August 2006 – LonelyMachines

TDK ã‚ [WA] Series

The ã‚ series are TDK’s flagship minidisc blanks for 2006. The word “sublime” comes to mind…

(Bottom two rows. From top left, L-R: 2003 HO series yellow, 2004 XS-iV 80, 2002 Bit Club, XS-iV “Ministry of Sound” Series, ã‚ in various colors.)

They’re only available in Japan, and at the moment, it appears that none of the usual importers plan on carrying them. I got my set from a friend at T-Board who lives there. Let me know if you need a set, and I can get ahold of him.

There seems to be a sad trend forming in this. TDK and Maxell appear to be the only companies making any sort of custom discs. Sony’s still churning out the generic Color series as well as the plain-blue Hi-MD blanks, which are the only ones in production. No local retailers carry blanks of any stripe anymore, and the number of online sources is dwindling.

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Info Dump

Pluto, we hardly knew ye…

Well, it’s official: Pluto is no longer classified as a sovereign planet. Lots of people who don’t get out much are arguing and foaming over the mouth right about now over an issue that really boils down to one thing: semantics.

The whole question is really a matter of opinion rather than science.

Folks who call Pluto a planet do so because

it orbits the Sun independently,
it has an atmosphere, albeit a tenuous one,
it has a moon (actually, three), and of course,
it’d be a real pain to rewrite all those textbooks.

They’re not wrong. However, there are many cogent arguments against it:

its orbit is off the main ecliptic (ie. slanted in relation to the plane on which the others orbit)
its orbit carries it through that of Neptune, and if anything, said orbit resembles that of an object captured by the Sun rather than something formed out of the initial nova (compare it to a cometary orbit)
its composition and nature more closely resemble that of asteroids and Kuiper Belt objects than a planet formed independently.

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Visual Media

“Ultrasuede is a miracle…this is just good timing.”

Season 8 of the Simpsons is out on DVD. This was really the liminal season; the cracks had begun to show as far back as Season 4, and after this, the show took a real downturn, from which it hasn’t recovered.

The series started out as a great family drama/sitcom, and its strength was in the interplay between the characters. After a few years, it started dredging its comedy from abstract situations and gimmicks, and the characters became cardboard cutouts going through the motions over and over again.

One of the most annoying devices was the use of unessential guest stars. John Glenn was utterly wasted, as have been several sports figures and celebrities, many of whom just happened to have been available and shoehorned in when a given episode was being scripted.

Early cameos like Dustin Hoffman (as Lisa’s substitute teacher) and Danny DeVito (as Homer’s lost brother Herb) brought real charisma to their episodes, but bringing in R.E.M.

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Visual Media

Healing America by Beating People Up

I love Warren Ellis. If he was a beautiful woman, or if I were gay, I’d kiss him. Even though he’s English.

Of course, given that neither of the above conditions apply, we’ll just have to say, “it’s the thought that counts.”

Ellis has brought some real merit to the world of comics. Transmetropolitan more than lives up to all the hype you’ve heard. This is the guy who turned Image’s dreadful superhero comic Stormwatch into the loud, obnoxious, borderline-fascist and utterly exhilirating Authority that we all came to know and love. He’s also responsible for Planetary, which may be one of the greatest and most emotionally affecting things written for the genre since Alan Moore’s Watchmen.

Ellis is a strong writer, with an ear for both a great story and snappy dialogue. He’s got a wicked sense of humor, though it’s usually quite subtle.

Well, not here. Nextwave is just as loud and brash, and just as much stuff explodes as in any issue of The Authority, but the difference here is that it’s all immediate and up-front.

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Music

Kraftwerk, die fruhen Jahre.

As far as most people know, 1974’s Autobahn was Kraftwerk’s first album. It’s certainly the one that solidified their image and sound, and as far as the band is concerned, it’s supposed to be their first record.

The truth is something different and far more interesting, however.

Autobahn was actually their fourth album. In fact, the band had been recording since 1970, going through a couple of lineup changes and honing their sound. Autobahn saw them settling on their now-familiar sound, which was largely dominated by computerized instrumentation and robotic vocals. The music was simple and repetitive, but somewhat melodic and catchy. It was certainly ahead of its time, and their influence on modern electronic music (and popular music in general) is still obvious to this day.

But the first three records were something altogether different. The band refuses to acknowledge their existence, and they’ve been out of print for almost 25 years.

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Humor

Return of the Iron Fist of the Mall Ninja

A member at the High Road posted a new piece of Mall Ninja lore, this one from MySpace. Personally, I haven’t bothered browsing the forum from which it originated, as it requires an account on MySpace, and well…I only browsed MySpace once, and I felt like I needed to wash my hands afterwards. No thanks.

Anyhow, here it is, verbatim. For posterity, I’ll leave the poor punctuation and grammar intact, as they typify this sort of writing.

Hello All.

I am new to this group; however I am not new to carrying [a firearm]. I have been carrying for awhile now. I have lived my entire life by the traditional Republican values (yes I said I am a Republican and damn proud of it!), the Boy Scout Motto of Be Prepared, and the motto Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.

I carry six guns. All of them are Glocks in .40 S&@ caliber with Night Sights and are bone stock except for some wolf springs.

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