this is awesome that these folks actually did what everybody actually wants to do with those silly Guitar Hero game controllers.
via kottke.org
the band’s website:
http://www.theguitarzeros.com/
Archive for January, 2008
guitar zeros
4 years of college, and finally, my very own pet project
Here’s a general life update from me for those of you who have been out of the loop, or just forgot: I’m back in school this semester. I’m taking 5 classes, amounting to 15 hours. Next summer i will go back to CF industries for my final term as a co-op electrical engineer. I have one more semester of school left after this one, which will take place next fall. I will be graduating (God willing) in December ’08. During school, and maybe continuing after i graduate, i have taken a job as an Apple Computer repair and service tech with a local private consulting company.
More about all that later.
This semester, in order to graduate, i am taking classes that i need to fulfill some early freshman-level requirements:
- Intro to Anthropology – an overview of anthropology that glosses over pretty much everything but provides some compelling insights into a science that is otherwise unheard of by high school graduates. 300 students, and one interesting and fun professor.
- Intro to Psychology – a rote memorization class. 500 students, and an instructor who clearly would rather be performing research.
- Intro to Landscape Architecture – a quick look at american geology / landscape architecture that appeals to my love of misty mountains and chlorophyll forests. every day we are bathed in powerpoint slideshows filled with such images, and it makes me want to go outside and enjoy life. Unfortunately, the professor’s voice and abnormal cadence makes me want to slam a book into my head. It’s a good thing i’m taking this class with bennett, so we can at least keep each other alert.
In the Electrical Engineering department, i require only 4 more classes. The two that i am taking this semester include these senior-level design classes:
- Harmonic Filter and Compensator Design – this is the kind of class that makes seniors wish they chose a different major. something a little easier. the prof, who taught me the Power class that i describe at the bottom of this post, makes life really freaking hard. He expects a whole lot out of us, and on top of this, he tells us up front on the first day that no one is going to get an A in this class. He does not give A’s. I’m not going to cry. but i might whine.
- Electronic Instrumentation and Metrology Design – And finally. In this class, my professor’s objective is to over see us going through a project design, from brainstorm to prototype. The cool part is, you can do nearly anything you want, as long as you create a device that measures something and is reasonably complex. I had some ideas floating around in the back of my head for some music/audio electronics projects that i was going to undertake on my own. In fact, i had already sourced some parts and done a little research. What a perfect opportunity to take my own personal interests and passion and get graded on it! I decided to submit my idea for a Mic Preamp with metering and Audio Spectrum Analyzer. The practical experience that i’ll get in this course will be invaluable… i loved the circuit design that i was able to do in a previous electronics class, and now i have a whole semester dedicated to my pet project! this class may turn out to be my favorite class ever.
Everything Bad is Good for You
I just got around to reading Steven Johnson’s book Everything Bad is Good For You a few weekends ago. It was an interesting read, and I want to write a bit about it.
In case you missed all the media hype surrounding the book, Johnson’s major premise in Everything Bad is that mass pop culture is making us (the general public) smarter. Contemporary T.V, the internet, and video games, Johnson argues, are more complex, more difficult to understand, and consequently, more mentally challenging than entertainments of previous generations. Johnson contends that, despite all kinds of arguments to the contrary, pop culture is making people more intelligent.
Now, Everything Bad‘s premise is controversial, however I won’t go into the book’s arguments point by point here. Rather, I want to focus on one aspect of Johnson’s book that I found most interesting: his analysis of video games.
Basically, Johnson argues that video games provide players with a rich environment that they must probe and explore, a kind of environment that promotes active problem solving. He contrasts this active ‘player-centric’ approach to novel reading, which as we all know is a much more passive activity. Novels, he notes, provide all kinds of mental challenges, however, problem solving in an unfamiliar graphical (and sometimes very realistic) environment is not one of them.
Now what interested me was Johnson’s focus not on not, what video games ask players to do, but how a player must go about solving individual problems. In other words, it doesn’t matter if a player is asked to rescue a princess from and evil toad demon (a rather childlike objective), what matters is that the player must ‘solve’ a series of increasingly complex puzzles and tasks to accomplish the end goal.
Johnson’s argument privileges the structure of games (and the difficulty this structure poses to the player) over the content of the game itself. This kind of argumentative trope is a hallmark of our contemporary cultural landscape – the superficial is perpetually victorious over meaning, the sign is greater than the signified.
What I find interesting is that, unlike other social/cultural writers, Johnson finds this trend to be positive, not negative. New media, he contends, forces the audience to think about the structuring elements of even the most basic television show – analysis is always happening, even if we are analyzing things that may seem trivial.
I wonder, why should low-brow entertainment be so constantly derided for a lack of deep-meaning? At the end of the twentieth century we all learned that meaning is relative, that all things are at the surface, right?
Well, perhaps we didn’t all get the memo, but these are the fundamental tenets of ‘post-modernism’, the age in which we find ourselves. Whether you agree with these ideas or not (and I don’t agree with all of them), we are still bombarded with the shiny surfaces of new media everyday. Should we all be as positive as Johnson is – do you feel smarter for having danced with Google, for having watched Britney Spears?
I’m reminded of Andy Warhol, who was famous for taking his mother to Catholic Mass, even though he claimed to be somewhat ambiguous about his own faith. Warhol loved the service, though, because it was beautiful in itself, and what mattered was showing up, not whether you really believed or did not believe.
Of course, this is an inversion of typical Christian practice where belief is often a prerequisite for participation. Like Johnson, Warhol argued that content (meaning) can take a backseat to the riches of experience, of lived participation.
Thinking all this over, I can’t help but think that this insistence on the practiced, the lived, the trivial and even the superficial of everyday experience is somehow a good thing. Perhaps we don’t pay enough attention to all the trivialities that we come across everyday. Sometimes it can be hard to know what to believe these days, but I don’t think that should stop us from participating. Maybe shallow is the new deep!
slowly making the transition
Clear your caches! refresh your browsers!
witness the so-called New DavidComeaux.com! how do you like it?
note: actually this message does not indicate that the new davidcomeaux.com is actually complete. i haven’t actually changed the music page or the photos page yet, but feel free to comment on any problems you may be experiencing as you roam about the site.
sorry
please excuse the downtime this week. i am a victim of web host upgrades. I thought it would be just a few hours, but i hit a snag… it required actual human intervention. now that that’s over with, we can resume regular programming.
also, i’ve been working on a new site design per some good suggestions. i’m very attached to maintaining my established image and general color choices… minimalism and cleanliness, and the soothing blues and greens. this makes it hard for me to try something radical. so don’t expect anything too major. However, what i’ve got so far has made me happy enough, and des chimed in with a couple of good ideas to polish the look of things out.
Of course, now that i’ve got the graphics for the site, the hard part is supposedly over with. In actuality, it’s just the FUN part that’s over. now i have to code all this new stuff into the system.
skills for life
you never know when you’ll use the skills you learn.
in a previous life, i was an avid freestyle footbag enthusiast. i used my feet to kick a small beanbag around my body. when played in groups, the bag was passed around to everyone. it was expected that you could gain control of the bag as it was flying at you or away from you at any direction or speed. this game was a lot of fun.
the skills i learned back then have come in handy several times over the years. I can catch or break the fall of anything that is falling with my feet. Not by kicking it, mind you, but truly cradling and absorbing the shock with the top of my shoe. What type of things have you caught before, you might ask.
I have saved the lives of the following things by using footbag stall techniques:
Cell phones
Yogurt cups
Picture frames
iPods
Hard Drives
Microphones
etc.
Mostly things that would cause tears if they were to actually fall on concrete and smash to pieces. The ability to catch things with my feet is very subconscious. If someone were to observe me in action, they might remark “Nice catch” or “That was lucky.” Naturally, they wouldn’t assume that this ability was a skill that i had honed during my high school years.
When this happens, i feel like a stunt driver who corrected an out-of-control vehicle on a public road. A little dazed, like i didn’t even know it would happen.
The New Luxury
Luxury in the 21st century is going depend less on how much you are able to buy and more about how much you are able to appreciate: the scent of blossoms, the dappled light from a canopy of trees, etc. Cultivate rather than collect. Time rather than money. Slow rather than fast. One’s status will depend upon how much one can do with very little. Imagination, wit and inventiveness are the new currency. Building a beautiful life and sharing one’s breakthroughs with others will be the goal: moth eclosion parties, gardening parties, fragrance parties, etc.Long live the new luxury!
via the inspired musings of Lord Whimsy, a blogging favorite of mine for quite some time now.
I agree completely with this sentiment – after all, one can have all the nice things, experiences, and rewards of life, but if the ability to appreciate and reflect on all this beauty is missing, well what is the point of it all then?
2007 in review on davidcomeaux.com
Well, it is that time again. Another year has passed and been chronicled here at davidcomeaux.com. Just the other day, my family was asking me what I did last year over the new years holiday. I had no idea. “Time to consult the blog”, I thought to myself.
So, in the spirit of self-consultation, here is some of the best (and worst) posts of this past year. Some of these blogs attracted quite a few comments, while others were apparently profoundly uninteresting to the majority of readers that visit this site. I’ve rated the following posts as “hits” or “misses” according to the number of comments they recieved. However, I thought there were quite a few good posts that attracted no comments from readers here. Of course, I am the author of this stuff, so perhaps I am a little biased. At any rate, here is 2007 in review.
January
I started the year in a reflective mood, mulling over a past relationship. Later in the month, I moved on to complaining about two of my favorite subjects: the weather and poor internet writing.
Hit
Popularity Problems – a post in which I wonder, “Is there anything more unpopular than poetry these days?”
Miss
All the personal introspective posts, especially this one about the death of my cell phone.
February
February was not a strong blogging month – only a few personal entries contemplating hte end of my collegiate career and not one single comment. Nothing but introspection this month, no real hits or misses to speak of.
March
March found me reading John Cage and Ann Hudson among others, but readers were more interested in my waffalings about happiness.
Hit
On Happiness, “But I tend now to try and see both happiness and sadness as two sides of the same coin – part of life in all its great chaos and complexity, part of myself – a person who can embody both good and bad, who is large enough to contain contradiction, paradox.”
Miss
All things literary, including this poem
April
A solid month of posts that began iwth a consideration of the American political left and ended with a discussion of reading habits. In between, I ranted about names and cried over the Virginia Tech shootings.
Hit
Don’t label me – I’ve got a name, “Our names – they are our past, they are our future, and they are all destined to one day stand for us as the final link between our life and death. Is your name ready?”
Miss
I went to school today and lived, “When I came in, I fixed a sandwich and turned on the television. There on the screen were pictures of the students and their families. I turned off the television, went into my room, and wept.”
May
May was a big month for me – college graduation! Browsing through the archives, you’ll find more discussions of reading and books, John Cage, and a “life update” in which I outline a few future dreams. Honestly though, the major action this month was taking place offline: graduation and Dave’s wedding at the end of the month. I also got to see Leo Kottke in concert, a personal guitar hero of mine.
Hit
Miss
Under the Weather. Short version: Can I get some Advil please?
June
June found me traveling: to Denver and around Baton Rouge on the job hunt. A good month of posting, especially if you were into economics here at dc.com.
Hit
In the meantime – a post about economics and productivity that generated a veritable firestorm of comments!
Miss
My Denver vacation posts (reader jealously perhaps?)
July
July was another strong summer month of writing – quite a few more posts about reading, and the beginning of an essay series that stalled out before it really got started. July was also the beginning of the wildly popular Tuesday Love, a weekly post that I quickly realized was very difficult to keep going.
Hit
Miss
Potter Mania – I go to the big release party and run into an old flame – dc. com readers don’t give a muggle or a hogwarts.
August
The beginning of this month found me on the move again, this time to Galveston, TX to visit friends. There was also plenty of love to be had for gossip and romance stories as well as some worry over hurricane season. I also started a new job this month, my first as a college grad.
Hit
Tuesday Love give or take a few days
Miss
September
My birthday month – I blogged frequently about adjusting to the no-school, all work routine. This month also saw me playing lots of banjo, making some light graffitti, and a near-death (for me at least) car accident at the end of the month.
Hit
Tuesday Hatred: Cathartic Moments – a spiteful inversion of the Tuesday Love.
Miss
Some Banjo Love and other musical thoughts – a great post that attracted no comment.
October
October was a bad blogging month and the beginning of the end of the year decline here at dc.com. In only 3 posts, I talked about David Sedaris, Halloween, and poetry. In my own defense, this month was also the beginning of all kinds of health issues related to the car accident I was in at the end of December. Indeed, October was just a preview of what was certainly the worst month of this year for me: November.
November
One bleak post was all I could muster this month. I was very sick, having dizzy spells and panic attacks three to four times a week. I was like a walking zombie at work, and I’d get home in the afternoon only to go to sleep around 9 or earlier. In fact, all I really wanted to do this month was sleep. I got very depressed over how difficult it was for me to function, and I spent more time in doctor’s offices this month than I ever have before in my life. A few failed medications, an MRI, and one trip to an internal medicine specialist later, I finally began to come out of the mental fog I had been living in since the end of september. Apparently, when you suffer a severe concussion, symptoms can linger for months that can seriously impair your ability to function. There’s a lesson here kids: Protect your brain! I’ve had some painful injuries before, but having my cognitive abilites screwed up really hurt my quality of life. Lesson Two: whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger – I’m a better person for having gone through all that, though I won’t want to do it again anytime soon!
December
Another pretty slow month, I found myself grasping for perspective after nightmarish November. A difficult end to an otherwise exciting year of change and transition.
As I was writing this review of the year, a couple of things jumped out at me about the site and my writing here.
First, if comments are any kind of judge (and they really aren’t), readers here prefer an opinionated post over an introspective one, and regular features (like the Tuesday Love) are very popular comment items. Posts about poetry, art, or music ellicit very little response from the regulars around here.
Second, writing (and I presume reading as well) has slowed down dramatically at the end of the year. I attribute this to the work schedules of Dave and I, my accident, and also to a third issue that I’d like to end this post with.
It seems to me that dc.com is undergoing a sort of identity crisis at the moment. About five years ago, Dave convinced me to write on this site as a contributor and a friend. We spoke of chronicling our college journey together, and that we have done. Now, though, we find ourselves at a crossroads. My college career is over, Dave’s is ending shortly, and neither of us are the teenagers who started this blog together. What I mean to say is that both Dave and I have moved into different phases of life, and I would like to see the site somehow reflect that transition. Clearly, an old 2003 style entry no longer fits into the content here, so where are we headed in 2008?
Well, its certainly up to the webmaster, as it is his site, but I’d like to see the site evolve as the author’s lives have evolved. I don’t have all the answers, of course, but maybe it is time for a site re-design (does anyone visit the defunct writing section?).
For my part, I’d like to see things change, emphasis shift. Music has become a huge part of this site – I’d like to see it featured more prominently. Also, I wonder if it isn’t time for me to forge my own web identity. Dave and Jon as it exists now is so 2004. 2008 is Dave and family and Jon out-in-the-world!
Maybe some reader feedback would be helpful? Where do you see this site going? What would you like to see when you come to dc.com in 2008?
