Monthly Archives: March 2009

Dust Gets in Your Eyes

Posted on March 31, 2009 by midiguru

Watched Stardust tonight. It’s a charming movie. I haven’t read the novel, but I’ll make a point of seeking it out; I’m a Neil Gaiman fan already, so I was pretty sure the movie would be good. Aside from one … Continue reading →

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Inform 7: Not Just Kid Stuff

Posted on March 28, 2009 by midiguru

My first three-month adventure teaching interactive fiction to kids has come to an end, and a new class is scheduled to start next week. It’s tricky to generalize on the basis of one group of eight students; maybe these kids … Continue reading →

Posted in Interactive Fiction, writing | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Same As It Ever Was

Posted on March 26, 2009 by midiguru

This post will probably end up embarrassing me somewhere down the road, but right now I feel a need to get it off my chest. When I was in my 30s and craving a close relationship, I did some poking … Continue reading →

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Brave New World

Posted on March 24, 2009 by midiguru

This morning’s email served up a surprise announcement from Gino Robair that he has been laid off as editor of Electronic Musician. “Due to a corporate restructuring,” he says, “my position was eliminated.” Let’s see, now … the corporation publishes magazines. … Continue reading →

Posted in media, music, technology | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Space Is the Place

Posted on March 21, 2009 by midiguru

Saturday night. Decided to pig out. Watched three sci-fi movies streamed from Netflix — two Stargates and then Serenity for dessert. I’m using the pejorative term “sci-fi” advisedly. I’m not sure any of this qualifies as actual science fiction. Okay, … Continue reading →

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Newspapers

Posted on March 20, 2009 by midiguru

Newspapers across the country are in big trouble. And let’s face it, a democracy needs reliable sources of news. Which means newspapers and news magazines. Bloggers are bullshit. Television is hyperactive fluff. Not that anybody is paying the slightest attention to … Continue reading →

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The Meat Grinder

Posted on March 18, 2009 by midiguru

Conservative commentators (not that I listen to them, but their blather is hard to avoid) have been accusing Obama of rushing the U.S. down the road to socialism. Would that be such a bad thing? Why, exactly? Conservatives view the … Continue reading →

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Poet Lariat

Posted on March 16, 2009 by midiguru

The time is drawing nigh when the city of Livermore will select a new poet laureate. Livermore is not known as a literary hotbed, and there’s no reason why it ought to be; if there are any world-class writers living … Continue reading →

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Always an Adventure

Posted on March 15, 2009 by midiguru

It must have been about 1979 when Jon Sievert (who belonged to a Kaypro users’ group, where floppy disks were passed around like candy — there was no such thing as copy-protection in those days) handed me a disk and … Continue reading →

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Loading In, Loading Out

Posted on March 12, 2009 by midiguru

Thinking vaguely (and not for the first time) about doing some gigs as a solo cellist. I have a couple of hours of very nice backing tracks, which I recorded into my computer. All finished, mixed, and ready to go. Doing … Continue reading →

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