tammylee | Reading

Braved the cellar stairs and got a wash put through. Whether it will dry on the line is another matter given how the promised sun disappeared after an hour. Cloudy and humid does not conduce to Dry.

Have been cooking a russet potato for three days now. This because I do the 'bring to boil, put on lid, turn off heat' thing, which prevents the potato from going all soggy. But evidently it also prevents the potato from cooking. Finally got it soft enough to mash, though my potato masher has vanished who knows where. Very nice, but that was my allotment of butter and cream for the week.

Should put on a pair of long-legged trousers tucked into socks and sweep up the linden's sheddings out front, because doing so in my 'humidex of 27' summer pants will get me mosquito bites all over my legs. Doubt very much that I will, though.

Finished Point of Hearts, a very satisfying Astreiant novel, and nothing else. Have a Tang-set historical novel on the e-reader, which must read because it's one of those 'ten people are waiting' library books. Have also a dead tree Charles Lenox that I forgot I had a hold on. Beaver on through Terra Nostra which is better than The Tale of Genji only in that it has paragraphs that go on for pages, not Murasaki's sentences that do the same. Except that Genji translators break up the sentences and the TN translator did not. Have also The Portable Machiavelli off the shelf upstairs and would actually rather be reading that. Would help if I'd buckle down and read any of these instead of watching Tiktok videos.

flemmings

The macrocosm is a dumpster fire that's spread to the neighbouring houses, but on the microcosmic scale, I find that the city has forgiven me three months and change worth of property taxes. This means I am rich! if not beyond the dreams of avarice, at least to the point that I need fear no dentist bill, since the insurance company is getting persnickety in what it will cover. As in that crown, which was supposed to cost me three hundred dollars, wanted a deposit of five. Yes well. Insurance companies are like that.

There was no google when I first read Terra Nostra: indeed, there was no internet. I knew there was something A/U going on because Elizabeth Tudor never married a Spaniard of any description. But I only now discover that Felipe II's father was not Felipe the Fair, husband of Mad Joanna, but a very prognathous Carlos of some numeration. These Habsburgs who were kings and/or emperors of half a dozen countries are an historical PITA. Luckily it's not my period. And equally, Felipe II was quite a different type than the one in the book. So Terra Nostra is not so much historical A/U as magical realist history.

yhlee

A particularly hilarious example of low-effort spammer/scammer.

Seriously considering how much spam I could effortlessly screen out if I set up my email to automatically delete ANYTHING with the word "Amazon" in it that isn't on a very small (like, a half-dozen people small) whitelist of family and close friends.

flemmings

Ah, so The Magic Flute is playing at the Elgin. The candlelight concert is The Four Seasons, but equally it's not at my local church but also somewhere downtown. So no, probably won't be going to either, sigh.

Warm September continues rather pleasantly, aside from the sweatiness going anywhere. Anywhere was the laundromat this morning so towels and pillowcases and my threadbare hoodie are now clean. I'd been wearing the hoodie alone the past couple of nights quite happily, but the lows aren't getting low enough early enough for that. Sleep shirt it is for now. I should also take my down duvet into the dry cleaners but am afraid temps will nosedive to the point where my fibre duvet and wool blankets won't be enough. OTOH my duvet is over 20 years old and never been cleaned, so kind of overdue.

yhlee

(cross-posted:

communal_creators)

earlier:
- part 0: preliminaries
- part 1: brief demo: engraving software (Dorico)

Watch on YouTube

Brief walkthrough of the start of a fake piano sketch in Cubase Pro that I'll build into a hybrid orchestral piece using MIDI and VSTs. I don't claim this is good music, just something for demonstration purposes and to talk through some of the technical details. This is musically unexciting but covering DAW basics will make the later hybrid orchestra bits easier to understand, hypothetically.

(Sorry, the audio recorded in mono; I will look at my audio interface settings again.)

For those curious about my usual style(s) of music, my music reel.

flemmings

Googling around for discussions of Boneland gets me a reminder of Cocteau's Orphée, a forgotten fave from my 20s. Probably seen in that same Film Odyssey series that introduced me to Kurosawa that was another 'opposite of nail in coffin' (unconscious impetus?) that led me almost twenty years later to go to Japan. Seventeen years is nothing now but then it was several lifetimes. Anyway, Orphée. Brief clips on YouTube suggest I might find it reeeally overdone now, and Jean Marais is entirely Too Much. But. But. I would like to see it again.

Equally I would like to go to some upcoming concerts hereabouts. Ballets Trocadero, or a candlelight and surely truncated Magic Flute. The latter is at a local church where I could enquire about how disabled seating works with first come, first served. The former is way down Yonge St and pricey, and I have these dental bills still piling up. But I'd like to be out and about again because this crippled mindset is getting me down.

Will I read Boneland? Am disinclined, especially if I'm supposed to think that all of the preceding books is Colin's dying hallucination, or Colin refusing to remember being raped, or something equally unpleasant.

yhlee

(cross-posted to

communal_creators)

Earlier:
- part 0: preliminaries (includes partial glossary of terms)

Watch on YouTube

I know there are a lot of people who haaaaaate being forced to sit through video but since audio playback is inherent to the enterprise...This is under a minute, promise.

This is a brief demonstration of the opening of one of my compositions partially engraved (~sheet music typesetting) in Dorico. The two industry-standard engraving apps in media composition scoring are Dorico and Sibelius; Finale used to be a third but was sunsetted to much consternation.

If you come from classical music (especially classical orchestral music), you may be ??? about the score formatting. This is because scores for session orchestra and concert/classical orchestra have different formatting! (See part 0: preliminaries for more detail as to why). Differences for session orchestra you see here include:

- Score is in C (NOT a transposing score for the conductor - nota bene, transposing is "allowed" for octaves), but we won't have e.g. horn in F or trumpet in Bb. ( Read more... )

As for playback:

- Guess what, Dorico and Sibelius at the level of orchestral scores are spendy. :]

- I'm using NotePerformer, which is the standard higher-quality playback engine, especially if you don't have time to mock it up in the DAW (or you're an art/concert composer for whom a mockup is not part of your workflow). But that's also money (~$130 USD).

NotePerformer is pretty credible with a lot of orchestral instruments. You still have to massage its output. For example, in Sibelius [not shown] you can set playback to molto espressivo (LOTS OF FEELING) vs. senza espressivo (NO FEELINGS EVER!!!) (etc). My experience is that particular instruments can be less "real"-sounding and the "vocalists" (both SATB choir and associated "solo" voices) are absolutely terrible, as in "my vacuum cleaner sings more credibly than this" terrible.

Aside: There are some good vocal VST libraries for specific use cases. I hate that I am often able to straight-up identify "Oh yeah, XYZ floating ethereal ~Celtic Twilight vibes soprano 'ahhh' ululation in this trailer/score/whatever was $SPECIFIC_VST_LIBRARY" because, apparently, I have no life; but this is not unusual in this field.

I know at least one full-time composer/orchestrator/musician who straight-up bounces NotePerformer output and then processes that in the DAW (reverb etc) and, you know, this person makes a living doing this. So that's one route one can take.

Why, you ask, can't we just export this score-stuff into a DAW with all the fancy (...spendy) VST instruments and "paste in" nicer/more individualized instruments? Dorico (and Sibelius) do in fact export to MIDI and MusicXML. [1] This is a very reasonable question that will be the topic of the next walkthrough (part 2), mainly because it's a surprisingly (annoying) complicated topic as to why this is rarely straightforward. (Let me tell you all about negative track delay...)

[1] Missed these glossary items earlier! ( brief explanations of MIDI and MusicXML )

Happy to answer questions, although I have no idea if anyone else finds this interesting. :p

yhlee

Watch on YouTube

Dreaming Robots' Electric Eel Wheel 6.1 e-spinner with some sacrificial Rambouillet/Gotland wool blend. Sorry about the mess; too hot to go outside with this. I don't claim this is good spinning, just a brief demonstration of Getting The E-Spinner To Do A Thing.

white_aster

At NIH, Political Appointees Get More Say in Grant Decisions
In a shift from longstanding precedent, political priorities may now override peer review in research funding decisions.

:head in hands: This is the exact opposite of the way that current peer review works. Yes, science agencies have always had priorities and shifted funding toward initiatives that might be priorities of the current administration, but not at this nitty gritty grant level. Before, you might fund, say, the BRAIN initiative because it's something the president backs. But you would then let the peer review process (ie, actual brain experts) figure out who should get the funding. Now? Now a political appointee could decide they don't like a project for apparently literally any reason, and even though it's actual, non-sarcastic "gold-standard science", it could be passed over.

This opens up all kinds of corruption influences. Who is going to be watching the watchers? What criteria are appointees allowed to use to thumbs-down these grants...or can they do it for any reason at all? Are they just looking for a keyword? Are they looking at the PI's internet history? The Institution, to see who the administration is fighting with now? Are they relying on their unscientific opinion of what "sounds important"? Are they open to bumping up funding for PIs or institutions that are friendly to them or their higher-ups. regardless of the science involved?

And the anecdotes at the end from how all this is affecting the peer review process--how scientists are starting to nope out of this onerous and increasingly apparently thankless task--are the predictable signs of a scientific funding process in absolute crisis. Scientific review runs on volunteers, and people stop wanting to volunteer if they feel they're just going to be ignored, jerked around, and wronged.

yhlee

Watch on YouTube

Ashford Traveller (single treadle although you can see that, Scotch tension). Spinning mulberry (bombyx) silk from combed top.

flemmings

Well, that was A Day. Starting with A Night. Bed early because alarm set for 9 and then couldn't sleep and then leg cramps (more magnesium!) and then mosquito bites itched and then recurring nightmare of stabbing to death not only my HS best buddy but her brother-in-law as well. And then it was 7:30 and I knew if I went back to sleep the alarm would rip me awake and I'd feel exhausted for the rest of the day. So I did an hour of stretch and strengthen instead, got up and had breakfast etc etc, brushed teeth and waited for cab. Who arrived early and even with traffic got me to the dentist in 25 minutes. Wasted time in Shoppers and then had a 90+ minute appointment where she sawed off my crown and cleaned the cavity under it and put a temporary crown on it and told me not to drink anything hot until the freezing wore off and to chew on the other side.

I had a vague notion of maybe walking up to Canadian Tire and looking at tree loppers, or taking the subway up to Yonge and walking from there, or something. But warm humid September, that sleep-deprived night, and 90 minutes in a dentist's chair meant everything hurt, and what didn't hurt was stiff. So went over to University to get the subway up to St George, and thence to Bathurst for sushi. But the sign said the Bathurst elevators weren't working. OK, I'll have sushi at Spadina then. But the sign said the Spadina elevators weren't working either. Which meant going to Ossington and walking back. And if I have to go to Ossington, by god I'm going to have my yearly Big Mac there, and damn both the calories and the boycott. Which did, but it was still a weary walk home, and the whole thing got me a bare 5000 steps.

I trust I will sleep well tonight.

yhlee

Or: if your goal is threadweight/cobweb, why silk fiber is not quite as profligate an expense as you might think:

The white is mulberry bombyx silk; the tawny stuff was my briefly foraying into eri silk. This is for personal use/enjoyment (needle lace) so it's fine that I'm wandering off like this. This is several hours of admittedly inefficient spinning, since I take frequent breaks so there's a very start-stop nature to it, but because the spin is so fine, this bobbin is...not very full.

This is what I have REMAINING in 2 oz. of mulberry silk combed top (about $25 USD). It exploded out of the package (typical) and also, it barely looks like I've even used any of it. As it stands, I suspect I'm going to be spinning this combed top for the next 30,000 years. :)

That said, silk is my absolute favorite to spin and I prefer spinning threadweight, so this is not a hardship.

yhlee

Ex Tenebris: a gothic space opera TTRPG [Kickstarter, already funded!].

Beyond the dark emptiness of space, beyond dreaming, lies the Tenebrium. Only you can unearth its mysteries, defeat the twisted horrors that lurk there, and keep humanity from becoming prey.

In Ex Tenebris, you play a ragtag team of investigators, protecting the Republic of Stars from terrifying supernatural threats. You will face sorcerers and cults, dark technology from lost civilisations and the slobbering terrors lurking in the nightmare realm of the Tenebrium.

Ex Tenebris is a complete TTRPG containing all the rules, setting and scenarios that you need to embark on adventures amongst the stars.

[...]

Ex Tenebris takes inspiration from the grotesque imagery of the Aliens movies, the existential dread of Event Horizon, the mysticism of Dune, the dark gothic setting of Warhammer 40,000, and the weird science/magic fusion of Ninefox Gambit.

- Josh Fox, lead designer & writer
- Becky Annison, writer
- Juan Ochoa, illustrator
- Nathan D. Paoletta, layout and graphic design
- Andriy Lukin, logo design
- Jog Brogzin, cartographer
- Chirag Asnani, writer
- Sarah Doom, writer
- Eleanor Hingley, writer
- Kieron Gillen, writer
- Yoon Ha Lee, writer (howdy!)
- Tejas Oza, writer
- Galen Pejeau, writer

flemmings

Warm September leads to brain melt. Dentist calls with an opening for tomorrow at 11:45, I say ok, half an hour later am unsure if it's 11:45 or 12:45 or surely not 10:45. Tomorrow is also garbage day so hope the trucks come at their usual 9-something and the street is clear by 10:45.

Warm September also makes things hurt, but filled a third bag with seedlings and dragged them all to the front sidewalk.

Finished Weirdstone, am reading Gomrath, finished Charles Lenox 3 and started on 4. Desultorily reading a collection of Chinese cheng'yu, (usually) four character proverbs, idioms, sayings, whatever. These are about plants; I have other volumes for animals etc. Won't remember them but at least I've seen them once. Of course reading them suggests I should start reviewing kanji yet again because of the 'dammit I *know* that one but can't remember its meaning' factor (which is always different in Chinese but-of-course.) But warm September: can't be arsed.

Here in the autumn Ghost Tide I'm taken back almost 60 years to first year uni. I wish I'd kept my Fine Arts textbooks-- and can't think why I'd have abandoned them-- because I'm all kinds of nostalgic for black figure pottery and archaic Greek statuary. Though, when I google, I find several kouroi and korai that hadn't been discovered back in '67. Semper aliquid novum, I suppose.

yhlee

Test spin of small experimental alpaca floof batch.

For lagniappe, the completed smol woven object made from my handspun that's headed to

eller, mostly wool/silk/angelina blends (both colorways). :3

flemmings

Aside from a telephone consult with my small-m medicine man, accomplishment today was taking apart one of my woodblock prints whose glass cracked lo these many years. I take my hat off to the framers of same because jeez that thing was solidly assembled. Took a utility knife and a flat head screwdriver and a hammer to prise it all apart, and print took some minor damage in the process. Half the glass is now in a bubble wrap envelope awaiting garbage day. The other half requires a larger envelope which I have not got, since I don't really want to try breaking it with a hammer to get it down to size.

Other accomplishment was getting a bottle of gin open, non sine labore, and alas I didn't manage to do it in time to ease the back spasms so that I could sweep up the linden detritus out front before it got too dark to see. Must do that tomorrow. Gardening in the back yard got me two mosquito bites on the back of my leg (well, I hope they're mosquito bites) and I hope to be spared that in the front garden.

But consoled myself with my favourite dinner, poached duck egg on an avocado-spread slice of bread. Caraway rye would make it perfect but no one has that anymore.

yhlee

I used hand carders after washing, then drying outside. It's extremely fluffy (and probably de facto blended with catten floof). I've never spun alpaca before, so that's next!

yhlee

Wrapping up this tiny DIY loom + handspun (the yarns and the silk thread) for

eller. :) Mainly bobbin-end leftovers from plying yarns that went to their furever homes. :)

yhlee

The adventure begins. :)

(Alternately, I have misidentified the bag and it's really mohair?!)

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Reading

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lolnope

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sampled orchestral mockups + music production: part 2: demo of a simple piano sketch in Cubase (DAW)

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a 3-ply yarn

sampled orchestral mockups + music production: part 1: brief demo of engraving software + playback

not good spinning demo: EEW 6.1

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not-good spinning: demo of spinning silk on a treadle wheel

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spinning WIP

Ex Tenebris TTRPG on Kickstarter! (I'm writing a scenario for this)

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alpaca adventures, cont'd

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processing alpaca floof, cont'd

further adventures in handspun + weaving

alpaca processing: the adventure begins!

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January 2022

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