UNDERDOG of PERFECTION

Here I sit in the living room, tentatively tapping out a blog entry on a tiny on-screen keyboard in the new iPhone version of WordPress. (So far, so good.) Meanwhile, the kids are watching a “Lazy Town” DVD on our new, gigantic 42-inch LCD HDTV, purchased last weekend. It’s an interesting study in technological contrasts. These days, everything’s profoundly huge or tiny, depending on the need for mobility. Nothing too deep, I know, but it’s cast in bold relief for me at the moment. Plus, it was a good excuse to test the iPhone app… and to post a photo of the giant television.

My new 3-song EP, Mellotronic: Far Out Sounds! (And Other Space-Age Hyperbole) is finished and streaming now!

The official release date for the CD and MP3 downloads is July 20, 2008 in honor of the 39th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

Tonight I proudly finished up the mastering of my new EP, and along the way I spent some more time exploring the blog where I found the great Mellotron promo film I grabbed some found speech from for one of my tracks.

Sadly for my sense of musical self-worth, I also discovered this video, which just makes me wonder why I am even bothering, when I’m so far behind this guy:

It goes without saying that I love my iPhone. I can geek out on just about any Apple device but the iPhone trumps them all. Yes, when I first heard the rumors circulating early last year that an Apple cell phone was in the works, I dismissed and denied them. “Impossible. That sounds totally stupid and Apple would never do something that totally stupid.” Of course, not only was I staggeringly wrong in my assumptions about the device, but by the end of the keynote I was already coveting one.

Fast forward to March of this year. Although no official word had yet come out that a 3G iPhone was on the way, it was fairly obvious. Nonetheless, the time was right, and I had to move on it, so I bought an iPhone while my window of opportunity was open. I certainly haven’t regretted it, and I admit I’m pleased that the 3G isn’t a revolutionary leap forward. That its most interesting feature — the new software — is fully compatible with the old iPhone means that not only did I not regret not getting a new iPhone this past weekend, it meant that in some sense I did get a new iPhone this past weekend. And it’s what I was waiting for since March.

But, sadly, the most peculiar flaw in the iPhone’s software, for me anyway, endures.

The Google Maps app has a cool little button that, when tapped, triangulates your current location from cell tower and public Wi-Fi hot spot data. Awesome. And it almost always works. But the one place I’ve discovered so far that it absolutely does not work is in my own house! For some reason, whenever I’m at home and I tap that button, I am dropped deep in the frigid depths of the Arctic Ocean beyond the northern coast of Alaska.

Now, given the fact that the map uses (*gack!*) Mercator projection, it’s darn near impossible to tell where exactly that’s supposed to be when you get that far up there. My guess is it’s simply dropping me into the default location it returns when both latitude and longitude come up null… probably 90 degrees north 180 degrees east (i.e. the “upper left” corner of the map, at least in terms of the coordinates they actually plot).

I am decidedly unhappy about this, far beyond any rational justification. That’s because it taps into my absurd and long-standing fear of blank spots on maps.

I’ve just finished designing the cover art for my new EP, Mellotronic: Far Out Sounds! (And Other Space-Age Hyperbole), and I just wanted to share it.

The EP is a tribute to the Mellotron, and features extensive use of the instrument. (OK, it’s really a software instrument with meticulous digital samples of real Mellotrons, but take the Pepsi Challenge if you care.) You can learn more, and listen once the tracks are completed, on the dedicated page.

Also… I’m looking for a high-quality scan of one of those old 45 RPM adapters, the kind that sticks right into the big hole in the record. I haven’t found any online yet, and darned if I can scrounge up an actual one in the basement to scan myself. I can live without it, but I would really like to have one to incorporate into the package art if possible. Anyone?