Author Archive
Posted on August 12, 2010 - by dirtymitten
Frankenocchio
Just about the most bizarre puppet theatre ever, done mostly Japanese bunraku style, with carnival themes, some elements of Frankenstein and some elements of Pinocchio, with a live circus band, very strange characters, and ample amounts of innuendo.
It was really creative, very magical, very R-rated, violent, cheeky, funny, visually stunning. Like a lot of spectacles, though, it reeked of self-absorption, which is too bad, ’cause it got in the way of the timing of the gags. The gags could have been funny if they had the accuracy of clowns or the speed dynamic of cartoons, and the puppet-master and director didn’t compromise the head-spin gag 100 times just because the timing ultimately made 88% of it unfunny and annoying.
Still, aside from the very picky former theatre director who likes to nit-pick a show because he can, non-nit-pickers will have a fabulous time inside some strange circus contraption.
This show was a remount, I saw the original some 5 years ago – same puppets, better plot, better schtick – and this is a review of that previous performance. Tonight was opening night, so expectedly rough, but also a great audience. It will certainly shape up.
Next 4 weekends, at the Lee Arts Center on the campus of Seattle University. 1 hour 20 minutes. 4/5 sitting ovations.
Posted on July 14, 2010 - by dirtymitten
iTunes Trick for Eliminating the word The from Alphabetical lookup
The title sounds like a goddamn thesis paper, but it’s really quite easy.
If you’re a musical purist, like me, a catalogue of tracks where 90% of the band names are clumped in with each other because the band name of the album title begin with the word ‘the’. In that case, alphabetically, according to iTunes Talking Heads comes before The Stranglers, and it drives me up a wall.
Well, check this out. If you right-click on a track and select Get Info (which also never made sense to me, because I’m GIVING Info), you’re presented with the track information. Surrounding the band name with square brackets like this will force iTunes to alphabetize according to the bracketed section.
Like this:
The [Jam]
The [Members]
The [Only Ones]
Sex Pistols
Stiff Little Fingers
The [Stranglers]
Talking Heads
Posted on June 22, 2010 - by dirtymitten
It’s the ultimate Tekken
Yes, yes it is. Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online Edition for PlayStation 3 is a beauty. What, dozens? Dozens of characters to choose from, practice off-line, and then take the fight online with brilliant matching. Plus, for that ultimate in sitting-on-the-couch-with-your-buds element, there’s the mic, which brings the party to you.
For $30 plus $300 for the Playstation, it’ll be the best $330 you ever spent on a Tekken game!
Posted on June 11, 2010 - by dirtymitten
Album of the Day: Broken Bells
Honestly, the first thing that attracted me to this album was that Silver Platters painted the album art on their wall (as they do with big releases every few weeks). Little did I know I’d already heard Broken Bells in the commercials on television.
Boy did I ever. The entire album, start to finish, is a sort of seamless drone of music. It’s certainly tolerable. It’ll be ever-so retro in twenty years. Congratulations guys. Unfortunately, if you’ve heard one or maybe two songs that stick out, you’ve heard them all.
Since the album review is a start-to-finish listening analysis, I’d say give it a listen or two, and that’s about all you’d need.
Posted on April 3, 2010 - by dirtymitten
Little box design
Here’s the little box design I was talking about. Not here, but to you, in person.
Posted on March 16, 2010 - by dirtymitten
Processing notes 3.16.10
Mmmm, Processing.js
http://processingjs.org/
for Javascript integration in the browser. Better than Flash 
Processing is a Java-based wrapping development environment that allows for quick and easy coding for graphical and user-interface designs.
// It's a convention to declare variables at the top,
// and variables must be declared outside of the setup
// and draw functions? classes?
int j = 0;
int c = 0;
int cx = (255-c);
void setup(){
size(800,600);
frameRate(120);
background(255, 11);
}
void draw(){
if(mousePressed) {
stroke(mouseX % 255);
strokeWeight(abs(pmouseX-mouseX));
line(pmouseX, pmouseY, mouseX, mouseY);
}
// if (keyPressed == true) save("filename" +j+".png");
}
void keyReleased(){
if (key == 's') {
++j;
save("filename"+j+".jpg");
}
// the ' ' indicates (maps) the spacebar to this event
if (key == ' '){
fill(c);
c = round(random(0-255));
println(c);
cx = (255-c);
println(cx);
noStroke();
rect(0,0,width, height);
stroke(cx);
}
}
void drawGreenRect() {
fill(0,255,0);
noStroke();
rect(30,30, width-60, height);
stroke(0);
}
//void mouseReleased(){
// ++j;
// save("filename"+j+".png");
//}
Posted on March 10, 2010 - by dirtymitten
Another noobie python question
Using easy_install to install SIP, PyQt, and other packages and modules on Windows
Another newbie question for the community, and quick and easy points to whoever’s online right now, I’m sure… I’m definitely not a Python expert, but I hope to be soon 
… I’m just moving my development environment to a Windows machine, and I’ve been used to using a Mac for programming Python for the last few weeks.
I’m trying to get SIP, PyQt, and any other packages that I need, using the easy_install command.
I’m wracking my brain. When I open the Python command line, and type:
>>> easy_install PyQt4
I get:
File “”, line 1
easy_install PyQt
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
That formatting may get a bit messed up, so I’ll put it in the code field. I don’t expect it to throw a syntax error. Sure, maybe the package isn’t there, but it should give a different error.
So, I need PyQt4, I need SIP, how do I specifically use easy_install on a Windows installation of Python to easily install modules and packages from here on out?
Update: http://prefetch.net/blog/index.php/2009/06/21/installing-python-modules-with-easy_install/
Posted on March 10, 2010 - by dirtymitten
Commanding the wrong Python
Hey, I never use this blog anymore, so why not try to get some hits? I’ll post trials and tribulations of beginning my foray into Python, at lease, until I get bored of doing that.
Here’s my issue:
I have Python installed on my Windows XP dev machine, and also in a Cygwin build. When I open the command prompt, and type python, I get the wrong version of python, 2.5.4, instead of the newly installed 2.6.4, which I desire.
How can I take back control, and better still switch between, the python versions?
I bet it has something to do with the Path environment variable, but I already added C:/python26 to the Path, and it’s not doing what I want it to do.
Let’s see what I can dig up….
Posted on December 14, 2009 - by dirtymitten
Embed Test
swervly from Brenna Murphy on Vimeo.
Posted on August 12, 2009 - by dirtymitten
I don’t read your blog!
I don’t really see the point of you reading my blog. I don’t read your blog. I’m sure it sucks. I don’t want to think less of you; I think so little of you already.
