Author Archives: blaise

violin

Posted on May 9, 2011 by blaise

The vio­lin is in some ways a prob­lem­at­ic instru­ment.  I’ve always had mixed feel­ings about its pop­u­lar­i­ty, the way it dis­placed its noble and diverse pre­de­ces­sors, the vio­ls, its grasshop­pery diva nature, its demand for vir­tu­os­i­ty.  I give the vio­lin … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in music | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

panorama madness

Posted on April 23, 2011 by blaise

Super pleased by the recep­tion of the Pho­to­synth app.  We’ve blown through a mil­lion down­loads, and we’re five stars now in the app­store, with about 900 rat­ings in the first four days: Fatjack1 writes, “AmaZ­ing / My head asplode!”  “Holy … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in mobile | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

photosynth app!

Posted on April 18, 2011 by blaise

As every­one who’s been glanc­ing now and then at my face­book page knows, I’ve been post­ing a lot of panora­mas late­ly from the mys­te­ri­ous “Pho­to­synth pub­lish pho­tos” app.  Well, the app is now final­ly avail­able on the iPhone— just look … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in maps, mobile | Tagged , , , , , , | 27 Comments

minusculoyer

Posted on April 12, 2011 by blaise

minus­cule is the tutoy­er of the inter­nets. none of these are new obser­va­tions, but— i’ve been notic­ing again the “inner sig­nals” of writ­ten com­mu­ni­ca­tion by email and text.  orthog­ra­phy of course tells you loads about a per­son— like, in so-called … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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unbarred preludes

Posted on April 7, 2011 by blaise

One of my favorite unbarred pre­ludes for baroque lute, by Sylvius Leopold Weiss: This par­tic­u­lar one in d minor—actually it styles itself a fan­ta­sia— is so idiomat­ic and easy to play, it just rolls out from under the fin­gers, and … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

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tel aviv / berlin

Posted on April 4, 2011 by blaise

It’s time to break this dry spell on the blog.  Let’s begin with some notes I jot­ted down on the plane back from a trip to Tel Aviv and Berlin a cou­ple of weeks ago. For me, the anti­sym­met­ri­cal ideas … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in appearances, thoughts, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

latte vorticity

Posted on February 26, 2011 by blaise

I used to be a bit of a purist about lat­te art, but am being con­vinced that the use of the spoon to incise the sur­face after the pour is valid.  The barista at Besalu is con­vinc­ing. Their crois­sants are … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in appearances, food | 2 Comments

backyard brains

Posted on February 8, 2011 by blaise

I’m going to make a con­fes­sion, get some­thing off my chest that has gnawed at my con­science for many years (ok, just the occa­sion­al pang these days, but still).  Elec­tro­phys­i­ol­o­gy was a bit of an obses­sion for me as a … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in thoughts | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

ween

Posted on January 29, 2011 by blaise

Adri­enne and I, and our good friends Nan­cy and Barak, went to see Ween at the Para­mount last Wednes­day night.  Appre­hen­sion was run­ning high, as the night before they had put on an ill­starred show in Van­cou­ver and Aaron Free­man … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in music | Tagged | 9 Comments

death letter

Posted on December 22, 2010 by blaise

Maybe it’s the recent demise of the great Cap­tain Beef­heart, which is a reminder of the way music, 30 years ago still a medi­um for rev­o­lu­tion, no longer has a past or a future, but has con­gealed into a time­less­ly … Con­tin­ue read­ing →

Posted in books, music, thoughts | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments