william gibson - pattern recognition

meh

"pattern recognition is kinda slow"

i have to agree with kim gordon. this page isn't meant to discuss plotlines, but this one is consciously weaved into itself: pynchonesque, perhaps, but maybe more like an episode of the x-files from scully's perspective. it seems like the entire thing was an attempt to test the strength of a security system. a war game, if you will.

the plotline is complex, but inconsistent, and not always as informed as it could be. for example, there's an insignificant twist where gibson speaks of western oil companies taking control of russian oil as a reaction to the instability in saudi production, presenting the implication of a shift of alliances towards russia. that seems laughable here in 2013, and should have seemed no less absurd in 2002, as the project for the new american century kicked in - neither was the russian state about to hand over or sell it's resources to western firms, nor was the west about to blow the historic opportunity to take control of areas in the russian sphere of influence. what is pushed here is a sort of an american-centric, unipolar, cnn-penned type of narrative that very much upholds the status quo perspective about the triumph of capitalism (for better or for worse) at the end of history but is in truth completely oblivious to the complexity of a deeply multipolar world, where events have causes rooted in multiple perspectives. i suppose that gibson touches on this theme of paranoia, but it seems like it's largely to push it off as too rigorous to account for reality. the result is a sort of coffee-shop pop literature loaded with superfluous references to the vapidness of american capitalism, but low on any real understanding of the world outside america's borders.

the thing is that i don't really care about plotlines or how consistent or realistic they are. a larger problem is that the text lacks any kind of measurable depth, and that the actual ideas that gibson conjures are invariably lost almost immediately. his brief exploration of advertising as an every day activity (and humans as cogs in the advertising machine) was interesting, but not remotely expanded upon. he makes some interesting observations about the back-stabbing, self-interested careerism of life in a corporatist system, but reduces them to the characteristic traits of the rather cartoonish villain, rather than as systemically enforced ideals. there may be an attempt at absurdism in making computers old-fashioned collectibles, but it really isn't particularly absurd...

so, it's a vapid text without much to explore beyond the basic plot, which doesn't even really add up. that's not to say it isn't moderately fun, it's just to say that it doesn't hold up as serious writing.

related media:

http://dghjdfsghkrdghdgja.appspot.com/categories/books/congress/PS/3557.I2264P38/index.html

demo #24: not that there’s anything wrong with that

so, i'm glad this isn't the first track i'm uploading. by this point, it should be clear that i had a tendency in this period to take first person perspectives of unsavoury characters in order to mock them - skater thugs, rapists, terrorists...

standard punk rock technique.

here, i'm a homophobe. and i'm kind of harsh; there's a certain level of comedy through the track if you have a dark sense of humour (and this was intentional), but it's harsh. so i should trigger warning this.

in truth, i was the stupid fag that was getting told to go away, although i was always very coy about my sexuality. well, how do you bring the topic up to a bunch of mostly sexually insecure teenage boys that have never dated and don't appear likely to date in the near future? i've mentioned to many people that i've never really been interpreted as a gay male, and that's absolutely true; it's not really the level i got attacked on. it wasn't even on the level of being effeminate; i've never really exaggerated my femininity, ether. the rejection was more on the level of not being able to relate to guy things. at that age, a certain kind of mindset deduces that not caring about certain guy things logically implies homosexuality. the logic is airtight, with the right axiom.

it's a little more complex than that, though. there was a sort of shielding effect at work. not with me, really (as mentioned, i just avoided the topic on just about every level), but with some of the other kids i was associating with. i'm not going to name any names, but i was sort of mocking them a little. what's between the lines is that old freudian suggestion, and in hindsight it really doesn't matter if i was right or not (it was out of line).

but, yeah. this is my mocking homophobe track, complete with aggro nu-metal riff, or at least the closest thing to an aggro nu-metal riff i could muster up. actually, i was a fan of life is peachy - and limp bizkit hadn't released their first disc yet, so i think i was actually sort of predicting something.

recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 7, 2013.

demo #23: skaters

this is maybe a little hard to understand, if you weren't a teenager in a very specific period - about '91-'99, the 90s i guess, when the nu metal shift "corrected" things and tough guys went backing to being metalheads.

that period overlaps with a period when punk fashion moved from subculture to dominant culture. as with any other failed social revolution, the period is more defined by certain subculture traits being co-opted than it was by any meaningful change in social attitudes, even if it did correspond with a move towards liberalizing social attitudes in the older members of gen x.

i remember playing this for my aunt, who was a teenager in the 80s, and she was just confused by it. in her day, the skaters were the skinny punk kids that got picked on by the meathead jock metal heads. as mentioned, i think people that were teenagers in the 00s may more readily associate with this as well.

but the 90s were weird in this sense. skater culture in the 90s was defined by a sort of thuggish machismo gang mentality that overlapped more into gangster rap than punk rock. what you had where i grew up was a lot of upper middle class white kids skating because it was advertised to them as the "cool thing to do" and in the process co-opting this sort of survivalist 'hood mentality into a tool of oppression that they used to bully and intimidate the kids that, a decade before, would have identified as skateboarders. those kids may have maintained an interest in punk rock, but weren't generally accepted into the skater clique - which was essentially the "in group".

the culmination may seem a little surreal nowadays, if for no other reason than that it's been forgotten. but i remember sneaking through back alleys, evading skateboarding gangs made up of kids into slayer, while i had socal punk music blasting through my headphones. and i'm sure you'll get similar stories if you ask around - or maybe you were also that kid.

on one hand, this track was constructed to be sort of precious, and i think that it is. it's a pretty catchy pop song, really. on the other hand, i think i was trying to be a bit tougher than i actually was. i wasn't one to back down from confrontation - i'm still not. while i think it's true that i could have taken most of these brats one-on-one, i probably would have mostly chosen not to. see, the fear was always more that they'd convert the boards into weapons and then jump you. in canada, guns aren't much of a concern, but knives are.

...and the fear often came out of trivial reasons. talking with somebody's girlfriend. having a pair of headphones or a pair of shoes that might be worth something. basic thug shit.

in hindsight, the analysis here is a little simplistic. suggesting that these kids are going to grow up into pimps is problematic on numerous levels, although i can state with blunt honesty that a number of the people the song was about have grown up to be petty criminals with lengthy criminal records. i have to own that lack of depth and how it comes out in sometimes less than ideal statements, but i'm going to once again blame that on my age.

overall, i like this track on both a musical and thematic level. i just wish i had articulated myself a little bit better.

recorded in april, 1997. remastered on nov 7, 2013.

Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]

From: sennheiser.ca
To: s
Cc: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>

S, would you be so kind as to render an assist here?

Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]

From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca

i'm really relieved by how easy it's going to be to fix these.

i have a credit at a music store in ottawa (steve's) that i'm going to try and cash in, but i'm not sure if it's enough to cover it. if that doesn't work, i'll want to order the part (the 069427) directly from you via check or money order. could you put me in contact with s for that? if she can send me the price, i guess i'll attach the check to the service form and send that in....?

jessica

well, maybe they were on lunch, actually.

i have my own timezone. try again when i finish my own...

for those of you not in ottawa, steve's is pretty much the stereotypical run-by-snobs music store. it's kind of a joke, locally.

getting steve's to pick up the phone has never been easy.

sent out several emails instead. fingers crossed.

if not, i'll just send sennheiser a check. i'm just happy it's easy to fix....

naw, not good. i don't think my options for immediate pickup are that good here in windsor.

i have an ancient credit at steve's, though, that i want to use up. perfect? i'm going to call them and see if they carry it...

Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]

From: sennheiser.ca
To: Jessica Murray <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>

I'm sorry!

I missed this entire thread.

Let's see what you come up with, in terms of experimentation. We take cheques, so if you decide a parts order is for you, s. on the Parts Desk can give you bottom line. Same deal for repairs, it just lengthens the process somewhat.

We're not huge, so we've never set up a warranty depot chain. In fact, the only one we ever did set up, dropped us because he didn't get enough business! Considering that we have a fairly large product catalogue, I guess that's a good thing!

The HD 440 II was designed to be user serviceable. This is no longer true with our products, save for the really high end stuff. This is why I mentioned rehabilitation of the old, rather than buying new.

The cable will come out without destroying anything. Wiggle the boot while firmly pulling downward on it. It's been in there a long time, it'll be stubborn. Observe polarity! Letter faces out.

The cable is steel on your model. Big on strength, but tough to solder. If it's not completely trashed, you can put a new plug on. Your call on whether it's worth it.

This model was one of the first to come from the Tullamore factory. They make almost all of Sennheiser's European product nowadays. A few(Uber-expensive) models come from Germany, while the buds and streetwear are out of China.

If your problem is intermittent operation, you can reverse the cable and see if the problem switches sides. If it doesn't, the capsule is trashed, and there's nothing to be done about it. Those parts are long out of production. (One of our techs still uses a pair of these, just to underscore how durable they are)

069427 is the number of the cable, just FYI

if you're not following that, it's excellent news - i just need to replace the fully modular cord.

i remember seeing an audiophile shop down on.....ottawa street. be back in a few minutes, hopefully with good news.

Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]

From: sennheiser.ca
To: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>

The HD 440 II was designed to be user serviceable. This is no longer true with our products, save for the really high end stuff. This is why I mentioned rehabilitation of the old, rather than buying new.

The cable will come out without destroying anything. Wiggle the boot while firmly pulling downward on it. It's been in there a long time, it'll be stubborn. Observe polarity! Letter faces out.

The cable is steel on your model. Big on strength, but tough to solder. If it's not completely trashed, you can put a new plug on. Your call on whether it's worth it.

This model was one of the first to come from the Tullamore factory. They make almost all of Sennheiser's European product nowadays. A few(Uber-expensive) models come from Germany, while the buds and streetwear are out of China.

If your problem is intermittent operation, you can reverse the cable and see if the problem switches sides. If it doesn't, the capsule is trashed, and there's nothing to be done about it. Those parts are long out of production. (One of our techs still uses a pair of these, just to underscore how durable they are)

069427 is the number of the cable, just FYI.

but it doesn't *seem* like i can snap them in and out. awaiting email response...

Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]

From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca

sorry, one more question.

i'm looking at replacement parts, and it almost looks like the cord clicks into place. well, here's a picture of a replacement part:

you can see what i mean. i'm getting the feeling that i can maybe pull the cord out and then snap a new one in. but i obviously don't want to determine if that's the case or not through experiment.

these are the 440-IIs. there's a big MADE IN IRELAND on the side if that makes a difference. could you determine for me (i understand you may have to forward me to a different department) if the cable is meant to snap in and out that way or if the plastic needs to be broken to recable?

i know it seems like it should be designed to disassemble, almost everything is nowadays, but this model is from the 80s...

jessica

actually this is exactly what i need. this gives off the impression that it's entirely modular and i'm literally freaking out over absolutely nothing at all - pull these out, snap a new set in.

see, it would be stupid to solder a new jack in, then realize i need to replace the cable. if i'm cutting this up, i want to do it once - put the cable in, then solder the new jack to the new cable.

although this seems to be the piece i need and it looks like it might just click in.

Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]

From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca

on second thought, i've taken a little closer look at the phones and it looks like the cord is connected to the phones as a single piece. of course, it must be soldered into place underneath the plastic, but it doesn't appear like there's a way to replace the cord without breaking the plastic apart and regluing it. there's no screws or anything. i kind of don't want to do that as a first attempt.

i think i can probably get the phones back in working condition by just replacing the plug, which is a quick soldering job that i can do myself.

if that doesn't work, i'll want to send them in to have the plastic taken apart and put back together - i'll recontact sennheiser if that turns out to be necessary.

thanks for your response,
jessica

yeah, i'm schizing out. this is nothing. calm down, jess....

probably just needs a new plug.

yeah, on second thought i should do this one thing at a time. just try and replace the jack, first. that's just electrical, i think, it shouldn't be a big deal getting something technically identical.

problem: it seems to be one piece. ugh.

lol.

MADE IN IRELAND....

how often do you see that nowadays?

actually, i think it's obvious that i should get something similar.

i've got a price estimate coming in from sennheiser but i expect it to be ridiculous.

so, i think what i should do is take the phones down to a store and see if i can find a similar cord. then see if i can find a soldering iron....

i should really probably have a soldering iron.

Re: Fw: Neue Anfrage aus dem Sennheiser Kontaktcenter vom 2013-11-03 [##SVS-Web-SK]

From: "Jessica Murray" <death.to.koalas@gmail.com>
To: sennheiser.ca

yeah, they seem to have just shorted permanently, and i'd kind of feel better about letting sennheiser fix them then taking them to a random shop.

i found this order form:
http://www.sennheiser.ca/live/download/Sennheiser_Repair_order_form.pdf

....but i don't have a credit card and, despite my previous rhetoric, i do need to watch the price very carefully. they're obviously well past whatever warranty my dad bought in the early 90s. do you have any licensed repair centres in windsor, ontario i could just take them in to and pay out cash for? if not, i'm wondering if you could give me a quick price quote and let me send you a check.

the symptom is that one of the ears is deaf. there's two possible causes, and i'm not sure which one is dominant. one of the ears has been a little loose, solved by jiggling it a bit. also, the base seems to have a short in it, solved by rotating it. it's the second of these that i've been doing more often. either way, there's two shorts in the wire.

if i'm going to do this, i'd prefer to just replace the entire copper wire altogether, from the phones right down to the plug. i don't want to do it twice, kind of thing. how much do you think that would cost?

ok. they're not as bad as i thought - coming from a quality source, and with the noise reduction turned off. they're not replacements for the 440-II's, but given that i'm just running everything through the same filters *anyways* (same source...i'm doing it track-by-track but i haven't deviated from the base algorithm of custom izotope patch + nr), i think i can use them while i'm waiting for them to get fixed. so i shouldn't get slowed down at least.

i'll also say that they died on me once before and came back. i wonder if it's temperature related, even. i'm going to let them sit for a few days and see if they come back.

....and, now to wade through all kinds of audiophile nonsense trying to get a straight answer about how important the wiring is in the sound...

i got a response back from sennheiser. they are indeed long out of production, and the response i got basically told me that if i want a similar sound, i'm fucked - they don't make anything remotely like this model anymore, so i'm better off trying to get them fixed than replacing them.

he also explained that if i end up getting new ones, i want to focus on open back models. after doing a little googling, i think he's right - and i think that the fact that most of the headphones i've tried have been closed back might be the biggest sound degradation issue i've been unable to get over. that muffed sound seems to be defined by this difference. but that's going to cost me probably close to $300.

it's imperative, though. i can't do anything without headphones.

the pair i got back in january are just not useful for recording. even at the time, i remember wishing that i would have got a gift certificate or something. they turned out to be ok for the laptop. but they run on a battery that turns on a "noise reduction". batteries in headphones isn't a good idea at all. but, that's secondary to all the processing at the headphone stage. i need headphones with zero processing - clean reproduction. those ones are made for people that want to listen to mp3s on their cell phone, not people that are recording or mastering things.

...and when you turn off the battery they're just glorified ear buds. i'm going to try them though....

:(

seem to be gone, and it's an emergency. no headphones = no recording. or, for right now, no remastering. which basically means no reason to continue to exist.

i'm going to try and get them fixed, but if i can't then i may have to sell some gear to get new ones. having one pair of good headphones is more important than having two guitars.

hopefully, i can get them fixed, though. that means plans for a telephone and border clearance are going to have to be put on hold for another month, maybe two.

and that i'm going to have nothing to do but read for the next little bit. ugh.

i don't feel i'm at fault. i left them in a safe space, woke up, and caput.

there's two problems. one of the ear plugs is a little weak, but it hasn't been a problem lately. the larger problem has been at the base, which has been solved by spinning the jack around. it seems like it may be a contact problem inside the base, but i have to admit that i'm not intuitively grasping what may be wrong with it.