House of AGP Cards / School Gets Interesting
Posted on September 13th, 2010
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 4:32 pm
I think the past week has just been one long reminder of how fragile my digital life is, especially while I’m abroad. One little thing goes wrong, and I may be without the ability to take notes, access my music masters, record music, access the data on my desktop, or even use the internet. Given that I don’t even have all my regular back up options with me, let alone my support network of friends, I’m left with the choice of going without, or being extorted for the cost of an emergency replacement.
I think I’ll feel better about this once I grab my spare netbook from home, and probably a few other odds and ends as well, but that doesn’t cover me 100 percent, and the fact is, I will never be as secure be up here as I am in Seattle. Sure, I can ultimately buy my way out of any problems, but the increased extent to which that is a necessity while I’m in Canada (rather one of many options) is something different for me, and something a little extra caustic when already having to pay for tuition and books. It all makes me feel a bit anxious, and that anxiety is probably the result of growing up in Microsoft’s backyard: I have been absolutely saturated with the expectation of having abundant, cheap technology, with plenty of friends with the same goods spare when ever a problem arises. Conversely, being without that safety net is surprisingly worrisome. If something breaks, I’m in it for 100 bucks, when even back home it’d only be only be 65, if not nothing. I mean, I wouldn’t even have a functional desktop right now if not for the pure luck of winning that PSU at PAX (and the hubris of bringing it up with me to Vancouver to sell on craigslist,) and so I’d either be over paying, or waiting to head down to Seattle while stumbling along on my netbook, which itself is prone to failure (already replaced it’s power adapter, and while the old one has been patched up, it’s nothing to rely on.)
I’m not really that stressed about it, but it’s a bit eye-opening. I’m not abusive of my gear, but it’s gotta be completely pampered now.
In other news, I’m really enjoying the coursework so far this semester. I’m finally into upper level stuff, and it brightens my spirits to be past a lot of the lower level filter stuff. I feel like I’m learning stuff I’ll use on a daily basis in the future.
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Nerdcore For Life: (Hopefully) Final Redux
Posted on September 7th, 2010
Filed under: General,Music News,Reviews — Karl Olson @ 11:08 pm
So, my belated trip to Seattle yielded many things (including a very expensive power supply I’d like to get off my hands as I have no use for it,) but perhaps most interestingly it yielded the final DVD version of Nerdcore For Life, the documentary I was in many years ago. Now, I’d seen the film before both at STIFF2008 and PAX2008, but this was my first time seeing the final version, and I have to say, it’s a lot snappier. It’s more of a genre primer and capsule of the scene rather than capsules of the various artists, and result seems much more brisk and lively, or at least it feels that way in the first few minutes.
Alas, I still get to be the first artist to drag the film to a halt with my artist spotlight section, where I look fatter, nerdier and younger than I do now. As always, I don’t belong on TV, though really, either the documentary got a lot of spit and polish on it, or I forgot a lot of little bits that even made my section of the film somewhat faster feeling (this is a very good thing.) The other artists sections also feel a lot faster paced as well. I think some of that is that there is footage shot even after the docs originally did the festival circuit now in the film, allowing for some faster cuts and more visual info to complement the narrative. The narrative also feels, well more complete. It feels like there is a lot more performance footage in it, especially for MC Frontalot, and even without an explicit interview of him in the film, it feels like he is, as is proper, fully depicted as the godfather of the genre now. Maybe the chance to go back and tweak the film after letting that era of nerdcore fall into the background was a good thing. Oddly enough, just as all of us in the film have honed our skills and flows, some how the film has become more sharp yet smooth as well. It’s a much, much better film than what was screened at STIFF and PAX, and I also have to say, I can’t help but smile whenever I see Nursehella and I on the screen at the same time in the documentary. I will show this film to our future children.
Still, watching this film for what I would like to be the last time for a very long while, I can’t help but feel as though I’m looking back on a past life. There was this bizarre time when I was a young otaku rapper/producer, and I had suddenly had many friends and acquaintances who were on a similar track. My recent trip to this year’s PAX reminded me that I clearly still have all those friends (well, at the very least, they don’t mind humoring me,) but yet, the era where I was really on the same path as them might as well be as distant as elementary school. while I’m sure the life I’m leading now (computer science student) will ultimately feel similarly distant to me once I graduate and work for a few years, Nerdcore For Life (and to a lesser extent Nerdcore Rising,) are the only external documentation of my life, and it only feels weirder to look back on the farther away I get from it. Don’t get me wrong, NC4L is a great documentary, and you should atleast NetFlix if you’re the kind of person who reads my blog and you’ve not seen it already. For everyone who still does it and love it, you should watch it and remember your roots. For everyone who wants to do it, you should watch it and know who built the bridge you now stand upon.
For people like me, who can’t even sell an mp3 when it’s half off, well, your time is better spent studying probably. Or producing for other people. I try to do both. Except for rewatching the right bits. 😉