tom moody

Criticism of the film Minority Report, written while that turkey was still gobbling in theatres seven years ago.

Liking this drawing, by Stephanie Syjuco, of a man walking through a gallery of life-sized sculptures based on Google SketchUp. Syjuco also made actual art objects based on the designs, a neat-but-too-pat idea that I learned about via Vvork. (Haven't seen the sculptures in person--maybe they're collectively mindblowing--but in reproduction they look like bland facsimiles of bland Anthony Caros.) More interesting is this, second layer of transformation--a "mockup" of the show. This gives you most of what you need to know about the idea. Don't know if it was necessary to build the sculptures to get this image, or if the mockup could have been generated in SketchUp based on imagining the show. I think it's the latter--as there is nothing like the giant sculpture in the background in the actual gallery installation photo.

Guthrie Lonergan has also been working with Google SketchUp, collecting designs in the 3D Warehouse and making some of his own. I prefer his good/bad renderings and his eye for other people's good/bad ones. It's not just about picking plain vanilla designs--it should be a comment on the clumsy pathos of the whole enterprise. Lonergan even found a collection of "modern art" on Google 3D Warehouse, so this idea has been pretty well covered.

images too large for front page:

pier collapsing under brand new apartment building on pier

another view of the same building: "live more. commute less"

perspective guardrail with skyline and second photographer

"Broomlike (Remix)" [5 MB .mp3]

My speakers don't like all the bass on this one (computer speakers will lose some of it). The piece is a little noisy and strange--still thinking about it.

Update: Posted the first remix I did of this tune and took down Version 2; changed the title of this post to reflect the substitution. The first version has more going on--an additional rhythm track. Still thinking about this. Usually this is the point where I add a melody that either overwhelms, pulls the tune together, or both. Am trying to break the pattern.

"Tranced Even (Rhythm Only)" [5 MB .mp3]

jb suggested doing this one without the piano. The keyboard was admittedly dumb and default-y but I can't decide if I miss it (or some tuneful part as yet unwritten).

jpeg via rising tensions

Dealer: "Do you think being young and good looking has anything to do with the success of an artist?"
Artist: "It shouldn't. For an actor or ballet dancer, maybe, but a painter isn't always going to be standing next to his work while it's being evaluated."
Dealer: "You're not a bad looking man. Are you saying this because deep in your heart you wonder if you could have been just a little better looking, you could have made it?"
Artist: "I'm saying it because it's true, unless you've found a way to graft an artist to a canvas as a permanent sex object."

"Fade Series: Cyan, No. 2" [6.4 MB .mp3]

A second piece with commercial trance loops run through a digital delay/chorus plugin called Cyan (a Reaktor effects instrument). A couple of live sessions were recorded and faded in/out. Sort of Richie Hawtin-esque, a fast syncopated march with phasing building to periodic climaxes.

A photo was posted here that I took down--it was vibrating badly with the rubbery letters below--will repost later. A smaller version is the left panel of this diptych. A friend asked if I could print some CD covers for his band. I did, and then manually trimmed them using an X-acto knife. The trimmings were a stack of odd-sized paper "slats." It seemed a shame to just throw them away, so I arranged them on the floor in a rough, irregular grid. I photographed it from above, then converted the image to grayscale in Photoshop.

Just remembered I posted the photo already with some ascii and one-bit "graffiti" superimposed.

The image on the right side of the diptych is another set of slats. These were to hold a mattress in a bedframe. I bought them at a yard sale, thinking I might make something with them. I took a photo and added some graffiti to it. I still have the uncropped photo without the graffiti but haven't posted it yet. The wooden slats I threw away.