Beautiful looping performance by Priscilla Ahn.

My new favorite music video of the moment.

As I’m going through all of my “grownup” paperwork and organizing it by type and tax year I came across a single, blank piece of yellowing loose leaf paper that had somehow made it into my mess, possibly years ago. I thought back to an incident last Winter when I was at work and a coworker was organizing his desk and a blank piece of paper laying there was about to make its way into the garbage.

“You’re going to throw out that blank piece of paper?” I asked, probably sounding a bit more intense than I meant to.

“Oh, I guess I was. Why?”

“It hasn’t had a chance yet, I’ll take it.”

I always seem to write some of my best ideas on scraps of paper. Just like with that piece of paper at work I think I’ll take this one, fold it up and put it in my notebook and give it another chance.

Last night I watched High Tech Soul: The Creation of Techno Music, something I’ve been eagerly awaiting since I found the movie on Netflix and added it to my queue. Let me say to begin with that I really enjoyed this documentary. First off, it’s about techno and I am (of course) very into electronic music of most forms. Techno in particular has a special place in my heart because of the second reason: it originated in Detroit and I am (of course) very into Detroit.

Given my interest in both topics there was a lot that the documentary discussed that I knew. For instance, I know about the Belleville Three and I know about Electrifying Mojo. I know about the Music Institute (which was just a couple blocks from where I work now) and the reasons why the music has such a life here in this city.

But there was plenty that I still learned. I think most interesting was just learing about a lot of the personalities directly involved and more detail about the moods at the time and how it built up to this sort of creative outlet. It’s not a particularly long flick, but it is arranged well and has a nice flow to it. Some people might criticize that there isn’t more music, but frankly this is a documentary about the creators and the time period just as much as it is about the music itself.

Here’s the trailer if you’re interested in checking it out.

What the fuck is wrong with people? I was in the restroom just now washing my hands as another guy was finishing washing his. He proceeded to take no less than six paper towels, quickly wad them up and wipe his hands and then throw them all away. 90% of that paper was completely dry. I know this because when I dry my similarly wet hands I’m able to get them completely dry using one paper towel.

It’s just frustrating, especially when you see little things like that all over the place.

1. Rainbows End, by Vernor Vinge.
2. A Fire Upon The Deep, by Vernor Vinge. (I’ve read it before, but I got on kind of a Vinge kick.)
3. The Emperor’s New Mind, by Roger Penrose.
4. About Time, by Paul Davies.