PigPog

we make money not art: Outerspace: “The movements of Outerspace are based on its curiosity in exploring the surrounding space. It looks for light, motion, finally contact. As he finds something interesting, this again increases its curiosity, to find out even more. The same thing happens in the mind of the observer, when he approaches the object.”

They’re making robot arms in ‘cute’ flavour now? Nice.

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com: “DETROIT (Reuters) – A 4-year-old Michigan boy took underage driving to new extremes by slipping behind the wheel of his mother’s car for an overnight visit to the local video store.”

Strathaven folk knit themselves a room :: ABC Tasmania: “Imagine a room with 50s decor where everything’s made from wool. Knitted cakes, teapots, cups and biscuits – even a knife and loaf of crusty white bread – while over in the corner sits a knitted valve mantel radio. The big question is – why?”

It’s impressive stuff – there’s quite a few good pics.

(Via Boing Boing)

we make money not art: Hokkaido installs musical roads: "Japan has already dabbled here and there with road surfaces that keep drivers awake by using appropriately-placed troughs to play rhythms through your tires.

Now the Hokkaido Industrial Research Institute has gone a step further, with grooved sections of road that boom a melody up through your car."

Over the last few months we’ve become regular visitors of our local guitar shops, fondling equipment and occasionally spending more money than a responsible thirtysomething couple really should. We’ve gone into the stores as newbies, and mingled with the veterans and the slipknot kids half our age, and I thought it was time I shared my thoughts to enlighten not just those of you preparing to make those first brave steps into a store, but hopefully to give store owners a bit of insight into how it feels to step into a guitar store for the first time.

Each store we’ve been in has had a different vibe, but all of them for me were initially uncomfortable. There’s something about a music store that differs from any other kind of store (maybe with the exception of a computer store) – it’s easy to feel like you wouldn’t be welcome there if the staff realised you knew nothing about instruments. You want to be cool in a music shop, especially when it comes to guitars. You don’t want to pick up a strat and go "What’s this?". You want to cast an apparently expert gaze over the stock, stroke your chin thoughtfully and say "Two single coils and a humbucker? Interesting. Are they Seymour Duncans?". You want to command the respect of the sales staff, first for your knowledge, and then for the pitch perfect rendering of a really complicated Steve Vai bit. You want them to know that you know your stuff and you’re not to be trifled with.*

*I say ‘you’, I do of course mean ‘I’.

"Look, I’m a newbie, my fingers are short and stubby, I’m in my 30s, I should know better, but I want a guitar so I can rock out in my spare bedroom after a hard day at work. I have *this* much money, make me happy". *That’s* what I should have said to them, but I was too damn nervous at the time.

The first store experience I had was a place near my work where I even went as far as having a lesson. As much as I told myself not to be intimdated when I walked in there, I was. And even their move to slightly bigger and brighter premises hasn’t helped. The guitars are near enough behind bars! How is it possible to find out which instrument suits best when you can’t even pick them up? I’d mention their name and offer you a link, but their web site has been ‘coming soon’ for the last six months so it’s hardly worth the bother.

The second store, and the one that has received the majority of our fun guitar budget so far, is Fox’s Music. The Arnold store had just the right vibe for me. It was big, the sales staff didn’t hassle us and the guitars were free to be picked up and fondled. It was here I met my first six-stringed love, my ESP LTD M-50, and where Michael’s love was rekindled with the Variax. A nice quiet buying experience, but not really a place for advice on how to rock out.

The most rocking store of the lot has to be the Academy of Sound. On our first visit Ozzy was blasting out over the shop sound system, and one of the sales guys was playing along on a Strat. Kind of intimidating at first, but the array of toys on offer, again, happily waiting to be picked up and fiddled with, made it impossible to leave. The guy playing along with Ozzy, came over to talk to us. I asked him what the best guitar was for my crappy stubby fingers. He showed me his own stubby little fingers, the ones I’d just heard raise hell on a strat, and made a few suggestions. Then he left us to play. We didn’t leave with a guitar that day, but we did leave with a POD, and then went back last week for the Guitar Port – more about that later.

The ideal store for me would have all the ‘rawk’ of the Academy of Sound, but be as roomy and pleasant as Fox’s. We’ll definitely be back at A of S soon though. And as I get more knowledgeable and become a better player I’m sure I’ll feel less nervous mixing with the slipknot kids – with or without their masks.

Russell Beattie Notebook – Dear Jeeves:

The news has been rattling around a bit since last night (over here), ever since Scoble pointed to the report on Napsterization. I think Russell says it best, though.

I rarely visit any other web sites any more. Bloglines has completely changed the way I use the web. Ask Jeeves, on the other hand, is a slightly nasty little search engine with too many ads. It was based on the premise of answering plain English questions, until everyone realised what a bad idea that was. All I remember from it from those days is that whatever you asked it, it suggested that you might have meant to ask how to buy jeans from The Gap. I went back to have another look yesterday, in the hope that maybe it had got better. The front page is actually not bad now – not too busy, just a few links around the outside. Still has that annoying picture of a butler. The results of a search, though, were terrible. A full screen and a half full of ads before getting to any results. No wonder no-one uses it these days.

Google seem to base everything on a pretty simple idea – give your users a good experience, and they’ll use your services. Oddly, that seems difficult for other companies to understand. Mark understood. I can’t see Jeeves ever understanding.

I do hope they prove me wrong.

Rob Manuel: Notepad Invaders – It’s like your school notepad could come to life.

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com: “A Colorado judge ordered two teen-age girls to pay about $900 for the distress a neighbor said they caused by giving her home-made cookies adorned with paper hearts.”

Best to make sure kids learn early never to do anything nice for anyone.

Pantone Mugs – Why, I’d love a brew, thanks. How do I like it? Just match the colour of the mug, mate. Cheers!

Boing Boing: Sign-swallowing trees of Spain: “Almost thirty years ago in Cambre, a small village in the northwest of Spain, some road signs were placed on trees to indicate that a taxi stand was nearby. Today those signs are almost impossible to see, because they have been almost completely swallowed by tree bark.”

Trees eating signs. Mmmm… Taxi.