coco Avant Chanel,” Tokyo.Khost Province, Afghanistan.Another night, another post. Quite a nice rhythm establishing itself, even if it is at a rate that runs contrary toward my self-professed ideal of a "deeper" reading experience.Firstly, and perhaps unsurprisingly, I should offer fair warning; we're again in

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-80633894767523101382009-09-13T01:29:00.015-04:002009-09-14T14:41:34.107-04:00

I was thinking about cutting all this, and then thought better of it. When I make huge cuts, it usually just means I'm feeling self-conscious, and chop things because I feel they're overlong, whiny, or... boring, maybe? Like I said, self-conscious.Here's a strange problem; I love video games. I seem to enjoy thinking about them, occasionally analyzing them to various degrees of satisfaction, and

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-85592012868233826142009-09-11T00:37:00.000-04:002009-09-11T10:00:37.588-04:00

Remember these? My great idea of machine translation of two years worth of Famicase art? What the hell happened?Regardless, I still think it's a great idea. I really feel that, broken and imperfect as they are, even rudimentary, fragmented translations give a non-Japanese speaking audience a much greater insight into the individual concepts that went into these odd, alternate universe Famicom

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-61564607697595053782009-09-10T00:53:00.003-04:002009-09-10T01:11:38.422-04:00

So a lot of what I'm sitting on are videos. In case that wasn't painfully obvious already.VBS recommendations. Did you get a chance to watch Escobar's private photographer reminisce about his time working for the man? I really can't praise it highly enough.I'm at the point where I'm tired of qualifying and clarifying my stance on Vice every time I enjoy something they do. Also, frankly, I'm a bit

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-3479477226798187652009-09-10T00:40:00.002-04:002009-09-10T00:45:43.434-04:00

I don't know what the current state of affairs is in regard to Google's legal hurdles in its book scanning project, but I can state that their Authors@Google series should be considered great advertising for publishers. Jim Rossignol of Rock, Paper, Shotgun (mixed feelings; not my market segment) and occasional, excellent BLDG Blog guest poster, pointed me at Will Self's Psychogeography lecture,

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-74736510985042373082009-09-08T23:55:00.007-04:002009-09-09T00:52:46.222-04:00

[A warning, not because I don't respect you, but because I do; this is three hours. It's also wonderful. You've been warned.]

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-22674405432215577592009-09-08T23:44:00.005-04:002009-09-09T01:54:38.643-04:00

Where to even start.I don't feel much inclined to write a huge amount regarding the whole Blogger/Google thing. As a summary of the larger situation, this link does about as good a job as one could want at just helping to explain some of the factors involved. Also, someone in the comments made the excellent point that when you're using a service that you aren't paying for, what you can reasonably

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-65001172640517680402009-09-03T02:47:00.001-04:002009-09-03T02:58:17.293-04:00

Good God damn, we're back, you beautiful, terrible motherfuckers. Come here; we're gonna hug it out!I've got a huge backlog of material that I should have been preparing but haven't, but I'm too damn happy and relieved to care much about that now. For now, let's just sit, sipping our drinks, and let this goggly-eyed Aussie sing at us a while.Yeah. Welcome back.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-23827213821440672102009-08-22T04:14:00.016-04:002009-08-23T14:49:16.784-04:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-80720262385112073142009-08-15T00:38:00.010-04:002009-08-15T00:56:40.650-04:00

Let's take a second to deal with that, a little. I had perhaps vaguely hoped that I could make a post without videos after the massive emission sitting below, but... well, it's what I've been doing.Firstly, it's impossible as a reader not to be interested in the idea of trailers for books. In perhaps just five years I see this being far more widespread. The first one I observed succeeded in

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-31028404785798974162009-08-14T23:47:00.005-04:002009-08-26T18:13:45.496-04:00

The truth is undeniable; I have not successfully written anything substantive since the end of last month. This happens, here and elsewhere. There's no shortage of words in the world.Let's think about photography. It's that time. I've found myself rereading my back issues of Foam, gearing up.And you find inspiring things here and there.Pablo Escobar; the record. By Edgar Jimenez, aka El

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-17150256420865548962009-07-29T16:27:00.012-04:002009-07-29T16:51:53.734-04:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-5845882717603169402009-07-29T02:00:00.016-04:002009-07-29T02:34:17.368-04:00

You know what? Yes, this looks cool, right? But, tonight as I rode the train home from work, sweating, tired, worn down, reading my now filthy book about Afghanistan, the conductor came on. He sounded more tired. "We're skipping stops, people. 138, then 164. For bypassed stations, get off at 138 and wait for the train directly behind this one." Amazingly, he wasn't lying this time. "[Pause] Tell

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-26694206780999435402009-07-26T00:15:00.021-04:002009-07-26T00:48:37.429-04:00

Adventure Quest has the bravery to place itself in an interesting sort of Chinese finger trap. On the one hand, if it were to constrain itself to interactions and scenarios appropriate to its source material and never go beyond that (with perhaps a bit of straining at the seams for entertainment value) then a certain percentage of the audience would feel that it lacks ambition, or was veering

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-91024247250393461412009-07-23T03:02:00.009-04:002009-07-23T03:21:34.173-04:00

UOGTSC 07.22.09Drinkin' & Stinkin' - Boogie Bill Webb [cassette]Too Close to Paradise - Music by Bill Conti, Vocals by Sylvester Stallone, from the motion picture "Paradise Alley" [vinyl]Shit's Real - Mic Geronimo [cassette]mic break, backing music I Need Your Lovin' by Teena Marie [vinyl]Vorony - The Ukranians [cassette]Snowflakes Are Dancing (Children's Corner, No 4) &Reverie - Tomita [vinyl](

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-51062299814106423392009-07-19T00:06:00.030-04:002009-07-19T00:18:48.514-04:00

うしじまいい肉 1129 Iiniku Ushijima “Good Meat”That's, what, four handles? That's rather amazing.Ah, ero-cosplay. Virgin territory for us here, mostly for the fact that I hate cosplay and the culture that surrounds and creates it.Alright, right off the bat, her expression drives me crazy. It's this kind of vacant pout that's utterly typical of Japanese photography of women. Having attempted on any

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-80661777669399078042009-07-15T00:36:00.025-04:002009-07-15T23:31:09.212-04:00

First, we link.Ragdoll Metaphysics, a column on Offworld by Jim Rossignol in which he goes off into the speculative technological aether and then writes about it. Not to be a dick about it, but if there's ever going to be a Times Literary Supplement for gaming, stuff like this could stand as a baseline starting point. Previous posts?Arma II, an ode to the surrealism of simulation.Milo and Kate,

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-24935471388162822782009-07-10T02:44:00.004-04:002009-07-10T03:16:37.268-04:00

Had my thrice-annual trip to Connecticut to visit with extended family. Bizarre. They're multiplying. You're next, someone grumbled, not really joking.Bah. Offspring.Japan produces greater wonders than progeny without even trying very hard. (Of course, their falling birth-rate is a serious societal issue that may eventually become as much of an interest to an international audience as their

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-14379508192850878562009-07-06T23:34:00.008-04:002009-07-07T02:48:47.056-04:00

Here's an indie that I came about a hair's width away from buying. The clincher; Leopard, and a Mac graphical capability I'm not sure I possess. Yup. Chunky pixels for me. Preferably not styled, if you can. Just geometric shapes on flat fields of color, please. (I'm just kidding, mostly. When I finally get Leopard, I'll figure out if I can run it, and if I can, I'll give them my $10. Maybe. Tale

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-84473718352207996062009-07-02T02:34:00.012-04:002009-07-02T02:45:48.265-04:00

We Come in Peace / Shoot to Kill by Superbrothers. (Totally random; I only got back into N after seeing a screenshot on the Superbrothers website.)Time again for another N tour. Today we're looking at the last two episodes of the third column, with each episode consisting of five levels. N saves your progress after beating every fifth level. If you quit out without passing that fifth, you start

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-2384374141864465702009-07-01T23:03:00.006-04:002009-07-02T03:10:17.229-04:00

Here's why it's dangerous to ignore Flash games. Here's a single sitting game, Queens, designed around the theme of domestic violence. It's a simple platformer. Try it. And I suggest that you win, if you want to feel like you've seen it through.Now the first question one has to ask is, is it obligated that it have a "victory" only because it is a game? I don't think so. With a theme like domestic

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-23800462281313525702009-07-01T22:30:00.022-04:002009-07-01T22:43:12.959-04:00

How does one view a photograph? What changes when it's an isolated image, devoid of any sort of contextual background information? Country of origin, year taken, found image or original, portrait, still-life, landscape, event. Heavily composed, phone camera capture, candid, arranged, staged. A scan of a negative, a scan of a print (done commercially [by professionals] or personally [ditto]), a

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-31263972105517770342009-06-29T02:37:00.022-04:002009-06-29T04:01:20.870-04:00

Alright; updates.I eagerly rushed through the final disc of Sandbaggers, and my unconditional infatuation with the series is now cemented. I'm going to watch the final three again, just basking. Any investigation online features two sorts of comments; the first are all evangelical praise shouting that this is easily the best televised espionage-themed show ever created. The second are questions.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-82237973670725040822009-06-26T00:27:00.001-04:002009-07-23T03:54:16.986-04:00

UOGTSC 06.24.09Always the same cycle. Two days before the show, and the panic starts creeping in. This show underwent a very typical design path, in that after a long and challenging compiling we get a musical reverse Orio cookie. Oh, spoke too soon. Damn. But it is a pretty black show, in that we start German, go Telly Salvalas style, crooning to pudgy housewives, and then smoothly transition (

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-7624458567531523462009-06-22T02:54:00.015-04:002009-06-22T03:01:31.837-04:00

I'm not sure if I'd call the break from posting "refreshing," exactly. Maybe that's why I enjoy the occasional breakneck rate; the moment I slow down I lose momentum, go blank, feel mentally tired of the subject matter I'd been planning out (This gets planned?!), and almost instantly start to dislike my output. Writing and posting in an evening is automatic, without time to reflect, which seems

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-68633603654641227802009-06-16T00:19:00.021-04:002009-06-16T00:29:47.478-04:00

........................................

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-63488329230824886922009-06-14T23:22:00.009-04:002009-11-09T17:00:26.268-05:00

The Men of North Winter County from Brad Conlin on Vimeo.BIRDY NAM NAM - THE PARACHUTE ENDING Clip Officielby Has_BeenMy favorite part is when he's in the cafe just kind of casually reaching over and grabbing her tits while absentmindedly rapping his ass off in whatever fucking language that is. Certainly my first full listening of this song. Holy cow.Also, in terms of art in 09, what I'm seeing

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-73882389353584951192009-06-14T02:31:00.010-04:002009-06-14T04:42:53.103-04:00

I've written before about beating games.I'm currently addicted to a game that I've mentioned before. I actually have a huge archive of screengrabs that have been waiting for me to do something with them.It is a tense game. It cannot be beaten, as far as I know. The upper limits of it... well, I can't even picture.Many games deal with the idea of defeat. Lives, continues, health bars. Opportunity.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-51009299018700993742009-06-12T04:58:00.003-04:002009-07-23T03:53:02.516-04:00

I bought a book that taught me to masturbate without external stimulus. It's freaky.UOGTSC 06.10.09I was worried that this episode wouldn't be as good as the last one, but I think it came out pretty well. (It starts kind of quiet and then ratchets up on the second song, then down, then up again, then basically evens out. Sorry. There's always going to be minor volume tweaking on any episode. It's

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-59748611282906547582009-06-09T00:14:00.002-04:002009-06-09T12:39:01.503-04:00

MoCCA! What can I say about it? At times it felt more like a cross between a tattoo convention and a vintage eye-glasses enthusiast gathering (so of course I blended right in). New venue, at the Lexington Armory. It was hot, but that's rather inevitable considering how many bodies were jammed in there. You had to kind of wiggle in to get to the tables, which made it hard to see the merchandise

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-48547771330863030892009-06-07T21:59:00.004-04:002009-06-07T23:36:49.882-04:00

Okay! Another problematically eclectic collection of unrelated topics and meanderings. But as they say in Bucharest, Fuck you that!(Not true.)Wow. It's amazing I'm not writing opening zingers for Conan O'Brien. Anyway.So much talk of gaming lately. It must be rather alienating for any potential readers that aren't that interested in that topic. [shrug] What can you do? I'm going to delay my MoCCA

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-12849553763012539262009-06-03T00:50:00.010-04:002009-06-03T00:57:21.326-04:00

I just beat Underworld Trip by Nekogames.Beat as in collected all of the available endings, which I present to you below for perusal. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a game enough to warrant collecting much of anything, never mind endings. (Which I almost certainly wouldn't have done if you couldn't beat it in 10 minutes after you master it.) What a beautiful game.Also, the blog is two

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-39246522487277812952009-06-02T00:56:00.036-04:002009-06-03T00:58:47.431-04:00

05.27.09New podcast! It's been long in coming, but here we are again. For the first time, here's the playlist courtesy of thumb-drive DJing. I'm like Johnny Mnemonic, but with more "data capacity." (Quite a bit more, in fact.)The broad overview is acid-freak Arthurian legend into lo-fi African hip-hop into some excellent vintage Japanese blues-rock into chiptune into some rather mind-bending

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-44144062117100912652009-05-24T22:24:00.035-04:002009-05-24T23:55:13.014-04:00

Sometimes life ain' nuffin but pizza and books. That's how that goes, right?I took these, so I suppose I own them. You can post them wherever you want if you credit me. RC Theodores or Lin Swimmer. Do you kids these days still do that "link trade" thing? With your "web pages?" I like those too. Thanks for looking.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-27658819984284392592009-05-24T21:16:00.046-04:002009-05-25T00:13:05.488-04:00

Sort of the post that refused to die, be finished, or mutate into a more malleable form. So, here we go. Let's try to mash this into something coherent.First, some photos of the stock at Videogamesnewyork at 202 E 6th St. Here is a place where my absolute geekiest game questions (Do you have old school controller USB adapters? Do you have any GBA Micros? Have you got a MSX lying around?) are

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-23584873709350535752009-05-12T01:08:00.005-04:002009-05-14T13:36:23.899-04:00

Episodes of Star Trek: Original Series, Season One that are personally recommended, with summaries that I wrote just now. I am funny.ArenaCaptain Kirk uses rudimentary chemistry to fashion a primitive shotgun to murder a lizard captain.The Galileo SevenMr. Spock irritates stranded crewmen to the point of near murder. Also murderous neanderthals and phasers as a shuttle-craft power source.Balance

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-88934906187643833742009-05-01T23:18:00.005-04:002009-06-14T21:33:58.129-04:00

What is the point of an adult content warning click-through without some form of adult content?Holy crap. This was probably one of the most draining gaming experiences I've ever seen. As tempted as I am, I'm going to refrain from giving away the ending. But... man. The final moments of the last match are equal to the final moments of any Rocky film you care to name, which for those who don't know

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-90351276780926491182009-04-28T00:39:00.003-04:002009-09-29T22:25:52.065-04:00

Quiet internal meltdown as deadlines approach. I have a poor ability at dealing with these things. I sleep a lot. And curse myself and my paralysis. And watch Star Trek. So much Star Trek. Which seems to have used the same fight choreographer as vintage Bond films, where a well placed karate chop to any area on the human body renders the recipient either dead or unconscious indefinitely.A friend

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-71562503890655624362009-04-24T03:45:00.018-04:002009-04-24T18:19:51.517-04:00

I'm sure no one remembers when I made a brief mention of the November '08 cover story in Wire Magazine called Unofficial Channels. It was a big deal for me. It was the first time I'd seen a publication talk about the type of music I had been becoming interested in, and the unusual methods of distribution that the music undergoes to reach listeners with these particular curiosities and

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-77506359202643728432009-04-14T21:34:00.013-04:002009-04-14T21:48:14.562-04:00

Best acceptance speech ever.Haircut in Chinatown today while I waited for my lenses to be cut. I forgot how much I like hanging around the Chinese. They were all glued to some shitty soap opera regarding fencing, set to pumping techno, including the guy cutting my hair. Then later I went to my school's health services and had my ears flushed out after a week of putting drops in there and not

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-82113134325851016832009-04-12T02:28:00.006-04:002009-04-14T11:24:41.488-04:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-71815827040721490412009-04-12T02:13:00.013-04:002009-04-12T02:28:01.144-04:00

Games. Where to even start? As I warned about last time, I wrote way too much about PS2 and Game Cube games that I kind of want to play or that I think look interesting, but when I realized that I was going to conclude all of this babbling with an admission that it is extremely unlikely that I'll actually be, you know, playing any of this stuff in the semi-immediate future I realized that it

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-40671897040558611302009-04-12T01:17:00.002-04:002009-04-12T01:27:30.271-04:00

Oy. Honestly, you're all excused. I don't really expect anyone to put themselves through this. Some of these are fuckin' fucked up, you know? But I think they're mostly obvious. And there's some good stuff in here too. Maybe I'll continue blathering on about some in the comments, if that seems prudent.I will leave you with my favorite video description yet found on YouTube. This is pure

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-63929836056088805242009-04-12T00:40:00.009-04:002009-04-12T00:59:26.933-04:00

So updates:I bought those frames I'd linked to. There was a bit of last minute agonizing, as I'm sure most glasses wearers can attest to, and I was briefly tempted by the Shuron Ronsirs they had in stock (even with the tapered temple), which are shockingly difficult to find in any opticians you care to walk into. But, despite these temptations, no, I went with my original impulse for bizarrely

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-13886880774323723412009-04-12T00:38:00.001-04:002009-04-12T00:44:00.982-04:00

Recently I've found myself wondering where the work of the photojournalists in Afghanistan has been. Surely I'm just not looking in the right places. Well Time magazine is one place I should have been looking. Photo essays here, here, and here. There's an article on the subject of operations in the region as this week's cover story as well.My only complaint is that we are still in a transitional

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-71764000024806163212009-04-07T03:23:00.002-04:002009-04-07T03:28:24.218-04:00

I'm fucking exhausted. I need to stop drinking so much coffee at work.Aw hell. I told someone I'd blog about this. Okay, real quick. So I'm thinking of getting a new pair of glasses soonish. I want something like these, and have done so for about the last four years.These seem fairly close. So yeah. That's it. Jesus. Goodnight. (New front page! Yes!)

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-37180842810098695092009-04-07T03:11:00.003-04:002009-09-29T22:36:10.268-04:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-88753869254471095982009-04-07T02:51:00.004-04:002009-04-07T02:58:08.251-04:00

Here's an incredibly interesting article about Freeman Dyson regarding our lack of understanding about the effects and seriousness of climate change. This was last week's cover story of The New York Times Magazine, which now seems be be a regular thing for me, along with the Sunday Book Review. I've read this piece twice now. If you enjoy reading opinions of those exponentially more intelligent

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-66830680944506284872009-04-07T02:15:00.000-04:002009-04-07T02:15:45.901-04:00

This entry has gone through the blog wringer. It's never beneficial for me to plug away at them incrementally. It becomes this massive, unwieldy thing, which inevitably I start critiquing, before eventually labeling most of what's been written safely editable away from human consumption.So.Time for a quick and simple post of a few things of interest. I'm working on something slightly more

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-84960016628069050722009-03-31T01:41:00.001-04:002009-03-31T01:42:22.311-04:00

I'm not sure this warrants its own post, really, but here he is... are you ready? Women, you may want to avert your eyes, although unless you also plug your ears I can't promise you that Dimitri won't be able to seduce you using purely auditory means. He's like a Bene Gesserit. (Although he wouldn't know what that is, being too busy fucking women and teaching men how to fuck women to waste time

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-3725931342192327692009-03-30T10:33:00.003-04:002009-03-30T11:15:20.977-04:00

I've been neglecting actually writing anything for the blog lately. Moved last week. Everything went as smoothly as could be hoped. I'm still settling into my new place, but already it's a huge step up. School's been busy, and kind of dreary and disappointing lately as well, but I'm sure it will come together. More on this later, perhaps.So... more fairly stupid videos. This time without the

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-69907815064980171692009-03-26T14:48:00.005-04:002009-09-29T22:47:29.864-04:00

Probably the most interested I've found myself in a piece of fashion related analysis in a long, long time. Nicely done profile of a figure whose work is known to basically everyone of my generation, despite the fact that I have my doubts that anyone has ever given much thought as to where these things actually came from.What things?Cosby sweaters. (He's got quite a great tattoo as well, eh? Old

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-67469565701612828302009-03-16T20:30:00.000-04:002009-03-16T20:30:23.762-04:00

Warming up.First Movement.Intermission.Second Movement.Coda.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-56316395537457420202009-03-12T02:01:00.007-04:002009-03-12T02:13:48.137-04:00

New shows: 02.11.09, 02.25.09 and 03.11.09. Recap of the past few that were previously available, if you're inclined to catch up. 12.17.08, 01.14.09, and 01.28.09.The February shows were going through a bit of a slump, but tonight's show is one of the best in a while. And good mike breaks! An extremely rare occurrence, to be sure. Also, near the end of 02.25 Eno's Discreet Music failed to make it

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-90966219914772212052009-03-11T18:09:00.005-04:002009-03-12T02:20:27.206-04:00

General Carson Mell introduction.FIELD NOTES FROM DIMENSION X PREVIEW from Carson Mell on Vimeo.The Writer from Carson Mell on Vimeo.And the Bobby Bird saga.THE DEVIL IN DENIM from Carson Mell on Vimeo.(You'll click that little HD button followed by that full-screen button if you like yourself. I'm just saying.)

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-974097189998595632009-03-11T18:05:00.004-04:002009-03-12T03:05:09.671-04:00

James Wallis brings it the fuck on. As fucking usual.[Full screen is much easier to read, and you can use your left and right arrow keys to proceed quickly and comfortably.]A Thing of Beauty is a Stout Green ToyView more presentations from JamesWallis.

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7369884555047607712.post-42652727360187192002009-03-11T18:02:00.000-04:002009-03-11T18:03:48.433-04:00

Lin Swimmernoreply@blogger.com5