There’s nothing like coming home with a stack of new vinyl; turn on the tables, power up the stereo, and get to listening. Records always sound so much better once you get them home. You finally get to hear them out loud, rather then over an internet connection or at your local store, and there’s so much you miss when listening through headphones.

Today was one of those days; a box of records waiting at the USPS. Work was torture; After picking them up in the morning, I got to stare at them all day long (I’ve always wanted to build an indash turntable, rather, an intrusion into the passenger seat that held 1 technics) in their cardboard container. If I had said contraption, the drive to or from work would have been spent in blissful listening. That enjoyment didn’t come until much later, though the wait was worth it:

10 brand new records. some promos, others new releases (I really wish I had the resources to stay on top of my shit, I try, but sometimes life takes precedence). A good solid 10-15 tracks to play with the other recent stuff I have. If you’re in the San Jose, CA area in December, I do a monthly DnB night called Clandestine Sessions with my boys, the Clandestine Crew. You can check us at killasubz.com and clandestinecrew.com

vinyl

tags: dnb, music, records, vinyl

I haven’t boughten new music in quite some time, so I treated myself this past weekend with a trip to Amoeba. I wanted to pick up the new Boards of Canada – The Campfire Headphase. This has to be one of my favorite bands of late and I would love to see them tour. Amazing musical landscapes, lush tones.

There is a really good interview with the band on Pitchfork.

I also wanted to pickup the Rosebuds – Birds Make Good Neighbors. I heard the song “Leaves Do Fall” on Live 105 one day and was blown away. I haven’t listened to Live 105 since it’s heyday (circa 1993 – 2000) and really don’t pay much mind to new music they play anymore, but this sounded different then the usual drivel.

I’m impressed with the album and am looking forward to hearing their first release, as well as their recent EP.

For those of you who have a Myspace account, they have their own profile setup as well.

Boards of Canada

tags: boardsofcananda, music, therosebuds

Minako Organic Japanese Restaurant
My rating: 4 out of 5

Amazing. A Japanese restuarant where I can eat almost anything and not have to worry about meat or byproduct.

My favorites:

Miso – I never get to have the miso at any other place I go.
Agedashi Tofu – Other places bring out a bowl with a few cubes of tofu. Minako’s version is a block of tofu (that’s right, a block…), fried as expected and wading in a pool of lovely sauce. It’s heavenly.
Sushi rolls – Here I can get the vegan versions of those rolls I drool over when I’m out at other restaurants. And they’re delicious.
The owner and her mother – The chef is Mom and you can taste the love in every bite. I was told that she cooks in shifts; all meat, clean the grill, all veggies. This is wonderful. And the owner, who also happens to be part of the wait staff, is equally as lovely.

Recommedations:

If you go, don’t be in a rush. My average dining time has been over an hour. It moves along well if you order some appetizers, a few pieces of sushi and an entree. That way you’ll have food on the table at all times.

They also close when they run out of food, so you’re taking a chance later in the evening, rather then earlier.

sushi

Pros: Food, atmosphere, wait staff
Cons: Speed of service

tags: japanese, restaurant, review, vegan, sushi

Noted usability maven Jakob Nielsen, long a subject of conversation and critique by bloggers, finally returns the favor with a top ten list of design suggestions for bloggers.

Click here for article

tags: blog, design

“We put tougher efficiency standards in the energy bill so we could get dramatic energy savings to the consumers faster,” said Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete Domenici.

Click here for the article on Yahoo.com

Umm, excuse me. We’re going to solve the energy crisis by making home appliances more efficient?

While I can see some benefit in this, I think we’re missing a big piece of the puzzle; reducing the reliance on foreign oil and making our cars more efficient.

tags: energycrisis, energyefficiency

“Boy, 8, takes marijuana on school museum trip. Uncle’s stash goes on school field trip” – Connecticut Post Online

“A Bridgeport second grader who brought more than a dozen bags of marijuana to school will not face criminal charges — but his uncle will.” – Boston.com

pot

tags: bridgeport, marijuana, museum, pot

Friday, November 4th, 2005
Killasubz and Clandestine present…

Clandestine Sessions v1.2

with special guests….

DRUM&BASS ROOM:
CLUTCH | JUNGLIST PLATOON . RESPECT |
NO FACE | JUNGLIST PLATOON . RESPECT |
REPETE M.C. | MAGNETIK SPACE LAB . REONATE4FE.COM |

RED LIGHT DISTRICT: PLETHORA OF STYLES PLUS LIVE ART
CUTSO | FINGERBANGERZ |
BASURA | ATOMIC |
ENNUI | GALLERY AD |

LIVE ART BY:
ANNABELLA PINON | HEART OF CHAOS | . R3NDR | DISTRACTED COLLECTIVE |

CLANDESTINE:SESSIONS is located at Johnny V’s
31 East Santa Clara Street . San Jose . CA
21+ . $5 b4 11 . $7 after 11 . Drink Specials All Night

Web Info:
Killasubz.com | Clandestinecrew.com

tags: dnb, music

Torrential Reign
Bram Cohen’s Bit Torrent software made it a cinch to pirate films on the Internet. So why is Hollywood on his side?

an article by Daniel Roth on Fortune.com

My first introduction to this technology was through the trading of live music from bands such as Phish, String Cheese Incident, Grateful Dead, etc. It made the whole process of trading/collecting live shows much easier, as I now didn’t need to build a collection to start trading with (the whole concept of B&P was nice, but it took a lot longer to get started), I didn’t need to spend time trying to login to a bunch of different FTP sites and hope I caught a free spot, and it allowed me to grab anything and everything I had the bandwidth and disk space for.

As the media has learned about this new method of file sharing, usually through news pieces about the latest Hollywood movie making it onto the Internet, it’s been interesting to watch Bit Torrent portrayed in the same light as Grokster, Lime Wire, Napster, etc. For me, it’s a simple choice of speed, spy-ware and community, and Bit Torrent satisfies these requirements.

I like the speed of downloads with Bit Torrent. I can typically download a few gigs, in a few hours, of a newly uploaded show. Links that have been listed longer can take a little longer. It’s all about the number of people who are sharing that same file.

I like the community. If there is an older link out there and I want it, if not enough people are currently working on it, a simple post to a few forums and I’ve suddenly got a few more people to share with. When I was using Lime Wire, if the IP address with the rare track decided to bounce, I’d be out of luck in finding them again and I’d either be left with an incomplete file or a fruitless wait for more. Not so with Bit Torrent.

I see the commercial uses for such a technology; imagine downloading your new OS and burning it to a CD/DVD, rather then buying CD’s in a store and bringing them home to install. Companies could lower their costs, which would hopefully translate into lower prices, since there wouldn’t be a need for printing/packaging costs. I can see the future distribution of Hollywood movies, both to the movie houses (they could download the film a few hours before initial release, rather then wait for a shipment to arrive) and the consumer (allow the purchase of the movie the same day it is released theatrically). Any distribution of large files would benefit from using Bit Torrent.

bittorrent

tags: bittorrent, internet, music, technology

1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (3 medium)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream butter and sugar together. Add one egg at a time, beating till smooth. Blend in mashed bananas.
In second bowl, stir flour with baking soda, baking powder, salt and nuts. Add to banana mixture stirring only to moisten. Transfer to greased loaf pan. Bake in 350 deg. F. oven for about 1 hour until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes. Remove from pan and place on cake rack to cool. Wrap to store.
This banana bread recipe makes 1 loaf.

bread

tags: banana bread, bread, recipes

1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup veggie broth
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice from 2 lemons
4 tbsp. tahini
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne

Chop garlic in food processor
Add chickpeas and veggie broth, process till smooth
Add cumin, salt cayenne, tahini, lemon juice, process till smooth
Add olive oil and process till smooth
Transfer to serving bowl
Pour 1 tbsp olive oil over top
Sprinkle with ground cumin and cayenne
Let stand at room temperature for approx. 10 min to let flavors blend
Serve with warm pita

hummus

tags: recipes