March 29, 2007
April is Nigh, but Why?
All right, here we go: that silly, stale opening statement about Britney Spears and Pope Ratzy will be removed from our "splash" page within ONE WEEK. Been meaning to do that for a looong time, and making this public announcement should spur the motivation to actually get it done. Surely we can come up with a fresh, and yet equally flippant and trite replacement blurb... wait, what's that I hear? --Why, it's the ghost of Anna Nicole Smith whispering in my ear!
But seriously, we'll put the romyb.com Complex Brain Trust to work on that assignment right away.
Thing is, I never even glance at that page-- it's just as bad as the "button departments." Virtually all of this site's daily attention is lavished on the blog and the gallery; everything else gets ignored for months and years on end. I don't even wanna LOOK to see how hopelessly dated and lame those button departments are! Quite a mess, no doubt.
Meanwhile, torrents of useless verbiage continue to accrue here in the journal. But why, and how much-- that is, how many words does this site currently contain? I'm wildly guessing that we add around 5,000+ a month, having reached twelve thou or so on at least one occasion. Let's see: the journal archives run back to December 2003, so that's thirty-nine months so far, and 39 X 5,000 = 195,000.
So let's call it 200,000, which must be somewhere in the ballpark... Brainsander, is it possible to do an actual word count without excessive effort? At this rate we'll catch up with "The Brothers Karamazov" in another year or two! After that, look out: it's One Million or Bust within a decade!
To which you may respond (again) But Why? Well, you're not the only one asking; this site is a total mystery to me, too.
--r
Posted by Romy
12:04 PM PST
March 27, 2007
Back to the eBay wars? V is for Vendetta...
After a long leave of absence it's time to return to eBay. I got so sick of that tacky 'net neighborhood and just couldn't deal with it for a while, but my new and much thicker skin grafts seem to have "taken" so let's give it another go.
This time around we'll make the listings quirkier yet, with even less concern for whether the items actually sell or not. Might even try inserting a listing or two in questionably relevant but heavily trafficked categories under some pretext, just to see what happens... After all, I've generally seen eBay as more of a traffic-driving publicity stunt than as a direct way to rake in those big flutemaking bucks.
As you may know, the 2004 film Kill Bill 2 pretty much took over this domain for a year or two. I'd been tipped off several months in advance that David Carradine would be featured in the movie playing a large staff-flute, and realized that the wide exposure would drive much demand for such things. As soon as the film came out we were ready, listing a series of "Kill Bill Flutes" on eBay, and several inevitable imitators jumped in within a few weeks.
Of course, as soon as someone else starts exploiting the same shtick it spoils the fun. The last straw came when one of our KB listings was suspended by eBay for "keyword spamming." I received an email stating that the auction had been suspended, since using copyrighted terms such as "Kill Bill" in a listing title is strictly prohibited by firm and exacting eBay policy!
Oddly enough, at that time a review of eBay's bamboo flute offerings revealed two or three other listings with "Kill Bill" in their titles-- and those other listings remained on the site unscathed for their full scheduled terms!
I'm a bit slow, and it took a while (like, years) to realize what was going on: *somebody* had selectively targeted and maliciously reported my listing to eBay in order to kill it!
Isn't... that... Interesting.
After all, it's not like eBay can police every single auction in order to protect copyrights, so in most cases they rely on whistleblowers who report such "abuses." And in the big picture, a little old cottage-industry bamboo flutemaker who evokes "Kill Bill" in order to promote a few perforated bamboo stalks is a pretty inconsequential thing, don't ya think?
There you go: 'twas a real, live Vendetta. At that point I just threw up my hands and said to hell with it-- I'm not interested in getting involved with such tacky, underhanded, vile, cynical, low-down tactics. Ebay sucks, come to think of it. So, watch for our new listing soon.
(A bit later) OK, I went and did it. Let's hope the Evil Flutelord doesn't find some way to sabotage this one... --r.
Posted by Romy
01:04 PM PST
March 26, 2007
Why Texas, of all places?
I just mailed three consecutive flutes to different customers in Texas, which has been a noticeable pattern for quite some time: Texans seem to consume more bamboo flutes per capita than residents of any other state! Not what you'd expect coming from the land of twangy country music, big hair, big hats and oil magnates, is it? (And I actually lived in Texas for three years, so don't get me started.)
One would expect at least California, for instance, to hold its own in the bamboo-flute race, but no: it's Texas by a country mile, podner. Curiouser and curiouser... anyway, back later today with a bit more; the lunch yakisoba is hot and ready. --r.
Posted by Romy
12:45 PM PST
March 23, 2007
Springing forth
Sheesh. Yesterday I slipped into semi-whiny mode again-- but pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. 'Twas all in fun, merely another installment in our longstanding gripefest about arbitrary search-engine results. Whatever.
Spring officially began a couple of days ago, and the next month should bring many vigorous new shoots to our Swamp Shack bamboo patch! Although it's exciting to anticipate that first fully homegrown bamboo flute, we're still looking at the better part of a decade. It'll probably be at least another two to four years before our new plantings send forth shoots of an appropriate diameter for flutemaking-- and after that finally happens, another three or four years are required for individual culms to lignify completely. (If you don't know what "culm" or "lignify" means then look them up, Newbie!)
Anyway, more shootin' off tomorrow. The Spring Surge is fixin' to start! --r.
Posted by Romy
09:43 PM PST
March 22, 2007
March 22nd
It's about ten PM West Coast time right now, late in the day of March 22nd, and this date marks the second anniversary of the single most-viewed photo on this site. Yep, it's that shot of the Portland skyline under a rosy sunset sky... Yahoo image search seems to be primarily responsible for its most-viewed status, but just why has this particular picture attained its lofty position? These search engines drive me nuts with their maddeningly arbitrary rankings!
Not long ago one had to type something like "portland oregon sunset" into the Yahoo image search in order to get a first-screen hit, but now only "portland oregon" suffices-- it's hit #5 as of this writing. But WHO CARES? Look at all those other, much more labor-intensive and painstakingly created images in our site gallery! This isn't a general-interest Portland blog, nor an urban landscape and pretty sunset-shot site-- it's about bamboo flutes! Priorities, Yahoo!
As a matter of fact, the massive amount of work devoted to this site over the past few years has been an absurdly quixotic, windmill-tilting waste of time, and I'm about fed up with the capricious indifference and incomprehension of the world at large. 'Course, almost anyone but me would have had enough sense to pick a more seriously regarded field than bamboo flutes on which to lavish such obsessive attention, so I take full responsibility. Mistakes were made.
Since I've developed some solid technical skills in bamboo work, for the remainder of this year we'll try to come up with a more practical and commercially viable use for those skills. Maybe I'll just start making lamps, garden trellises, kitchen tools, bongs, or... ? Almost anything but bamboo flutes would probably gain more traction in the real world!
Naaahh... just kiddin'. After all, you can't teach an old cat new shticks. --r.
Posted by Romy
10:34 PM PST
March 21, 2007
More pics of new stuff
OK, I decided that the new C flute pictured on the last Instruments gallery page is far too special to go on eBay. Instead I may list a new staff flute, which coincidentally is also in C minor. The bottom two pictures here on that same gallery page are of the staff.
Actually this one is very nice too, and plays especially well for such a long piece-- remember, it's much more difficult to make a musically impeccable staff flute than one of ordinary length, as was discussed in our recent "boring" series.
Bloody eBay... sure would be nice to avoid all the trouble of putting together that listing... *cough*
--r.
Posted by Romy
05:14 PM PST
March 20, 2007
Today is yesterday's tomorrow
Oops-- it's almost midnight, and yesterday I'd promised to add something to the blog "tomorrow." What you see is what you get, which ain't gonna be much. But in keeping with our perennial resolutions for diligence and professional responsibility: here is yesterday's tomorrow's entry!
I spent most of today working on the Swamp Shack garden. It's been expanded considerably from last year's plot-- at least the yard didn't flood this winter, which enables an earlier start this season. After all, last year at this date the entire yard was covered with several inches of muddy silt.
You may recall last year's rueful remarks about the labor involved in distributing six cubic yards of purchased topsoil via wheelbarrow... well, this year we had nine yards of new topsoil delivered! That works out to something like 100-110 wheelbarrow loads, each of which must be shovelled into the 'barrow and carted laboriously down to the garden area.
--But are we ever gonna have a garden! It's looking good and is expanding considerably; already enough greens-type veggies have been planted to supply a family of fifty. So far there's collards, kale, chard, several types of mustard greens, various lettuces, arugula, etc. The early peas are also in, as are onions, turnips, radishes, carrots, and more. Soon to come, weather permitting, will be squashes, beans, tomatoes, peppers, and other warm-weather veggies. Add the herbs and flowers to that list and it becomes quite the undertaking, yes-sirree.
Plus, if we continue to add nine or more cubic yards annually for, say, the next twenty years or so, we'll be practically immune to flooding! I'm just a mound builder by nature, it seems. --r.
Posted by Romy
11:54 PM PST
March 19, 2007
Revisiting Alaska
I haven't written nearly enough about Alaska. After all, that's where I spent the first two decades of this incarnation, and perhaps a few anecdotes about those surpassingly bizarre formative experiences on the far-flung tundra would help to explain certain quirky and counterproductive tendencies of yrs. truly.
This entry is a late-night installment of our Perfunctory and Obligatory Series. More tomorrow...
rb
Posted by Romy
10:03 PM PST
March 17, 2007
A bit of crass commercialism
Just finished the flute in these three pictures. It's in C minor, with an ebony lip plate and filigreed bronze end button.
Dim memory suggests that a couple of *you* were in the market for a Cm flute, but I've been avoiding that long-overdue email archives excavation. Will get to that in a day or two, but if I can't find the relevant messages this one's going on the crass, coarse open market early next week. (E-freakin'-bay, that is.)
Incidentally, it's a stunning flute-- and I never say such things. We're talking musical quality here, never mind the mere appearance. Any inquiries? [SOLD as of 3/25] --r.
Posted by Romy
06:15 PM PST
March 16, 2007
Friday stuff
Please pardon yesterday's dyspeptic whinefest. I hadn't slept well the previous night and felt tired, grouchy and discouraged all day. Anyway, let's just move along... today's a beaut, with mostly sunny skies, temperatures in the mid-60s (ca. 18-19 Celcius) and flowers bursting forth all over town.
Despite this inspiring weather I've stuck to the studio today, and quite a few sublime new flutes should apppear over the next week or two. I'm even considering a return to eBay, and probably ought to go ahead and do so even though it's a rather marginal neighborhood, marketing-wise.
Speaking of marketing, we've never mentioned the prices that some of my flutes sold for during the last couple of art-show years. In fact, the pricing issue has never been overtly discussed or posted at all here on the site... but now it's time to sheepishly admit that some of these instruments actually sold in the four-figure range back in the old art show days! Although my flutes might still be regarded as relatively expensive compared to some, our current prices are a mere fraction of what they were several years ago in more artistically upscale environments.
Ahhhh-- I vividly remember the first time I resolved to price a flute at $1,000, steeling myself: All right, you can do this -- gotta try it SOMETIME -- just write that price on the sticker, slap it on the flute, and see what happens... (Adding later: it was actually the flute plus a matching display pedestal, which conceptually elevated its presentation to the realm of sculpture, or Art with a capital A -- which is another trick that's hard to pull off "cold" on the Internet.)
Naturally, on the show's opening day my very first buyer surveyed the offerings, pointed to the $1,000 flute, and said: "I'd like to purchase that one. Will you accept a personal check?" --Yeah!
Boy, was THAT a forehead-slapping moment! I suddenly realized that all of my prices had been far too low for much too long, and that I probably could have broken the thousand-dollar barrier a decade earlier if only I'd had enough attitude. At that same show, a couple of other flutes priced in the high three figures sold as well. Good heavens!
This story's punchline is that those days are long gone. You've heard the old axiom about business, which says that the three most important factors for success are location, location, and location? Well, that's exactly the principle here: the reason those flutes sold readily for such prices was the surrounding environment of countless other high-end, expensive items, plus the established reputation of the shows themselves, which attracted an affluent crowd of discerning customers fully prepared to pay top dollar.
--Which isn't exactly the case on Ebay. On the other hand, our overhead and stress level is waaaay lower now, so it all evens out.... but surely there must be some way to have it all? If I were a better marketer and a more driven, focused self-promoter, that might be the case.
So, next time I quote the price of a flute at $300.00 or whatever, please do me a favor and don't ask why it's so "expensive." After all, if you have to ask...
More on pricing later. --r
Posted by Romy
04:45 PM PST
March 15, 2007
Whinefest
Oh, great: I just spent over an hour writing a thoughtful, comprehensive 650-word reply to a flute inquiry -- and then lost it all to a bad wifi connection. Come to think of it, maybe the wifi wasn't to blame; seems to me that my stupid domain email program sometimes "times out" in the midst of composing long messages. How worthless is that?
Now I'll NEVER recapture the energy that went into that message, which is really dispiriting. It's impossible to even contemplate restarting that entire message from scratch. Instead, let's waste another hour composing a long, meaningless whinefest for the blog!
Say, Brainsander: if there's a way to change that stupid, stupid timing-out feature of the email program, can we please do that? Let's give it at least four hours, OK?
Yes, I'm sure it was 650 words: actually counted them. "Gee, this is a long, thoughtful and informative message," I mused. "Wonder how many words it adds up to?" 650, it was. 650 insightful, serious, meaningful words-- and NOW look at me! Look at this hollow, discouraged, defeated husk of a blogger, reduced to whining publicly about the loss of an entire day's allotment of worthwhile writings! Yep, 650 words' worth of actual substance is about my limit; anything beyond that tends to degenerate into just the sort of useless drivel that you're wasting YOUR time on right now... Hah, misery loves company!
I may NEVER get around to attempting another reply to that potential flute customer. Aww, he probably wasn't a serious prospect anyway: probably just another one of those oh-so-"interested" deadbeats who write every day, inquring breathlessly about these "wonderful flutes" of mine... only to melt away forever after wasting a substantial chunk of my life spent in answering their worthless, inane questions! Yeah, stupid questions! NOTE TO WORLD: would you please stop asking so many STUPID BLOODY QUESTIONS? (Not you, Ferris. I tried. And not you, either-- you know who you are. All of YOUR questions have been logical and thought-provoking.)
Oh, man: we're only up to 375 words so far in this entry; I can't BELIEVE that a 650-word email was wasted like that-- and this worthless, alienating, hostile, whiny rant is all that remains. This is my public face du jour: the dregs of the day.
And just WHEN will I finally learn the lesson: BACK UP THE TEXT BEFORE HITTING "SEND!" After all, it's not like this is the first time it's happened. LEARN THE BLOODY LESSON ALREADY, YOU FOOL!
I should have listened to my mother and gone to plumber's school or something. Indeed, the New York Times ran an article today about auto mechanics which mentioned that an experienced, highly qualified mechanic can make well over $100,000.00 per year! A HUNDRED GRAND for auto repair-- and here I am trying to make freakin' BAMBOO FLUTES for a living? This is just nuts. Can we back up about twenty years and start over?
Whooo--eee. The "service engine soon" light just came on; I seem to be overheating. Actually, we're getting a new car in a couple of months: get this, it's a Mini Cooper! Yellow with a black top, and our prospective mascot is the Wilson's Warbler:
CarBird2
That's the "old" yellow in the picture above, which was grabbed randomly off the 'net. Mini's 2007 yellow is a richer, deeper shade-- much nicer. There's another yellow Mini around the studio neigborhood whose license plate reads "G FINCH." --Get it? Took me a minute, too...
So, it should be fun to tool around in Willy the Warbler, which is our positive note for the day; sorry about all the sour ones. Over 40 mpg, too! Maybe we'll get a vanity plate that reads "W WRBLR" or something... (Oregon only allows six characters on vanity plates, the cheapskates.) BTW, the car was a gift... what, you thought that a BAMBOO FLUTEMAKER could afford to go out any buy a new car? Yeah, right-- and come to think of it, my old Rolex is about due for replacement, too. Gotta keep up appearances!
OK, we just hit 700 words, so I can stop now; that was good therapy. And if you're reading this, Ferris: sorry. I'll try to get back to your reply again sometime later this year. --r.
Posted by Romy
12:51 PM PST
March 14, 2007
SÜRGE© and Wishful Tuning
Been a little quiet here on the site lately, since we've been busy getting back into serious production mode. The current goal is to complete twenty or more flutes per month until early summer, and then step back and assess what we've accomplished. The only big show that I still attend regularly is in early July soon after summer's official start, so that's a good target date for finishing a bunch of stuff.
Again, to anyone out there who was vaguely promised a flute sometime in the last three ten years or so: this would be a good time to remind me, since we're seriously intent on catching up with old business during the upcoming... SÜRGE.©
Now here's the next installment of our boring discussion, Wishful Tuning:
In my early flutemaking days it was quite challenging to make bore modifications efficiently and effectively. As we've noted previously, such adjustments are usually reductive: that is, material is removed from the flute bore at specific locations in order to improve harmonic resonance. Of course, these critical spots can be difficult to reach. My earliest crude efforts consisted of sticking a large round file into the flute and trying to gauge the file's "sweet spot," that is, where it was doing the most effective cutting; this effort would be concentrated (I hoped) on wherever the bore needed reductive work. Pretty haphazard and only sporadically successful, of course.
Later on I developed a couple of scraping tools which could be directed with much more precision, and these devices became my borework mainstay for many years. Mind you, it was still a difficult and labor-intensive process, especially for a large flute or a walking-stick flute. Big flutes such as bass flutes require far more bore-material removal for effective tuning-- AND the critical spots are much farther from the instrument's ends and thus harder to reach effectively. Often, much tedious repetition was required: scraping, recorking, play-testing, decorking, scraping... over and over again. (A flute's top-end cork is usually removed for bore access, since most scraping activity takes place in the upper half of the instrument.) Such difficulties were even worse with walking stick flutes, since so much extra length is involved; it's always challenging to make a really good staff-flute because of this and other complicating factors.
This often led to what we'll call Wishful Tuning Syndrome. After several boring, arm-wearying cycles of disassembly, scraping, play-testing, repeat, etc... I'd start to wish fervently for that damned flute to get in tune, already!
As you may know, it's possible to "bend" any note's pitch on a transverse flute, particularly through embouchure manipulation. In fact, no flute -- or any other wind instrument for that matter -- plays perfectly in tune without subtle lip and breath adjustments from note to note and register to register; such manipulations become internalized and subconscious for accomplished players.
So, after several tedious scraping-and-testing cycles, eventually a flute would get to a point where the offending notes COULD be played in tune. By willing the pitch upward, I could get that stubborn second-octave "G" (for instance) to play in tune, by george! Yowza, we're done-- NEXT!
--And that's Wishful Tuning Syndrome. I'd simply be in denial about the fact that it required extra player effort to get those notes in tune: hey, no musical instrument is "perfect," anyway-- whaddya WANT here? My fatigue and eagerness to finish that flute -- anything but more scraping cycles! -- would override any concern about less-than-optimal voicing.
Wishful Tuning extends to other aspects of a flute, too: the size and spacing of fingerholes springs to mind of course, and I've seen an awful lot of wishfully tuned bamboo flutes. In fact, your average hippie-quality* bamboo flute characteristically shows much evidence of WTS. (Sorry, hippies!)
These days I have much more effective tools for bore adjustment-- in fact, the opposite problem is more significant: the danger of screwing up the voicing by removing too much material from the adjustment points! This can still be a tedious process even with better tools, so I'll be sailing right along and think: "Well, this is the third adjustment on this spot, and we haven't made much progress yet-- so I'll dig in and take out a little extra this time... maybe get this done and over with on this shot...
...Then the cork goes back in and... AAUUUGGGHH! Took out too much! That's where you can REALLY get into trouble, and the increasing frequency of such mishaps has led to my first serious experiments in additive bore adjustment: attempts to repair those over-scraping mishaps! More on that later.
Finally, here's a quick pic of an A Alto flute in progress (presold)
AltoLip
Still more on tuning presently... --r.
===========================================================
* "Some" might even accuse me of being a Hippie, to which I scoff:
"Hah! maybe if you'd asked me in 1974, buster-- now, just WHO is living in the past here?"
Posted by Romy
02:58 PM PST
March 12, 2007
Laptop time on the fritz
Strangely enough, my computer clock is still running at pre-daylight saving time, an hour late. I didn't discover this until a 12:30 appointment person showed up at 11:30 laptop time, much to my surprise.
"But it can't be 12:30 yet," I protested. "Look: this computer is actively connected to the Internet, and it says "11:30" right here on the screen!"
Weird. Anyway, more boring stuff later today... --r.
Posted by Romy
01:13 PM PST
March 11, 2007
Still more boring bits
In the last entry we noted that there are basically two things one can do to a piece of bamboo: either add material or remove it. For instance, even such mundane steps as drilling fingerholes, sanding and filing are reductive in nature -- while oiling, staining, adding lip plates, and wrapping are all additive procedures.
The same basics apply to adjustments of a flute's internal bore. Bore dimensions are critically important for well-tuned flutes, and until recently I've stuck strictly to reductive tactics for borework. Naturally, this strategy depends on selecting bamboo which has too much material in certain spots -- that is, bamboo whose internal bore is overly constricted in strategic areas, where excess material can therefore be removed to acoustical advantage.
Ideally such constricted, overly narrow stretches comprise only a small fraction of the flute's overall length, so that a relatively small bit of removal in a well-chosen spot or two can make a world of difference in playability. Long and sometimes bitter experience with thousands of bamboo chunks over the years have refined my ability to (usually) select bamboo blanks which work out well for the targeted key, generally with relatively minor reductive bore adjustments.
'Course, ya gotta know where to remove the material once a suitable flute blank is set up and initially play-tested... and that target is often very small and 'way down in the bore, far removed from easy access at either end. Hmmmm. My approach to this problem has undergone considerable evolution over the years, and we'll get to more on that tomorrow, either in a new entry or via expansion of this one.
Love that extra hour of daylight!
Posted by Romy
09:31 PM PST
March 9, 2007
More Boring Observations
In the past few days we've touched on the subject of bore adjustment a couple of times, both in comments and in the descriptive text of the Metamorphosis photos. At one point I mentioned that long-jointed tropical bamboos can be easier to work with, since typically an entire flute can be made within a single internodal section. In that case it's often unnecessary to do any bore drilling whatsoever, since the nodes can simply be cut off at both ends of the flute.
Also, with long internodes it's much simpler to closely duplicate an existing flute, especially if one has ready access to a supply of bamboo. In that case, you find a second piece with about the same diameter, nodal spacing, wall thickness and taper as your existing instrument, and then situate the blowhole and fingerholes at the same relative positions. When you're looking at acres of bamboo, it's actually quite a simple matter to find such virtually identical raw material... sort of.
However, this "simplicity" is relative, and copies of an existing instrument will never be musically identical no matter how close the apparent match. One could measure every millimeter with precision instruments to ensure dimensional exactitude, but any two flutes will still play differently-- that's simply the nature of musical instruments.
Actually, the main reason I'm pointing out the relative ease of long-noded bamboo-flute work is to contrast it with the much more difficult task of working close-jointed temperate bamboos, in which one or more nodes falls within the acoustical length of the flute. Things get much more complicated in that case, and it's vastly harder to find closely matched sections of bamboo.
We'll have to return to this subject in a day or two. I did want to mention that when one sets out to acoustically modify the internal bore of a flute, as often must be done especially with short-noded bamboo, there are two basic approaches: the additive and the reductive. Sometimes both techniques are applied at different points within the same flute, which is often the case with traditional Japanese shakuhachi. Since "shaks" are characteristically made of thick, radically tapering bamboo from the plant's base, they usually require relatively massive intervention in order to behave themselves musically!
On the other hand, traditional Chinese and Indian transverse flutes made from long-jointed, smoothly tapered and lightweight stock usually require no bore adjustments whatsoever if they're otherwise well-made, and still play perfectly in tune over a wide musical range.
Since I work primarily with short-internode temperate bamboo, most flutes require bore profile adjustments. In my case almost all of this work is done via reduction, but recently a few experiments in additive techniques have shown promise for "problem" flutes.
To Be Continued... still more boring observations in a day or two. --r.
Posted by Romy
12:31 PM PST
March 7, 2007
Well, here's one two versions
Meta_Flute (Picture)
Layout scheme from the first seven series installments is completely different here. I've spent far too much time on this project... must go do something else now, so back later with more.
--And here's another version, which is in the Gallery for now. (Photo slightly adjusted the next morning and descriptive text added)
--r
Posted by Romy
05:48 PM PST
March 6, 2007
Metamorphosis: the Penultimate Stage
My, that's a portentious portentous entry title. All it means is that our photo series of the main steps involved in making an RB flute is almost complete, and we're now on the next-to-last stage: picture here.
I went for a very glossy and colorful look on this one in order to emphasize the vast visual distance a chunk of bamboo can travel from its natural state. With such a highly polished flute it's tricky to take a good picture, since the highlights are so prominent and almost mirror-like in their reflectiveness. Very shiny objects can be challenging to photograph well, and as we've discussed in previous entries the low dynamic range of compact digital cameras adds to such difficulties.
So far though, I haven't been able to make a flute that's glossy and mirror-like enough to reflect subliminally subversive scenes, such as the nekkid bod of the photographer. We discussed that awhile back too: specifically, the eBay phenomenon of *certain* people seeking titillation via such naughty picture-posting on auction listings. Anyway, it's still too cold here in the studio to try that just yet...
It may still be frigid at the Complex, but spring fever is getting into full swing. Annual flowerblogging coming soon, and Daffodil Daze are nigh! --r.
Posted by Romy
01:38 PM PST
March 5, 2007
Tuesday (posted at 10 PM Pacific time on Monday)
Well, not much happened this Monday. On the previous night I'd guest-gigged again with March Fourth Marching Band -- their fourth-anniversary show, in fact -- which ran very late for a Sunday night. We ended up carousing much more than was prudent, and didn't even get home until 2 AM. Ah, the decadence of musical life.
Thus most of today was spent in personal rehab. After lurching painfully out of bed at the usual weekday hour, I dropped the SW off at her office and continued downtown to the studio. Unfortunately, within an hour or so it was obvious that nothing productive was likely to happen today; we were both just too tired and strung out. I retrieved the SW from work, and we retrenched to the Swamp Shack at mid-morning to spend the remainder of the day resting and recovering.
--But tomorrow is really gonna be productive. Several flutes simply musty get finished this week, and tomorrow the seventh-stage flute metamorphosis photo should appear. But right now, we're off for some remedial beauty sleep... z you later. -rb
Posted by Romy
10:18 PM PST
March 2, 2007
Six
OK, Stage Six is posted here... more on Monday. Have a weekend, all!
Posted by Romy
05:09 PM PST
Our Neighbors
Whoa: the establishment described in this article is less than a half-mile from the Swamp Shack, just up the road on the other side of our local wheatfield. I'd assumed that they were merely the typical bland, mainstream suburban mega-cultists...
However, our societal perception of "mainstream" has become severely warped under the current politico-dogmatic reactionary regime, han'nit? (revisions due soon) --r.
Posted by Romy
12:51 PM PST
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