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Diving in Sipadan

Just got back from Sipadan in Malaysia. Amazing dive site – loads of sharks, sea turtles, barracudas and every variety of colorful reef fish. Sipadan Water Village is a very well-organized scuba resort. As soon as they get their quota allocation from the government (only 120 divers at any time on Sipadan), they plan out the following day’s boat dives, ensuring that you get a lot of time in the water. Nik & I dived at Sipadan 6 times in 3 days, and 3 more dives at other locations. Click here for more pictures.

I can't believe it's an iPod!

Well, actually, it isn’t. Found it in Sim Lim Tower (Singapore), marketed as Nano Gen II. It has a bigger screen, built-in speaker, FM radio… and a diabolically useless user interface, all for S$55. (The real iPod is on the left…)

Watermelon Noise Feast at SuperDeluxe, Nishi-Azabu, Tokyo, July 20

A big, yet strangely refreshing, production!

Come to SuperDeluxe in Nishi-Azabu for the super-sized version of Neon/Music and Loud Objects performance, with special mystery guests! I’ll be performing Neon/Music in its full-scale triple screen goodness, with enhanced sonification. The Loud Objects have boosted their numbers with brave volunteers, and will be building and playing multiple circuits.

Check SuperDeluxe and the Watermelon Noise Feast website for updated information, and pictures of Kunal’s cat!

Circuit Breaker at Stereo Lounge, Roppongi, June 28

Played first gig of the ITP Japan tour, with Tristan and Kunal. I played Neon/Music, Tristan and Kunal (also from ITP) performed the Loud Objects. Victor found the venue and brought in DJs to make it a very complete evening. It was great to meet with a lot of my friends there!

As for the gig, had to overcome some technical difficulties, but it all came together in the end. Performing my Neon/Music piece for more than a few minutes at a time is very stressful – have to make a huge effort to keep it interesting, and yet keep an overall sense of structure. I was not able to source a projector for the Loud Objects, so we used a light shining under a plexiglass sheet, and then a video camera to project the circuit construction on to the various screens around the venue. Here are pictures of Tristan and Kunal frosting the plexiglass. Video of the gig will follow shortly…

Stereo Lounge is a plush bar in Roppongi, all sleek glass and black velour. Don’t think they were expecting the random weirdness of my Neon Music project, or even less, the aural assault of the Loud Objects. Yet, amazingly, the manager later asked my friend Victor if he could organize something like this on a monthly basis. So I guess they liked it…

Neon/Music and Loud Objects will perform again in Tokyo, on the 20th of July at SuperDeluxe in Nishi-Azabu. Please come – this promises to be an amazing event!

Future of video cameras, today

I was in Sakuraya (a large Japanese electronics retailer) today, and saw something interesting: Of the 20 models of video camcorder that they had on sale, only 3 used DV tape. One of these was a Sony HC-7 (HDV) and the other two were from Panasonic and Canon. Every other camcorder there recorded to DVD-R media or a built-in hard drive. Half of these were using the AVC-HD codec.

It is mind-boggling how quickly DV has become a legacy technology. Even HDV (HD MPEG2 recording to DV tapes), which has only been on the market for 3 years, is on the way out, at least in the Japanese market. This has interesting implications: AVC-HD requires a lot of processing power to decode, let alone edit. Also, the hard disk cameras need to be backed up to a computer, unlike DV tape which is its own archival medium. So clearly there are enough consumers out there with high-spec computers that the camera makers can start retiring DV from their product lines.

The workflow with random-access media (eg. DVD or hard disk) is so much quicker and easier than tape, that I think we will see a real surge in the production of amateur HD videos. Once again communications will become the bottleneck.

Chocolate Morphovision

Toshio Iwai is showing another of his incredible Morphovision installations, this time at the newly inaugurated 21/21 Design Sight art space at Tokyo Midtown.

A rapidly spinning sculpture is illuminated by scanning lines from a video projector, changing the timing and duration of the lighting pulses appears to warp the object.

Back in Japan!

Arrived in Tokyo two days ago.

I was happy to see how quickly I fit right back in – my phone rang already while I was standing in the immigration line! Patterns of interpersonal interaction, vocabulary, signs, the ways of navigating the city are all different from New York, and came back to me quickly.

First impressions, after a year away:

  • Everything is clean, shiny white or beige
  • People look at you in a different way
  • Food portions are much smaller (and everything is really good)
  • Lots of automation: shop doors, taxi doors all open and close automatically
  • So many people!
  • Washlets – why is this not a universal amenity in other countries?
  • Lots of tiny improvements – ATMs now take international credit cards, the Suica IC card system works on the subways, cup recycling machines in the subway that give you money back when you return your can or bottle, etc…
  • Lots of changes and new construction: in Azabu-Juban, the Donut Plant is gone (supposedly a NY based operation, with 1 branch in the Lower East Side and 8 in Tokyo…) and there is a vacant lot across the street. Akihabara (Electric Town) is changing rapidly: many of the older and more interesting junk shops are gone, entire blocks have been levelled, and vast, shiny new complexes are going up.

I’ll be performing a few times while I’m in Tokyo. On the 28th, I’ll playing my Neon/Music piece (final from Live Image Processing + MIDI classes), Kunal and Tristan will do a Loud Objects set. Then on the 30th I’m guest VJing at Club Asia, at a party organized by an old friend from the Shibuya days. After getting back from Singapore, I’ll be performing at SuperDeluxe on July 20th.

Vans of New York

Interesting van, often parked a couple of blocks down from where I live:

I wonder about the reference to the bees – perhaps something to do with this?

Scuba diving

I’ll be going scuba diving in Sipadan (Malaysia) later this summer, so I figured it might be a good idea to polish up my (extremely rusty, +20 year old) diving skills.

The picture shows me in the pool at the 14th St. YMCA, doing my confined water dives for PADI certification. A lot has changed since the last time I got any kind of scuba instruction: equipment is much better and easier to use, procedures have changed, approaches are different. I am looking forward to Sipadan…

Flock of birds

Flock of birds

Made with Processing.
Finally got around to posting video for this piece. Its been simmering on the back burner for a while. I hope to eventually swap in basic 3D models with texture mapping just to make their movement through the 3D space less faked.

Cast: flight404