This page contains all entries posted to Manufactured Environments in February 2002.

cutting edge (after all these) years.

Posted by Daniel Stout on Mon 25 Feb 2002 at 11:06 PM

i’m listening to the vangelis “blade runner” soundtrack. it was a great day when this was released. it used to be, for something like 10 years after the film was released, that the actual vangelis soundtrack was unavailable. there was a knock-off soundtrack available, by some “pop” strings group. but afterall i wanted the real music. and finally in the mid-90’s they released the thing. it’s a wonderful record. i’ve listened to some of vangelis’ other work and rather enjoyed what this greek man had to offer. of course, electronic music has been a perpetual fascination since elementary school. i have always enjoyed synth music.

there was this significant point in my childhood that pointed the way for much of my musical tastes to come. i think i was in about fifth grade or so. there was this show on saturday morning that played music videos. i remember tuning in and as my father and brother watched, a brand-new video for herbie hancock came on. it was absolutely fantastic. it was, of course, the video for “rockit.” it was a turning point in my early life. it was a sign of good things to come. electronic music has a certain fascination for me. it’s hard to describe what parts of my brain it touches, but they are deep and vast.

later i would meet people who were into electronic music because of drugs or lifestyle, but for me it was always a promise of the future. “blade runner” fits into that ethic of life that i found at any early age.

a minimalist future. in college i discovered william gibson. in 1992, when i first read “neuromancer,” people were talking about virtual reality. it was slightly before the internet broke into the mainstream (which i peg at 1994). the book, which gibson wrote in 1984, seemed like it had been written yesterday at that point. it was so forward looking — so on top of elements of urban life in a futuristic, computerized world. i’ve read all of his books, and yet that one is still my favorite (“count zero” a close second).

as i sit here, letting this music wash over me, i think of the promise of technology. the current world has seen fit to punish the world of “irrational exuberance” and yet that mythical future world still exists in my mind. where are we headed? nature seems to disappear as the world created by man takes forefront. is this a good thing? i’ve felt the tug of conflicted interests over the years. there is nothing to be matched by the sound of the forest. and yet the cyber world of advanced technology has a deep sway in my soul. futurism vs. naturalism. the two seem completely different, and yet linked in ways that are hard to describe.

a cyber outpost in the midst of the wilderness. that is the divine. technology living alongside the natural world. what more can we hope for?

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dream myself alive.

Posted by Daniel Stout on Wed 20 Feb 2002 at 9:40 PM

i went to some meetings this evening, then headed to the wine shop to do some shopping. my older colleagues tend to buy a case at a time, but i walked out with three bottles in tow — a cabernet, a merlot, and a riesling. one of the advantages to living in a university town is having a lot of wine shops to choose from. i recently found out that a old friend is working at a particular winery in california now. funny how that all works. i was thinking about old friends tonight — thinking about what they’ve made of themselves — master’s degress, ph.d’s, law degrees and the like. the common thread of my friends over the years has not been area of interest (i’ve known biologists, philosophers, mathematicians, scientists, lawyers, pastors and so on) but rather grad school. looking over the wide net of my close friends — starting in elementary school and moving to high school and then college — grad school has been the common thread among them. i’m so honored to have known so many smart, smart people. it’s quite a thrill actually.

as old u2 plays out on the sound system, i’ve been thinking about this email i just sent. an old, dear friend of mine from high school recently got in touch with me again. i hadn’t talked to her in something like a decade, but there was still that connection. we had been fast, tight friends in high school — never quite crossing the border into boyfriend-girlfriend but always hovering close to there. at any rate, she sent me this email out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. we’ve been corresponding back and forth now a few times.

tonight, finally, i felt that there were things to be said to this friend. i poured a glass from the cabernet, and proceeded to write. it was more or less rambling — just talk about old friends and new commitments — talk of the things that went on after living abroad — serial monogamy kinds of things. rapid succesion of girlfriends that year as i recall. it seems so long ago now. but getting emails from this old friend had stirred some of those old memories — bringing them to life again — bringing them to my attention.

she was someone i deeply admired, and i wonder whether that’s a vision i had of her in high school and whether it’s still true or relevant. i don’t know. i’m just getting reaquainted with her now.

let’s hold our breaths for a moment. … okay, that’s enough. exhale. i’m just letting this fine evening wash over me. just letting the flow of the world take control.

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one true path.

Posted by Daniel Stout on Sat 9 Feb 2002 at 11:26 PM

i’ve been deep in thought this week. a lot has been on my mind. i’ve been searching for insight, and sometimes insight takes its time to come.

things came to a head late in the week. friday morning, i was pushing at the doors — knocking them, kicking at them — trying to unwind the knot in my thoughts. but i left my cares aside. i thought of other things — i thought of travel — places far and wide that i’ve seen — the coasts of malta — the mountains of new zealand. where was this all taking me?

if i’ve learned one thing over the years, it’s give the subconscious time and space. i focused on the work at hand and got some things done. but then lunch. once a month, i have lunch with my mentor. we talked and talked. it’s always productive time for me. having a mentor is a wonderful thing — something to help clarify, someone who can act as a sounding board. someone to help guide the career of another.

there are so many avenues open to me — that in some regards has been its own problem. i have many, varied interests, and these past few years i’ve been looking for a grand unified theory — something to bind the threads of my intellectual pursuits together. it’s like the lord of the rings — “one ring to rule them all.”

simply put, the ring is now on my finger.

the thoughts in my head finally crystallized, and the one true path is clear. the next few years will be busy ones as i hash all of this out, and the details of my plan of action will need to be worked out. the glue of my intellectual life has set. what seemed like so many unrelated pieces of history and theory are actually all part of the same wide universe. i’m following my passion and that’s all that matters.

good night my friends. thanks for reading another missive from the city. by the way, i continue to read “a beautiful mind,” and it’s a fantastic book. i highly recommend it.

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simplicity is the essence.

Posted by Daniel Stout on Sun 3 Feb 2002 at 11:23 PM

i started reading “a beautiful mind” by sylvia nasar this weekend. i’m about 100 pages into it, and it’s positively fascinating — a wonderful book thus far. it’s a biography of the mathematician john nash. he won the nobel prize for his theories in 1994. he is also a sufferer of schizophrenia. perhaps you’ve seen the recent movie of the same name?

someone told me the super bowl was this weekend. ha! that’s a laugh. let them eat cake.

i’m getting my new place situated. i bought some new chairs for the breakfast bar. the walls are a little blank yet. any suggestions? i’m thinking some framed rothko prints would fit the space nicely. otherwise it’s been a basically mellow weekend. i went to a matinee of lord of the rings — a decent rendition of the first book. it’ll be nice to see the entire trilogy once they’re released. i’m interested to see matrix 2. hopefully they’ve made a good film. we were discussing science fiction this week. the 80’s cyberpunk is my favorite sub-genre. william gibson still has interesting things to say.

i’ve been recording some more music onto my computer. i upgraded my ripping software (easy cd-da extractor) and upped the resolution to 320kbit. much improved fidelity. i’m actually pretty happy with the way these new mp3’s sound. i haven’t made any mix cd’s for a while, and i’m ripe for a new one. i’m been mostly picking up the contemporary minimalist classical i tend towards these days. eventually i’ll update my music page and put all of my classical recordings on it and maybe a few mp3’s for download. that’ll come.

is contemporary classical a contradiction of terms? it seems the easiest word choice to use. people instantly know what you’re talking about, and sometimes that’s the objective. is philip glass classic? classical? the modulations sweep over me and push me towards the end of the day. good night.

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