I’m sure you’re familiar with the internet phenomenon of RickRolling, a virtual bait-and-switch prank that redirects a curious user to Rick Astley’s part one of his two-part wonderdom. As the web is wont to do, a BarackRoll’d version popped up featuring Obama “singing” Mr. Astley’s claim to fame via clever and involved editing. In a hilarious mashup with green-screen action, McCain gets BarackRolled at his own nomination. The frustrated mannerisms and odd / creepy facial expressions of McCain are pretty much the same he exhibited at the final debate where he got pwned by Obama’s clear intelligence, vision, integrity, and steady-handed grasp of the important issues. Enjoy!
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by Liz on October 20, 2008
Last year I was a LOLcat. What were you? Help us all get inspired for this year’s costumification by sending in a photo of your costume from last year to Fractalspin and you’ll some Nerds in the mail.
Ah, trackers. This cool video brings back memories of the program I learned how to write electronic music on: Impulse Tracker. Nights after my web design job I’d sit for hours in front of my Pentium IV in DOS learning hexadecimal so I could add notes one by one and then toss on note effects. It was primitive compared to what we have today, but it taught me a lot about DSP and composition and without it I wouldn’t be where I am today (my most recent album is Coaster, which was done with FL Studio. Mercifully my early attempts at music done with IT have vanished into the ether ;-)).
Trackers are sample based, and back in the day when hard drives were smaller one had to think about file size carefully when dealing with multimedia stuff. The easiest route to go was to just use sounds already on your hard drive in the Windows system folder. The artist, SomethingUnreal, expanded on the idea and made a track from Windows XP and Windows 98.
The artist uses ModPlug Tracker:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimed…
That will install itself as a program, which you can start running from the Start menu, as you would with most other programs. ;)
A while ago, I made a VERY brief (sorry) guide for getting started with ModPlug Tracker, and at least getting SOME sound out of it.
It’s at my site, here:
http://robbi-985.homeip.net:8000/info…
(Since that’s a text file, it might be easier to read if you download it (right-click, Save Link or Target As) and view it in a text editor like Notepad.)
Matthew Gallant over at The Quixotic Engineer has posted an interesting look at the evolution of the A & B buttons on game controllers. Me, I’ve got a Dreamcast so my world is backwards whenever I play on someone’s Nintendo system–it takes a second to get up to speed. Sony abandoned the whole letter thing and went with a circle, cross, triangle, and square, which one of the commenters pointed out:
# Jonathan Says:
September 23rd, 2008 at 2:06 am
Regarding the PlayStation controller, I read the following today :
circle = one stroke
cross = two strokes
triangle = three strokes
square = four strokes
Which then seems to align it with Nintendo’s layout.
Over the last four years there has been no single hotter underground party in New York City than The Marcy Hotel hosted by Wolf and Lamb. The duo, comprised of entrepreneurs and multi-talents Zev Eisemann and Gadi Mizrahi, have played host in their secret Brooklyn location to internationally renowned techno talent such as Dan Bell, Oliver Hacke, Zip, Sammy Dee and Derek Plaslaiko developing a reputation as the heart of NYC electronic music community, even catching the attention of the New York Times.
Building on their party experiences and deep industry connections, Eisemann and Mizrahi have kept focused on the future, eventually concentrating less on event production and growing their oeuvre to include making music and releasing music on their WolfLambMusic MP3 label, that this year was expanded to produce hard copy releases. Their first release, the Sexy Dancer EP by Detroit native Lee Curtiss hits record shops this fall.
In celebration of this accomplishment, the duo are venturing to Chicago on Friday, October 24th, for an extremely rare performance outside of the five boroughs. The show, organized by another talented duo in Liz Knight and Andrew Lochhead under their Ramp Chicago banner, will be hosted at Debonair Social Club as part of Ramp’s ongoing monthly series of events at the Wicker Park hot spot.
Featuring an opening slot by Knight, as Liz Revision, the night will be billed as an “Evening with Wolf + Lamb” and will feature a four hour live and DJ performance by Eisemann and Mizrahi. In keeping with the special nature of the event Debonair will also offer a special admission option to registered guests featuring a three hour open bar at $25 a person from 9pm till 12am.
To register for this promotion Ramp asks you to please RSVP at by emailing rampchicago@gmail.com and reminds you to be sure to leave your first and last name so you can be added to the list. The first 25 people on the list are guaranteed a gift bag at the event.
The event will also be a goodbye party for Chicago party mainstay and Ramp Chicago artistic coordinator Andrew Lochhead so come party it up one last time.
Ramp Chicago is proud to present an evening with Wolf+Lamb featuring an opening set by Liz Revision followed by a four-hour DJ set by the legendary Brooklyn-based electronic scenesters in the basement of Debonair Social Club at 1575 N. Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago Illinois on Friday , October 24, 2008.
Reserve your tickets that include an open bar from 9pm-12am for $25 by emailing rampchicago@gmail.com. Regular tickets are $10 after 12am at the door but admission is not guaranteed.
The first 25 people who RSVP are guaranteed a gift bag with extra special goodies inside.
Official Site: http://www.rampchicago.com
Fri 10/24 (9PM) @ Debonair Social Club
1575 N Milwaukee Ave Chicago, IL Map
Cost: 25
This is a 21+ event.
Open bar from 9pm to 12am
Here is a graphical way of portraying electoral college vote predictions realtime:
Here’s an interesting look at How Close were the Presidential Elections. It looks at the smallest number of total votes that need to be switched from one candidate to another, and from which states, to affect the outcome of the election, and provides a strange view of an alternate reality that could have been.
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by Liz on October 4, 2008
From the home of the fictional WKRP comes Leonard Marien. A Mainstay of Cincinnati’s house party scene Marien has recently relocated to Chicago where he has earned a reputation for his marathon DJ sets that defy genre classification. Expect Justus Kohnke to Stevie Wonder to Regis to Wu-Tang and also to wonder why YOU never thought of putting them together!
THURSDAYS at SURA Ramp Chicago showcases DJs and producers who share their love of techno, house, tech house, and electro in a weekly series in Sura’s futuristic environment. Flight Deck nights feature noteworthy national and international talent while Launch Pad nights feature up-and-coming passionate local acts.
Thursday 10/2 (7pm – 11:30pm)
@ Sura Thai Bistro, 3124 N Broadway Chicago, IL 60657
Matthew Gallant over at 
