Rick Astley Python Lessons
Posted on October 7th, 2008
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 11:50 pm
I’ve mentioned RickRolling before on the blog, and imagine many people have heard about the attempt to get him voted the best act ever. What you might not know is that this attempt at the biggest RickRoll yet has resulted in various scripts and sites to automatically and repeatedly vote for Rick. Well, I started to play with some of the scripts so I could participate in this ridiculous endeavor, and I found the scripts to be lacking. So, what’s a boy to do? Hack together multiple scripts to not only present the information I want, but also to ensure that the number votes I want to register actually registers (not just a certain number of attempts at voting.) Thus, after the break (unless you’re reading this on the nerdcore.info nerdcore metablog, where it’ll just display,) you can see my first python script.
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No Frosting Yet
Posted on October 6th, 2008
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 11:32 pm
But the Twinkies arrived. Namely, an acceptance letter to University of Texas Arlington, my last-ditch back up school. Of course Portland > Texas (sorry MC Router, Funimation, ADV,) but it’s nice to know atleast two schools thought I was worthwhile. Back to waiting for frosting.
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Relief is spelled A-C-C-E-P-T-E-D
Posted on October 4th, 2008
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 9:26 pm
Why is “accepted” my word for relief? Because the 10 (terribly dull and bureaucratic) college applications I submitted have yielded their first acceptance letter (specifically to Portland State University in Portland, OR.) There’s the cake, every letter after this is the frosting, and now I can stop worrying whether the 600 or so bucks those applications cost were worth it and whether or not I’ve got a school come January. The baseline goal has been achieved.
Also, I cleaned my room up a bit today too. Nice to have the space open. 😀
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A Change Of Plans
Posted on September 20th, 2008
Filed under: General,Music News — Karl Olson @ 3:43 pm
So, there were a few things I wasn’t planning to do. I was not planning on releasing anything off The Fourth Estate before well, releasing the album, assuming I ever released it. At the very least, I wasn’t going to put up anything via my website. Via compilations? Maybe. Via other peoples’ podcasts? Definitely, if the podcast producers were game. However, I didn’t want to publicly solicit anything off the disc via any channel until it was very close to release as well. No leaving a coming-soon page for 2 or 3 years before releasing anything, like I did with Opensource. However, I do already have some songs in the can, and I have reason to leak one very specific song today.
You see, Toonami’s last night on television is tonight, and I have a song about that animation block completed for the new CD. Toonami means a lot to me because it is one of the key reasons I am the person I am. In fact, without watching the various Tenchi Series and then a bunch of other good anime on Toonami which itself built into full blown otakuism, there is an exceedingly high probablity I would have never pushed into Nerdcore, as I would have likely felt that I just didn’t have material to rap about nerdy stuff (or rather it’d all have been about computers and being into chemistry at 7. Even outside of Nerdcore, the music and stories of anime had a serious effect on my last 4 or 5 Electronica releases. Toonami, and the otakuism it inspired in me is also a key factor to meeting the love of my life, Danielle (aka Nursehella.) You see, I spotted her in line for PAX2005 because she was wearing what I thought was cosplay (turns out it was her Catholic School girl uniform from High School,) and I talked to her as such. No otaku-ism, and even if I had developed an interest in Nerdcore, she probably would have been another face in the line. Just the thought of that alternate ending freaks me out.
As such, I owe that block I surprising amount – I only hope one day I can tell Sean Akins (the head of the soon-to-be-deceased block,) that he, through a convoluted series of events, helped me meet the woman of my dreams, and also dramatically altered the subject matter of my music.
Or, at the very least, I hope he hears this song: Ultraklystron – Absolution
Lyrics after the break.
RIP TOONAMI 1997-2008.
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Blog Check / Mic Check
Posted on July 20th, 2008
Filed under: General,Music News — Karl Olson @ 3:57 am
So, after a runaround that included visiting a music store that apparently has no affiliation but the exact same as the music store for which I had a gift certificate for, visiting a mall during a power outage, cashing in said gift certificate for a nice new condenser mic, and finally going to another music store and buying a new mixer with phantom power for said condenser, I made some dramatic changes to my studio setup today. Not really the changes I was planning on making (I was hoping to get a USB condenser, but oh well,) but changes that are very favorable nonetheless (wow, for a mic that effectively only cost me 50 bucks, it’s night and day.) Expect the next album I make to sound another level better than OpenSource Lyricist. Seriously, it will be pro-grade sound with pro-grade content. What I recorded just today sounds awesome, and I think if I’m smart about things, I should be able to get a whole CD done before going back to school (finally.)
Meanwhile, I’ve also upgraded my blog software to the latest WordPress, so hopefully crossposting between it and my livejournal still works.
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The cake apparently is not a lie
Posted on July 15th, 2008
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 3:06 pm
So it’s my last day working at Computer Stop (I figure that since I’ll no longer be employed here, it’s cool to mention the place by name,) and what should I find but a giant cheesecake (one of those ones with 8 different flavors of cheesecake,) and a gift that’ll help me snag some new studio gear (watch out for a blog post on that.) Very awesome of them.
I mean, can’t say I’m terribly broken up about having to leave, but for a retail job, it’s probably the best one could ever hope for, atleast if you’re a nerd like me, and it definitely honed my computer tech skills. The employee discount was sweet too.
Still, time for the Computer Stop arc of my life to end, and the College arc to start.
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Better Video / Inadvertant Comedy
Posted on July 12th, 2008
Filed under: General,Music News,Videos — Karl Olson @ 6:23 pm
So, the video quality on my STIFF after party performance was a shade mediocre (thanks to my cheap refurb digital camera;) however Betheny Lee (aka Bethzilla, friend of Beefy,) actually had a decent camcorder and shot the same performance, which is viewable here. There are also performances from Beefy, Beefy featuring Bethzilla and YT Cracker from the same evening, as well other cool business like Q&A’s and other nerdcore antics viewable here, though you’ll have to scroll down a bit.
On the comedy side of the headline, turns out my local anime store of choice, Anime Raku (formerly Anime Kingdom,) has been buying google ads. I know this because they’ve run on my page. If you see there ad on the sidebar, click though so I get some money back 😉
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imdb
Posted on June 27th, 2008
Filed under: General,Music News — Karl Olson @ 4:27 pm
Hey look, I have an imdb page now. I can hardly believe it. Still probably not known enough to get a wikipedia page though.
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the past is unattainable / the future is unwritten
Posted on April 27th, 2008
Filed under: General — Karl Olson @ 3:36 am
So, I spent time today (when not selling monitors at work, chatting on the phone to Danielle, dropping Mathew off at a friend’s place nor napping as part of recovering from the ear/throat infection that requires huge Augmentin pills to fight it,) looking over old blogs and newsgroup entries, initially Danielle’s (she’s gone through my blogs and such, and I find that really sweet actually – she’s probably one of a handful of people, if not the only person by besides myself, who has) with her blessing/at her request. However, that kind of got me looking back at my own old entries in this blog, and it’s really well, sort of surprised me how much everything’s changed.
My old circles of friends have radically rearranged themselves, people have left, people have split off – sometimes under happy circumstances, sometimes under somewhat more dramatic ones. Many people who I thought would be key friends on into my old age have disappeared into the ether (ok, I’m sure I could e-stalk them and shoot ’em an email, but well, I don’t.) Shoot, even the places where I hang out have changed – my favorite arcade is long gone, the anime store I shop at has new owners and I stopped going to the anime club before I even had my AA done. I’ve gone from being a community college student cranking out his first nerdcore album and working on anime reviews to a community college graduate looking for a school to transfer to finish a 4-year-degree because he knows music is not as likely to pay the bills at the end of the day as a CS degree. I barely write for Toon Zone anymore – pretty much only doing con coverage because well, I do still go to cons, though even there, I’m not sure if the passion is there in the same way anymore. I went from being obscenely prolific as a musician to somewhat more constrained and picky to needing a break from it to sort of playing with it again, but as much more personal, hobby-like endeavor. I went from being a guy who kind of attempted dating a few times (and who failed hard at it,) to someone who has, barely, managed to maintain a very rewarding long-distance relationship with a wonderful, beautiful woman. In short, I’ve grown up a up a bit, but I still feel a bit like this Weezer refrain:
“The world has turned, and left me here.”
And well, some of things that have stayed stationary aren’t the things I would have wanted to stay still. I’ve certainly taken longer with school than I should have, and than I wanted to have – I’ll be lucky to finish my degree before the middle of 2010 – that’s 8 years for a 4-year-degree. Shows I blogged about over three years ago are still unlicensed, and well, I know by this point, in this industry where one major company is dead (Geneon) and another maybe on the brink (ADV,) they will probably never turn up legally in the US.
Of course, on the flipside, maybe not all that much has changed either. I may have a 90 something DVD backlog, but the fact is I drop in any of those discs, and I’m still enraptured by the content. Once I had the antibiotics in my system, I was gradually feeling ok enough to watch some Genshiken (the boxset of which I snagged back in 2007 at Kumoricon,) and well, it still speaks to me. I maybe less Sasahara now, and more Kousaka (except my girlfriend loves anime and games in addition to fashion,) but the emotional connection is still there. Additionally, between being laid up and reading those old blog posts, I can honestly say that while my circles of friends of have changed, what we do isn’t a whole lot different – we go to arcades (RIP Illusionz, Gameworks needs a Para Para machine,) we go to restaurants afterwords, we go to movies and we hang out. I may no longer be otaku or nerdcore TO THE EXTREME – I think 8 cons last year did some long term damage to all that, but the fact is that’s still a part of me.
And well, as I look to the future I know more will change. Before the end of 2008 I should be at or atleast accepted to a university to finish my degree, I’ll likely be out of my parents’ house, my parents might very well be in a new house, and well, as such, most every tie I have right now will probably be gone in the next year, atleast in a day to day sense. I’ll probably be in a new city, on my own, in a new school, making new friends, eating at new places, discovering new things. It’s sort of emotionally exhausting past a certain point as well, or atleast is to reflect on it. However, while it’s overwhelming, it’s because I know that by the time all is said and done, I’ll be a man with a degree, a real job (hopefully,) and well, that era of even relating to something like Genshiken or Honey and Clover or as anything more than “I can remember being that guy – that sucked/rocked” will be gone. At that point, as long as I can dodge relating to Koshiro from Koi Kaze, I’ve got it made.
Well, I’ll have it made if somethings don’t change, like Danielle. I doubt I’ll ever find another person who can jump between Aqua Teens, Loveless, Velvet Underground, xxxHolic, Harry Potter, Atlus games, Kanye West, Tim and Eric, hexidecimal HTML color jokes, internet memes and more. I’d venture that’s a pretty unique taste/interest set. And I hope for once, I keep in touch with atleast some of my current friends – I’ve known some of them for closing on 8 years now. That’s pretty much the longest I’ve known people. Maybe that’s a sign they’re worth knowing in the long term, even if they aren’t local to me anymore. I mean, it’s not like it’s hard to keep in touch in an era of constant connection to communication.
To future me, who will inevitably come back and read this blog post in a few years, you better have gotten off your can and done what you’ve gotta do. If you’re still working computer retail and living with your folks, you’re doing it wrong. Don’t “become an hero”, but recognize that you failed. FLUNKED, even. And yeah, I know those memes and references are dated future me, but don’t act like you didn’t laugh at it at the time. 😉
PS: Oh, technology’s gotten awesome since I’ve started writing a blog though, so that’s one change I’m all about no matter what. Yay for having a laptop with more power than the computer I wrote all of my pre-nerdcore music on (yet uses vastly less energy,) and then owning a desktop that’s several times more powerful than that, with the knowledge that by the time I’ll need to do an upgrade to my computer, I’ll probably be replacing it with something that uses half the wattage, yet provides me with about 16 times more processing capacity (if the program is multithreaded.) Oh, and multi-gigabyte flash media. 16 gigabytes for 50 dollars? Ah yeah…
I bet future me will be laughing at this point, as he reads this post on a solar-powered quantum computer with a holographic display and terabytes of hybrid flash/DNA storage.
🙂
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oh god how did I get here I am not good with celebrity
Posted on April 7th, 2008
Filed under: General,Music News — Karl Olson @ 11:48 pm
Two updates, in one day? Impossible! But yet, here we are as now Nerdcore For Life (aka the documentary about various nerdcore rappers than mostly about nerdcore godfather, MC Frontalot,) has premiered to the world, in the heart of America, Wisconsin. Here is a link to the relevant data and some reviews. Note the scans of print articles with my face in them. Yeah, it’s humbling. Maybe even unsettling. Mostly awesome though.
Edit/PS: The wordpress has been updated again. Hopefully I can make use of the gallery function sometime soon.