my myI have definately had an <a href="index.php?file=/2003_07.xml&id=000031">interesting</a> time of it...but now Elvis and I have this great relationship, we have been SMSing since he went back to Croatia, he's really excited about being part of this project longer term, and tonight I had a random meeting with someone about the printing of posters, flyers, and tshirts, and we ended up talking for 2.5 hours about all kinds of shit, me talking his ear off about <a href="../">IR</a>, and he actually getting it, only the second Bosnian I have met and talked to about IR, and who really connected with the concepts. Most of you don't know, some of you do, but when you get me started on those topics I get really passionate and talk too fast, particularly if english is not your first language, and use too much slang and acronyms; besides it is a really obtuse and difficult subject in general. So for an American or Canadian or Brit to get it is one thing, but for a Bosnian, that's another. And it is so great for me, at such a beginning stage of this thing, to be able to communicate the broader goals and vision of IR and connect with someone like that. It's cool that now, when things really matter, when I don't have much time or spare energy to execute, things seem to be coming together. Thanks God. Sorry about everything. :) Guess I'll start talking about the art that's made my summer tomorrow. Sorry for all the bullshit, but this thing is as much for me as it is for you. Hopefully you get something out of it.45Minutiadaniel2003-07-31T20:34:59+00:00publishaw shit<a href="http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/B000059GOZ.02.LZZZZZZZ.jpg">fuck it, nobody bought that album anyway</a>44Musicdaniel2003-07-31T17:33:48+00:00publishfunny conversationJust got back from the open-air market I go to sometimes. There is one guy there who I've gotten to know, he speaks english with me. We had the funniest conversation today: First off, I think I was a bit more comfortable because the place was unusually quiet today. Normally the chaos messes with my head a bit. Second off, you have to understand this guy sells vegetables at the market, but he is easily one of the most intelligent people I have met in Sarajevo. You can see that he understands a great deal in a short amount of time. So the funny thing was I told him that Miriam went to the coast last weekend by herself. He immediately shot me a look that just made me laugh. He said, "I would not do that." A bit later he said, "You have a very beautiful wife." And a bit later, "Keep your wife." I was laughing so much. I said, "What am I going to do? Leash her?" and asked, "Why, do you know something I don't?" Of course not, but the conversation was really funny because we were communicating a lot in-between the words. Like I said, a very intelligent, perceptive guy.43Minutiadaniel2003-07-31T14:35:08+00:00publisha lame excuse for a blog entry, but what's new? yeah, that's what i thought.First of all, why didn't anyone tell me Jane's Addiction is back together? This is big news! I live in Sarajevo--for chrise sake, you gotta tell me these things! I took the music link off the menu, and when I get online and publish this entry I will also probly go delete all my iuma and mp3.com pages, despite all the hard work that went into creating them. This is the big time, and I can't have any crap floating around. Besides, while I had no problem sending you off the site for a particular area of content, visually it was horrible. Look for a placeholder about the record and upcoming gigs at the top of the homepage very soon, and eventually a proper music section of the site. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all who have been emailing me and giving your feedback on the EP cover. It seems a pretty good majority for a rightside-up, and the tan on black color scheme also seems to have the momentum. I've designed the actual disk, the sleeve, and started concert flyers too. Oh yeah, the concert was confirmed tonight--August 14 at Bock, which, in the off chance someone in Sarajevo is reading this and wants to come to the show, is right around the corner from Fis. I'll have the address on the site anyway, closer to. Full band! It is going to be way too much fun. Seriously need to pack the place with a lot of drinkers--we're getting paid a percentage of the bar.42Minutiadaniel2003-07-30T11:59:26+00:00publishclarifications and errataOther reasons for my hesitation on "Daniel Miller Band" -- Steve Miller Band, Dave Matthews Band (even has same initials) :P There are multiple versions of the cover floating around, rightside-up, upside-down, black/white, tan/black, white/black and black/tan. The one I put up is just my fav ATM. update and it changed to the rightside-up flag. I'm leaning towards either a couple different versions of the cover (if possible), or rightside-up for the EP and upside-down for the posters. I'm updating the blogroll soon. I have to get online to get the URLs though. If you are wondering what my (new) qualifications are, I have to know you, read you, and you have to be linking to me already. Once I'm back in SWIM mode I will have an extensive links/portal section seperate from the blogroll. No one ever has, but please please do not ask to be put on my or anyone else's blogroll; and don't complain when you are delisted...that people do that to Jordon drives me crazy. Personally I think RSS and its ilk will soon make standard blogrolls obsolete. Miriam read the site (yes it happens!) and reminded me that if you send snail mail to the address there without her name or "gso" it won't get to me, because I AM NOBODY. So please please put something like "PLEASE DELIVER THIS TO DANIEL MILLER, WHO AT PRESENT IS ATTACHED TO MIRIAM MILLER, AKA &#352;EFICA, WHO AT PRESENT WORKS IN GSO" or some such thing in the OFF CHANCE you would send me some snail mail.41Minutiadaniel2003-07-30T11:38:11+00:00publishmy mozilla experimentI started using Mozilla a few weeks ago. I did this because I am attempting to wean off of M$ product, and I wanted tabbed browsing. I did indeed like the idea of using a really good open source product, the tabbed browsing, and their search sidebar is brilliant. It is also a shade faster in displaying pages, can control pop-ups perfectly, but takes longer to start up. But I am back to IE, and I'll tell you why. The thing that finally caused the switchback was that I killed Mozilla one time from the OS (i.e., didn't allow Mozilla to shut down by itself), I can't remember what the occasion was, but it doesn't matter; point is, Mozilla lost all my favorites. Grr. But that wasn't even the main reason I went back to IE. Mozilla's kerning is 1-2 pixels more narrow than IE's for any Sans font, which makes it about twice as hard to read. Since the main thing we all do through our browser is read, this is fairly important. We'll see if the pop-ups annoy me enough to again bail on IE. I think I'll just disable JS entirely. I'm becoming very anti-client-side-anything.40Designdaniel2003-07-30T11:03:20+00:00publishI do not hate "baby boomers."<blockquote>I do not hate "baby boomers." I strongly dislike people who proudly self-identify as baby boomers. It's like being proud of being the smelliest kid on the bus. Just sit down and enjoy your ride.</blockquote> --<a href="http://www.monkhouse.blogspot.com/">David Hopkins</a>39Quotabledaniel2003-07-30T10:53:33+00:00publishEP coverThe current design for the EP cover: <img src="images/july_2003/blackback_upright.png" /> Tell me what you think!!38Musicdaniel2003-07-30T00:01:41+00:00publishartistic lifeLast night we wrapped my new record, Americana EP. Without irony, with as much humility as I can muster, I can honestly say that if someone doesn't fall in love with this record, then something is wrong with the world; but at the same time, I have never felt such a lack of having to prove anything to anyone. We have created a record with more soul than most of what I'm hearing coming out of America today. My influences are obvious and already well known: Over the Rhine, Chuck Prophet, Wilco; and I think we have created something that, artistically, is on par with Films, No Other Love, or YFH--considering, technically, of course, that we recorded a 4 song EP in a week, in an apartment in a burned-out building in Sarajevo, BiH. Lyrically, I think it has the same metaphoric complexity of Linford, but with even more hidden layers. I tried to explain some of the lyrics in (for example) Closed, to Rade, a guitarist who hung out for most of the sessions, and ended up playing on Chorus; but the next day we were still working on the song and I said, "You know, I still don't know what that lyric means (exactly)." Musically, again considering our limitations, I think we have the same energy and production value as Chuck. Working with Elvis was such a great experience, we totally clicked musically and personality-wise. I hope that this relationship continues for some time. I just finished watching I'm Trying to Break Your Heart, and right now I'm watching it again with commentary, and I feel like I'm at a place where I can assemble a group of authentic musicians with the same young energy and just honestly entertain and connect with people. I think bands like these three I've picked for comparison's sake have paved a good road. It's definately not a highway; it's not even the pot-holed two laners from Sarajevo to the border; it is the cobbled pedestrian road in old town, the kind of road you could walk your whole life and still find new places on. The last seven days have been a true collaboration, an authentic artistic moment, and one that I will never forget no matter what happens from here. This project needs an advocate, and that advocate could or could not be you. You could just be a fan of blogs, and think mine is worth reading, and every so often you'll buy something on offer here. You could be a true music fan, and a rock fan at that, and be curious enough to check out this particular project. Or you could be one of those few people who really believe and actually have some power make something more happen. In any case, you have your part to play, and apparently I'm not too shy to ask you to play it. Some technical details: The order changed: 1. Com'on 2. Closed for the Year 3. American Dream Town 4. I Really Need a Chorus The band name is potentially changed: I've known that Daniel Wayne Miller Americana Project is cumbersome, but haven't had a good replacement. Daniel Miller Band came up and was liked by just about everyone (despite my initial hesitation). So tentatively it is Daniel Miller Band / Americana EP. (We shun "the" apparently.) Let me know what you think, seriously. My hesitation comes from the fact that it is really essentially a solo project, not a band; but the cohesiveness already apparent between Elvis, Rade, and myself, and the fact that they (plus at least a bass player) are going to play my first gig in Sarajevo, make everything a bit more viable. In only four songs, I have: two cocaine references, a combined alcohol and urination reference, two prominent curses, and a smoking reference. Numb Us, which didn't make the EP but I am anxious to cut, would add two pop culture references, a heroin reference, a prescription drug dependency reference, and a masturbation reference update forgot about the additional drinking reference and the virgin sex reference in that song, too. For the rest of the details on the recording, you'll have to wait on the liner notes. Tonight I have to follow up with the club owner here in town and tomorrow morning call a couple CD printing outfits so we can get this thing out the door by the 15th, i.e. when I leave Sarajevo and eventually end up at Greenbelt. I'm going to leave you with a clip from I am Trying to Break your Heart, the Wilco movie I just finished watching two times in a row. The director described David Fricke as the moral conscience of the film, and I was pleasently surprised to hear such, I dare say wisdom, come from the senior editor at a industry mag like Rolling Stone. (And he looks a LOT like Linford.) <a href="music/media/yfh1a_DavidFricke_crop.mp3">clip 1</a> <a href="music/media/yfh2_DavidFricke.mp3">clip 2</a> Over the next week expect some clips from the record, and then some individual reviews of some of the art that has helped me survive this summer so far, Donnie Darko, The Polyphonic Spree, the Cardigans new record, IATTBYH, and a couple books. update for myself: Jason Mraz37Musicdaniel2003-07-29T17:48:51+00:00publishaboutcritical information for newcomers: i am an american citizen. i live in sarajevo. i am currently male. i am 28 years old. i am a human being. <s>do not expect me to put a head shot here.</s> <img src="images/danieli.jpg" />144Aboutdaniel2003-07-28T23:26:01+00:00publishthe studioI can't really adequately describe to you the experience of this studio session. <img src="images/july_2003/studio/front_door.jpg" width="300" height="225" /> This is the front door to the building the studio is in. The building was, quite literally, on the front line during the war, and 1/4 of the building is still burned out and empty. Some guy pisses, it is definately human piss, I assume it is a guy, in the hallway just inside this door, every single day. Sometimes he pisses in the elevator, too. Last night when I was leaving I literally couldn't breathe in the elevator. And oh, the elevator. It gets stuck, it makes great noises. While passing the 4th floor (studio is on the 7th), every single time, it makes two loud, long scraping noises. <img src="images/july_2003/studio/e1.jpg" width="300" height="225" /> Once in the apartment, though, it is like a different world. The creative minds at work, the people hanging out, the magic of the studio, as it were. This shot is of Elvis on the first day. So far he has been right 99% of the time on any issue with the music. This is why we pay him to be the producer. :) <img src="images/july_2003/studio/d1.jpg" width="251" height="321" /> The man in this photograph was not really singing at the time. This is a staged photograph. We are almost done, should finish tracking today and mixing and mastering tomorrow. Elvis has some German chick waiting for him on the coast, so he's anxious to wrap it up. Tomorrow I will hopefully meet some CD printing people, if I wake up early enough (meant to do it Friday but slept until 1:30pm after being in the studio until 5:00am). Hopefully they won't need much time. I'm anxious to wrap up the entire project and have CD's in my hand. :) I haven't done anything else but be in the studio since Tuesday, but I have never felt so productive. In the meantime Lance is winning his 5th Tour de France, joining a very small club indeed. In the meantime life has been going on all around, but I have been blissfully unaware, lost in some of the most fulfilling work of my life.36Minutiadaniel2003-07-27T11:39:49+00:00publishNEW OVER THE RHINE RECORD AUG 19!!<img src="http://www.pastemusic.com/images/product/unscaled/ohiocover.jpg" /> Hvala liepa <a href="http://www.ellensjourney.org/stranger/">Ellen</a>!35Elsewheredaniel2003-07-26T10:55:01+00:00publishčelič<img src="images/july_2003/celic/kid_w_gun.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="img src=images/july_2003/celic/kid_w_gun.jpg" /> <img src="images/july_2003/celic/mural.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="img src=images/july_2003/celic/mural.jpg" /> <img src="images/july_2003/sarajevo/cat.jpg" width="400" height="300" alt="img src=images/july_2003/sarajevo/cat.jpg" />34Imaginingdaniel2003-07-26T10:34:20+00:00publishtomorrow was betterWhen I said "Tomorrow will be better," I was saying it because in part I knew it to be true, in part it needed to be true, and in part because this has been the way it has been in Bosnia: alternating one day to the next between really horrible/confusing/interesting-in-a-bad-way and really fantastic/awesome/inspiring. Yesterday I was all day in the studio, and it was amazing. My producer, Elvis (yes, Elvis), and I really clicked as of yesterday. We're into the same music, he likes all my songs, I'm pretty good in the studio...he's a bit of a scatter-brain, but he's a musical genius (and only 23), so the combination is actually quite endearing, and besides, his energy is much needed and appreciated. Everything reminds him of a song, every music in every cafe or bar is up for analysis (in a good way, "Hear that? That's so-and-so playing drums/keys/guitar on this song"). It is very cool. We were together yesterday from 11am-5am. His friends in town stop by and hang out, and we had a nice lunch with one of his friends in the afternoon and went to a couple bars at night with even more of his friends...all of whom are musicians. We're also pretty much set to play my as-yet-unscheduled-but-promised first gig with a full band, with Elvis (on drums) and some number of his friends. One thing was we ended up going by City Pub last night, which made me really uncomfortable, and we arrived during the last song of a set, and it was straight ahead funk/blues. I was like, "Why couldn't we play that last night?" I explained the situation later to a friend, when we had finally moved on to another popular bar in town, that it was like that was my one chance, and those guys made it difficult on me, they put me in a position to fail. Like when you get a new job and no-one tells you anything about what you are supposed to do, they just drop a stack of folders on your desk and walk away. You spend the whole morning just trying to figure out how to log on to your computer. You are more than capable, but without at least a little bit of communication, you can't even get started using your abilities. You were set up to fail. That's how I felt about Wed. night. Elvis is also a drummer first (although you will hear on the record, also an amazing keyboard player and guitar player), and we both agree that <a href="http://216.247.68.195/0602/index.htm">Dave Weckl</a> is the best drummer around. Wed. night it really made warning bells ring when I brought a stack of CD's over to City Pub for Darko and first thing, he sees the Weckl CD and said, "Weckl is shit." I was like, "What? He's a god!" and Darko proceeded to give me his "expert opinion" on Weckle (about the 10th thing I've heard his expert opinion on, this should have been another little warning bell). Last night it was confirmed by some friends that Darko is a man of exact/narrow expectations and firmly held opinions, and I just didn't fit into that view. It's cool. My "audition" gig the other night wasn't about having fun sitting in with a bunch of loose cats, it was about I either fit that expectation or not. "We're running out of the gate and try to keep up." That's cool, some musicians work that way, and that's their perogative. But I learned alot and am no longer surprised about the no-communication issue. After we had a beer at a different bar last night, we went back to the studio and cut the 4th and last track, I Really Need a Chorus. All night I had been arranging it in my head, so when we got back, even though we hadn't finished Closed for the Year, I said we had to start on Chorus. Being in the studio has really got the creative juices flowing, and I've totally re-arranged the end of that tune to be something amazing. I'm really excited to make it happen. We were up until 4:30 recording drums, bass, hammond, and a wicked lead guitar (all done by Elvis). Today I need to get cleaned up and out of the house so we can get back to work. I'm actually hoping Elvis is already working... I just wish I wasn't recording during the hottest week in, like, Sarajevo history. I'm sweating all day every day. 36 degrees C yesterday. But I'm really, really excited about these songs. I can't wait to get this CD finished. But I don't think I'll be dropping off a copy for Darko to get his expert analysis. Ha!33Minutiadaniel2003-07-25T14:14:22+00:00publishMULTIPLE things on theyblinked in one day worth mirroring<blockquote>there is something magical about music. there is also something magical about large groups. together they have real power. listening to the crowd and band singing this entire song, in gang chorus, elicits something very human from me--empathy, camaraderie, passion. there is a psychology of communication that comes into play in any exchange of information. statistically, it is said that people believe something to be more likely true if it rhymes. why? who knows? there is a persuasive efficacy to rhythm and rhyme just as there is to the frenzied ethos of the crowd screaming in unison.</blockquote> --dan hughes <blockquote>In the eyes of commerce, a calling is a luxury and the artist is seen as either a fool or a terrorist.</blockquote> -peter block <a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog/">theyblinked</a>32Elsewheredaniel2003-07-24T10:13:33+00:00publishNOT playing Thursday nightIt is 12:43, just got back from the gig at City Pub and well....let's just say I'm not playing there tomorrow as originally planned. I'm trying to write this as it is fresh, but I'm only coming up with little thoughts... It's never nice to be fired. Period. Let's face it. But I am relieved. I didn't want to play another night with those cats. It was like torture. It's not really about music, it's not about anything other than I do not fucking understand fucking Bosnians. I'm sorry. I just do not fucking get them. No communication on stage. Well, the other three seemed to be communicating, but I wasn't part of the conversation. The bass player was really amazingly good in a really bad way. He wasn't part of the rhythm section (and with no piano player or guitar player, that meant I was it). He was off in his world, and even after I asked him during the break to try and communicate more with me, it just got worse. He'd just shoot dirty looks at me. He hardly ever played a real bass line, he was freeforming almost 90% of the time, even right out of the gate in a song. The one song that I think sinched the not-being-asked-back, the leader didn't count off right. When you already know exactly how that song is going to be played, it doesn't much matter, but for a drummer sitting in for the first time, that count off is everything. Especially on a cut time tune where the bass player freeforms from the start. No idea what they expected. But, no idea what I expected either. Not that in either case I guess. It's not any one thing, this place, everything is completely fucked. I'm trying to understand these people, this culture, I'm trying to build relationships, but even in bad situations all I get is bullshit. You'd think at least when things were just bad, just didn't work out, you would just say it. Period. Like a bad date, we just didn't get along. There wasn't any chemistry. No more, no less. But Bosnians are always like blah blah blah. So far Bosnia and me have been like a bad date. Tomorrow will be better. Later, 9:09AM: Listening to Dave Matthews band this morning to feel better, but the frustrating part is is that it reminds me that I AM really good. Ah well, fuck it. Also, I'm sounding particularly frustrated with Bosnians and I've only shared two stories on the blog, both musical, but TRUST ME, there are 1.000.000,00 more stories I haven't written about here. I was thinking, maybe it's just that in the States I can judge a character in minutes and know if I'm going to have anything to do with that person, and in the States it only happens that I don't want anything to do with that person maybe 25% of the time. I may not become their best friend, but I can count on them for a certain base level of interhuman decency. In Bosnia I can't read anyone, but I'm starting to realize that I don't want anything to do with about 75% of people, and I can't really count on anyone for that decency, at least not off the bat. Then, maybe it's all just language barrier. But with moving every 2 years to a new country with a different language, this might be an unsolvable problem. Then, I believe in a language that transcends words. Maybe they just speak it less here. Maybe the war beat it out of most of them. 'Cause I'm starting to realize after that language is gone, about the only thing to talk about is sex, how many women you have, money, and how much money you have or don't have. Or you can become a fundie. :) PS {Full of irony talking about money} the guy did pay me, 100KM (about 60 bucks), so there you go. ...what I'm trying to say is I was generalizing about a general feeling with those last four paragraphs, I wasn't talking about anyone, particularly anyone from last night, specifically. Just generally. :) ...shit! see how i'm doing it now?! bullshit. sve je bullshit.31Minutiadaniel2003-07-24T00:49:41+00:00publisha bit of an update on the recording sitchIt's 12:33AM, I just got back from the studio where we cut the first of 4 songs for the EP. The producer showed up in Sarajevo, and he's a decent chap in the end, and a fine producer. Tomorrow we try to get a lot further in the little time I have before my gig at City Pub. Thursday will be the same situation, but hopefully by the end of the weekend recording will be finished. Hopefully no similar roadblocks in the printing of the CD and it should get done in time for GB.29Minutiadaniel2003-07-23T00:36:06+00:00publishlance lance lanceUnless you live under a rock, you should have already heard about <a href="http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2003/tour03/?id=results/stage15">today's crazy, heroic stage win by Lance Armstrong on one of the hardest mountain stages of the tour</a>. I was glued to German Eurosport for the duration of the last two climbs, and it was amazing. I was listening to jazz (as mentioned) and watching for a while, I tried listening to the commentary once during the climb of the Tourmalet, but the Germans were going crazy every time Jan pulled 2 bike lengths away from Lance. Fortunately, I had the commentary back on for the Luz Ardiden, the final climb, a short nasty thing that Phil Ligget has often called "the sting in the tail" of this typical stage route. Lance looked bad, but so did everyone else, so I was hopeful. Sure enough, soon after the final ascent started, a Basque rider attacked and Lance countered. The two of them were flying up the hill with Jan in close pursuit. Suddenly, and it was like slow motion even when I saw it happen live for the 1st time, a boy, flailing his arms a little too vigorously while holding one of the free yellow Tour goodie bags, managed to get his bag caught around Lance's brake lever. And he apparently didn't let go. Lance's handlebar got torqued around and he was slammed to the pavement, along with the closely following Basque. The German commentators were awesome, yelling, "Nein! Nein! Nein!" in disbelief of what had just happened. <img src="http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2003/tour03/stage15/tdf2003-armstrong-mayo-u-67.jpg" /> Well, Lance fell perfectly, if you have to fall (you could see the road marks across his back, not on his shoulder where a elbow, shoulder, or collerbone injury would be more likely; meaning he rolled as he fell), and luck was on his side in that his bike was ok. Adrenalin pumping, and Jan being a sportsman and not attacking (as well as Tyler Hamilton giving the "hang on" symbol to the remainder of the leaders), Lance was helped back quickly by a teammate. He then continued as before, countering another attack and going solo to the top for his first stage win (not counting the team time trial). Awesome. And I saw it live with great German commentary. Reminds me of when I was in Germany in 1993 racing and my roommate and I watched Lance win his first Tour stage ever, also with German commentary.28Elsewheredaniel2003-07-21T23:23:36+00:00publishfor the introvertsJust wrote this in my personal blog/journal: <blockquote>And maybe the high energy people don't come without the bullshit, and maybe the deep people don't come without the melancholy. And that's ok. Maybe they will always be put off by our silence, and maybe we will always laugh under our breath at their ignorance. And that's ok. Maybe they only talk shit and never do anything, maybe we never talk about anything and always make shit (to steal the German phrase). And that's ok.</blockquote>27Minutiadaniel2003-07-21T17:55:10+00:00publishbusy busy...<s>Starting this afternoon I had *better* be in the fucking studio! I will be in the studio pretty much every day until the project is finished.</s> Update: FUCK! The producer disappeared in Croatia! He is fucking AWOL and the studio owner works eves until Wednesday. {Insert really much worse words here.} I am on to contingencies.... In addition, last night I was invited to play drums Wed and Thurs evening at one of the most popular bars in Sarajevo in a jazz quintet. SO I will be posting more info on that in this space, once the gig is confirmed. But otherwise things are likely to be quiet on any other front. Most I could hope for is a couple pictures from the studio or the gigs. My apologies to anyone waiting on work from me. :) Update: Contingencies in full swing. Removed generalization about Bosnia, kept rest of the bad language because darn it, the guy deserves to be cursed at, and the Bosnian curses are much, much worse than what I said! Also, I am definately on for Wed and Thurs night, albeit a bit nervous. The guy called today, his name is Darko by the way, and he needed to know my family name for the posters and for the radio announcements! I will post another entry when everything is finalized tonight. Needless to say I'm only listening to my jazz records between now and Wed! Also looking for a place to practice, maybe tomorrow during the day or Wed...?!?25Announcementsdaniel2003-07-21T12:26:04+00:00publishWill Ferrell 352nd Harvard Commencement Speech<blockquote>So my gift to you, Class of 2003, is to tell you about the real world through my eyes, through my experiences. And I'm sorry, but I refuse to sugarcoat it. I ain't gonna do it. And I probably shouldn't use the word "ain't" during this day in which we celebrate education. But that's just the way I play it, Homes. Graduates, if you will indulge me for a moment, let me paint a picture of what it's like out there. The last four or, for some of you, five years you've been living in a fantasyland, running around, talking about Hemingway, or Clancy, or, I don't know, I mean whatever you read here at Harvard. The Novelization of the Matrix, I don't know. I don't know what you do here. But I do know this. You're about to enter into a world filled with hypocrisy and doublespeak, a world in which your limo to the airport is often a half-hour late. In addition to not even being a limo at all; often times it's a Lincoln Towncar. You're about to enter a world where you ask your new assistant, Jamie, to bring you a tall, non-fat latte. And he comes back with a short soy cappuccino. Guess what, Jamie? You're fired. Not too hard to get right, my friend. ...Now I know I blew some of your minds with my depiction of what it's really like out there. But if anyone can handle the ups and downs of this crazy blue marble we call Planet Earth, it's you guys. As I stare out into this vast sea of shining faces, I see the best and brightest. Some of you will be captains of industry and business. Others of you will go on to great careers in medicine, law and public service. Four of you -- and I'm not at liberty to say which four -- will go on to magnificent careers in the porno industry.</blockquote> <a href="http://www.commencement.harvard.edu/ferrell.html">commencement.harvard.edu/ferrell.html</a> (via <a href="http://www.sotto.org/">sotto.org</a>)24Elsewheredaniel2003-07-21T12:21:37+00:00publishephedra killsNo kidding. I could have told you this years ago. <blockquote>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says ephedra has been responsible for an estimated 120 deaths nationwide.</blockquote> From <a href="http://drkoop.com/template.asp?page=newsdetail&ap=93&id=1502415">drkoop.com</a> (via <a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog">theyblinked</a>).20Elsewheredaniel2003-07-18T15:12:19+00:00publishhipster bingo<a href="http://www.catbirdseat.org/catbirdseat/bingo.html">hipster bingo</a> (via <a href="http://www.theyblinked.com/blog">theyblinked</a>).19Elsewheredaniel2003-07-18T15:09:35+00:00publishGB setlist...EPOk, I'm sick of posting everything about my GB set at the GB blog...I'm the only person doing that, I think the only other person performing at GB who is on that blog is Oliver, so I'm going to put the final set list right here, for you who dare to venture here: 01. Com'on 02. The Future That Was (Josh Joplin) 03. Closed for the Year 04. I Really Need a Chorus 05. Gospel Bar Song 06. Latter Days (Over the Rhine) (played a bit uptempo for time) 07. American Dream Town Ahh...the number of perfection! There were two other songs I would like to play, but these 7 work out to exactly 30 minutes with very little chit chat in-between. The two that got squeezed were: Numb Us and Lukewarm (New End Original). I just got a call from the studio owner where I'm supposed to have been recording, and he's (finally) ready. I just have to call him back and he'll pick me up. The producer doesn't get here until Sunday, but we can at least get something started. Still not sure about the whole thing, but whatever. In case I've never mentioned which tunes are going on the EP, here are the most likely 4: 01. Com'on 02. Closed for the Year 03. I Really Need a Chorus 04. American Dream Town Numb Us and You Say are the other two potentials, but I'm pretty set on those four for the EP. I'm toying with the idea of doing Com'on off my home studio, and maybe one more at a different studio, just for kicks. It's all about time. I don't have much. 4 weeks to be precise. Later: Didn't start! Starting Monday, this time I'm pretty sure for sure: the producer is coming from Croatia Sunday. Later still: The Road That Never Ends is also a big potential for the EP...the tracks off my home studio are pretty good for that one as well...so it may turn out to be a 5 song EP! I am still thinking about it, though...it is similar to Com'on in that they are both pretty bluesy numbers. Of the track list I have above, it goes blues-ish, country-ish, kinda standard slow tune, kinda straight ahead rock/americana. I don't know if adding a true blues tune in there would add to the EP. I am already planning an additional record later this year with my own productions of the "rest" of the tunes (demos of some can be found on the music page)...tunes that would go on a record should a label come along...and doing it through Cafepress' nifty CD program. Maybe I should just stick to the orig. 4 for an EP and plan on the "remainders" CD...18Musicdaniel2003-07-18T14:30:29+00:00publishwe're all...<blockquote>We're all fuck ups just looking for a little acceptance as we find our way.</blockquote> --A friend.15Quotabledaniel2003-07-18T11:24:52+00:00publishle tourIt's all over as far as I can tell, but then there's always the <a href="http://notd.blogs.com/tdf/">Tour de France and it's blog</a> to make your day.14Elsewheredaniel2003-07-18T02:14:43+00:00publishHere goes nothingWell, I stopped futzing with more intense data architecture problems with SWIM and decided to code this blog back into existence. It is much more lame than I wanted it to be, but it's here, and I will continue to add features, up to and beyond what I had before. Once I transform my archives into the new data format (next on the list), they will be available as well. The homepage is .html now, and I plan on keeping it that way. "Permalinks" (I hereby recommend a standard of enclosing the word "Permalink" in quotes...&uuml;ber-wiki and Winer flames forthcoming) go to .php, which dynamically pulls them from the data. In case, for some strange reason, you had the full path to index.php bookmarked, you may want to update to point simply to danielsjourney.com/, since you never know what kind of file I might want to serve up by default. Hello as well RSS readers. I haven't forgotten about you! My RSS format has changed from .9x to 1.0, but hopefully you don't have to worry about that. The file is still <a href="rss.php">rss.php</a>, if that doesn't work there is a hard copy now at <a href="index.rdf">index.rdf</a>. (Of course if the PHP version doesn't work you won't be reading this in your newsreader, now will you? Oh well, for future reference then.) Also my RDF is not quite well formed yet, parsable, but my &lt;item rdf:about&gt;, &lt;rdf:li rdf:resource&gt; and &lt;link&gt; do not point to the site yet; a limitation of running MT locally. I'm going to hack it properly, but since I put full posts in the feed, not a huge deal. (If you need to visit the site, type the thing into your browser or use a bookmark or somethin' for a couple days 'till I get that sorted.) As for the future of SWIM? More on that later...13Announcementsdaniel2003-07-17T15:40:36+00:00publishstuckI'm here blogging in MT on my local machine, and I have some problems...blogging software's biggest problem, and one of the problems I'm trying to remedy with SWIM, is that while they have separated content from presentation to a degree, and added metadata to a degree, there are still certain aspects where things are too linked. <a href="http://www.docuverse.com/blog/donpark/2003/07/12.html#a708">Permalinks</a> in MT for example...each entry is located in a monthly archive file, great, and each entry has an ID, great. But there is no way to get just the monthly archive for an entry, and worse, no way to customize the way it writes permalinks. It always wants to do "path/archive_file#ID." I'm about half way done hacking it, but if anyone has any good advise on this kind of thing, do tell. I'll add contact info to the menu over there. Later: Oh wait, you will not have read this until after I've managed to hack it. Well, it was nice to vent. Later still: Just noticed the current <a href="http://intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/EchoExample">Necho spec</a> has an id attribute. Cool. I am suddenly changing my opinion about that whole thing. Needs namespaces; but I need to catch up on <a href="http://www.intertwingly.net/wiki/pie/NamespaceDiscussion">that discussion</a> before I complain. Later still: Ok, <a href="http://dublincore.org/">DC</a> has an "identifier." This is why namespaces are a good thing. I'm putting my ID in there, and best practices says it should be a URI, but in the scope of my site it is a URI, so we fake it.12Designdaniel2003-07-16T00:39:24+00:00publishhaircutNo, really, this time it is short...no pictures though...you'll have to wait for someone else to take one. You know how (for those of us who get our hair cut by women--I've personally never had a guy cut my hair) the best part of getting your hair cut is copping a little bit of head massage when they wash and cut your hair? Well here in Bosnia, they spend a little bit extra time rubbing in that conditioner. I was like Oh God. Nothing weird or anything, but I hadn't been touched like that in...well, a while.11Minutiadaniel2003-07-16T00:32:33+00:00publishso much for pescatarianBefore we moved to Bosnia I wasn't eating any dairy products or any meat besides fish. I started eating dairy before we even got to Sarajevo, while we were still in Vienna. Over the last two weeks I started eating a little bit of meat; but tonight was the official end of any remains of my pescatarian diet: I had <a href="http://ellensjourney.org/stranger/archives/images/cevapi.html" title="gross, right? but i wish i had kajmak on mine too.">&#269;hevap</a>; I bent to the peer pressure of my Bosnian friends. It was ok; but I think I will be digesting it until next month.10Minutiadaniel2003-07-15T23:53:29+00:00publishseeking stories beauty cocksuckng<a href="http://www.pornolize.com/cgi-bin/pornolize2/pornolize2.cgi?lang=en&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdanielsjourney.com&submit=submit">Pornolize this site</a>. <a href="http://www.pornolize.com/">www.pornolize.com</a>9Elsewheredaniel2003-07-15T16:44:43+00:00publishfonts and font sizesI'm staying agnostic in public, and opinionated as hell in private. Just like with some other things...8DesignDaniel2003-07-15T16:43:05+00:00publishbut the nation-state...<blockquote>But the nation-state, the twentieth-century geopolitical entity held together by the government's monopoly on the use of force--it's finished. The Kalashnikov rifle and the Stinger missle, and the world-wide dissemination of these weapons during the proxy conflicts of the Cold War, have changed things as much as the invention of gunpowder did in the thirteenth century. A determined Third-World people can now hold out against the greatest powers--witness Vietnam--and even a loose coalition of determined clans or factions can drive away the strongest armies--witness Afghanistan [in the early 90's --daniel]--and now in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia it's been made plain that even factions at war with one another can, with their left hand, as it were, stalemate the U.N. in its efforts to stop the fighting among them. It begins to waver and dissolve, but still it stands, humanity's mass hallucination: the vision of a planet of united nations, the great delusion that the nation-state doesn't work yet, but someday will--that the governments who killed each year of the twentieth century, on average, a million of the civilians they claimed to protect and serve, can be trusted to cease their wars.</blockquote>Denis Johnson in Seek: Reports from the edges of America and beyond, pg 169-170. This book is going to Scott next.6Quotabledaniel2003-07-15T12:42:15+00:00publishnotes on integration research informational flash moviesNeed to jot this down and no better place than here (unfortunately, really): 3 movies. 1. intro to the problem music: polyphonic spree? (find out how much) start with my quote "not anti-cap...." mountain metaphor...stick figure running up mountain, struggling, with voice overs or text indicating the different struggles in publishing in different areas (maybe one voice per industry, i.e. a female voice is saying things related to print publishing, a male things related to sound publishing) figure gets to the top, start with salaries/positions of top artists and industry execs..."the american dream" (maybe steal 2 secs from madonna)...then (need good music transition here), starts falling down other side of "mountain"...displaying "salaries" continues, down and down to common musicians many people might know, maybe our friends too (i'm already thinking Legends, Walkingbirds, tech authors who are bloggers)... ...figure crashes at bottom of hill...equality, opportunity...mountain starts to flatten, more figures enter view ...maybe two threads to this movie, that one would have been from the artist's perspective...maybe another from the consumer's perspective...then bring them together at the end...allow user choice at beggining as to which to watch first...oooo 2. the one i wrote, steve, jonny, and joel about. based on slides. 3. need to find notes for this one...written down on plane back from dallas, somewhere...5Minutiadaniel2003-07-15T12:33:32+00:00publishcan't stopi need to experience something beautiful i need to be loved for who i am i need to be touched gently that's it4Minutiadaniel2003-07-15T00:04:52+00:00publishdanielsjourney.com is back up (historical) danielsjourney.com is back up, but i still have a lot of things to take care of IRL, so while i'm out of the blogging habit anyway, i'm going to give this site a rest until it is finally ready for prime time. couple weeks or so. although you never know. my apologies for those who tried to send email in the interim. it was completely broken and hopefully you didn't try more than once after getting your mail returned to you. while all the old email addresses should still/again work, my new email is daniel at integrationresearch.org. <img src="http://www.btinternet.com/~smallritual/smallritualpics/daniel2.jpg" alt="c'mon ladies: http://www.btinternet.com/~smallritual/smallritualpics/daniel2.jpg" /> picture courtesy of <a href="http://www.btinternet.com/~smallritual/">smallritual.org</a>. this site is now officially table-free. <a href="http://www.glish.com/css/">long live css</a>. what am i doing IRL u may ask? starting <a href="http://www.integrationresearch.org/">an organization</a>, developing a semantic web application, and recording an EP. is that enough for you?7Announcementsdaniel2003-07-15T00:03:22+00:00publish