The Last Fight for the Living Dead

This is a blog about things I do, things I've done, and things I keep telling myself I am going do.

[onelargecoffee]

ARTPRIZE 2012: Complex Movements

I read a really great article about "the busy trap" that we often fall into, and how it is self inflicted; I think about it every time I tell someone I have been really busy, and it was the first thing to pop into my head when I was thinking about how to start this post off. I digress. 

So I've been really busy lately working with some amazing artists on an installation for ARTPRIZE 2012, which takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It's a multi-part installation called Complex Movements, so keep an eye out for more updates about the future portions of the installation.

Firstly I'll start off with the venue for this particular installation. 

There are technically two public art museums in Grand Rapids. One of them has been abandoned (but well looked after) for nearly 18 years. That is the site of the Complex Movements installation. Being someone who loves to touch things, this was a dream come true. I hate that you can't touch things in most museums. I know why you're not supposed to, but it doesn't stop the urge. Anyways, this is the opposite of that!!! Here is a photo of Vanessa and I monkeying around in one of the exhibits (the metal giraffe art piece was not disturbed for this photo :)  )

The artists have basically full permission to touch, move, integrate, and manipulate the exhibits in the museum. Now I will say it more of a science museum, so moving a stuffed wolf isn't the same as moving a Rembrandt or something...but still!!!! I brought my girlfriend Vanessa along with me, who just happens to be a photographer. Here is a link to some pictures she took of the space, which is called SiTE:LAB. They also have a blog here.

Below is the portion of the project that I worked on.

I'll do a tech post on everything later, but here' a quick rundown: Five wireless RF pads triggered by FSR's transmit to a central node and an Arduino Mega. The Mega outputs to a darlington array to control the RGB LED's, and also to a MIDI box which is hooked up to a Mac Mini. The Mac Mini is running Ableton Live. There is an amplifier and 55 speakers behind all that business as well.

When you step on a pad it linked to a particular instrumental track in Ableton. Each of the five pads are different tracks. When all five have people stepping on them, the whole song is triggered. After the whole song plays it moves to the next of three songs, with five more unique tracks. 

There is an installation mode, which has the vocals in the Ableton tracks, and a performance mode which has no vocals. The music is a collaboration between Detroit hip-hop artists Waajeed and Invincible. They performed in the building, but in a remote location and were projection mapped to a lenticular. The mapping was handled by L05.

Tiff Massey also contributed to the installation. I didn't get any pictures of her finished stuff, but it was a lot of print work with intricate patterns surrounding the images, forming a large pattern. 

Be sure to check all of the artists out, they all do great things. Wesley Taylor, Invincible, Waajeed, L05, and Tiff Massey. Brian DuBois also helped build the speaker enclosure so can't forget him. 

The installation made the top five time-based and performance pieces. Check that out here, if you'd like: http://www.mlive.com/artprize/index.ssf/2012/09/artprize_2012_top_25_on_jurors_lists.html

I'll post the code and schematics and nerd stuff in the next couple weeks for everyone who is interested. 

[onelargecoffee]

Scott Berels

Scott Berels is someone I have known about, and been acquainted with for some time. I recently started teaching a couple classes at the TechShop in Allen Park, where Scott works full time. We have become what I would call friends now, and talk frequently.

A couple weeks ago Scott told me he thought the stuff I was working on was pretty cool and interesting, and asked to check some of it out. "Ahem...well...you see... I didn't really...well...erm...document any of it" (looks away).

I built a table filled with fluid that can be controlled by magnets (ferrofluid) and under it had a stepper motor gantry system driven by an ardruino sketch I wrote that interpreted brain activity via an EEG sensor on your forehead and ear.

And I didn't take one single picture of it.

Not even with my cell phone.

Fuck.

And that is just one of many things I didn't bother to document. So Scott encouraged me to step my game up, and start documenting stuff more. I'm going to try to get back into the swing of things and document more. If for nothing more than being able to look back on something that I may have forgotten about.

A bolt size or something else, maybe.

So...Thanks, Scott Berels - http://scottberels.blogspot.com/

[onelargecoffee]

Moped Update

Last summer I put a 70cc K-Star cylinder and piston on my Maxi, along with a Dellorto SHA carb, and a Techno Boss pipe. I really like to do stuff in steps, so I just slapped it together and went on blasting. This year I am going to take it all back apart and case match everything and do some port work (or switch to an 80cc MetraKit). I'm not 100% sure.

I am doing a little cosmetic stuff too. I took off my turn signals and some other stuff as you can see in the picture above. I saw this motorcycle in Birmingham and it definitely settled my mind on going with flat black and red for the colors. 

My ped quit running randomly one day a couple weeks ago and it ended being the spark plug boot, so I finally ordered a new one. Went with red just like the bike above. I also have powdercoating equipment, but the oven isn't big enough for a full frame, so I will either build a bigger oven, or send it out. I still need to build a sandblast cabinet that can fit a full frame too. 

I finally bought new tubes and tires too, since the bike was still sporting the originals from 78. Got a double seat and some other much needed parts too. Like a bigger front cog. Upping the 18 tooth to a 20 for more top end. I think I'm gonna end up getting a bigger more tunable carb soon too. I'm only netting around 40mph right now, and I know this kit has way more potential.

I'll hopefully be able to get everything on there pretty soon, and I'll update with some more pictures and how things went. End goal for this project: Make a super reliable moped that can go 60mph. My friend Ted and I (and maybe some others (wanna join?!)) are going on a moped road trip to either Northern Michigan or the West Michigan in the fall, so that is the deadline.

[onelargecoffee]

Oh Rhonda. We've Been Through So Much.

That's the odometer in Rhonda, my 1997 Honda Civic. Here is a little backstory:

Rhonda was purchased new off the lot by my brother-in-law Brian after he finished college. He was originally going to drive to Alaska, but instead decided to take a road trip across the United States. He has a lot of great stories from this trip, but I can't do any of them justice, so I won't try.

Brian drove her to about 180,000 miles I believe, I can't remember exactly when I inherited the car. Then it was time for some of the bigger routine maintenance, like a new clutch (it's a manual) and some other heavy work. Brian, not being overly mechanically savvy, passed the car down to me on the grounds that I would do the maintenance and take care of the car as he did. <---That meant keeping up on things like oil changes and a good set of tires, and also taking trips to triple digit speeds and other general abuse to keep the car in tip-top shape. And man, she loves some abuse.

So I followed in Brian's footsteps. I have driven the car across the country, just over a year ago Rhonda, Lee, and myself drove out to Colorado on our annual roadtrip. On the way back we drove from Boulder to Detroit straight through. We only stopped to get more coffee and gasoline. At 285,000 miles, Rhonda blasted for 23 straight hours.

No-fucking-problem.

As she approached her milestone birthday, Brian and I sat down over some beers and exchanged stories about our trips, but more importantly, we rang up which states we had driven the car to.

Grand total: 42 of 48 continental US states. 

Now, she's rolling at about 302,xxx. A few months ago I bought a blown up Honda D16 engine (same engine that's in the car now) and started rebuilding it. I know I could keep driving the car well past the 300k mark, but she is starting to get tired, and isn't quite as peppy as she once was. So over the next month or two I will finish building the new engine and swap the old one out, breathing new life into something that has outlasted so many other things.

Maybe Rhonda will even make it 12 more years and my niece (Brian and my sister Shannon's daughter) will have her first car.

I love you Rhonda.

[onelargecoffee]

Piezo-Triggered RGB Controller

So I was recently contacted by a grad student at Cranbook who was looking for a controller that would cycle through the seven different standard RGB colors, and that would be triggered by a strike.

The application was for a live performance, and the RGB LED's would be inside of a hand made acrylic drum.

The drum would be part of a stage installation at the Detroit Science Center for Art-X, and Detroit's own emcee Invincible would be the one using it in her live performance. 

I will post some footage of the live show so you can see it in action as soon as I can get my hands on it, so keep your eyes peeled. 

[campdetroit-blog]

Welcome to Camp!!!!!

[onelargecoffee]

campdetroit:

Thanks to everyone who participated in our workshop and submitted proposals! It is with great pride that we announce the selected projects for Movement 2011!

Intelligent Node Park- Jake Chidester, Richard Chase, Alisyn Malek

We Lift Detroit in Dance- Erin Ellis, Jessica Decker

Rube Goldberg Machine- Aj Manoulian & Team

Tunnel- Erin Sweeny, Dan Roberts

Camp Chillout- Christian Jay Sienkiewicz & Team

Cave of Echos- Dan Demaggio

Wild Aesthetic- Sean Hagas

[onelargecoffee]

First Ride of the Year

now

That's me starting up my 1978 Puch Maxi Sport Mk II for the first time since I bought it. I got it from a guy in Flint and put it in the Trunk of my Honda Civic and headed home. She sat dormant for 18 years. Waiting. Waiting for someone like me to come and rescue her from her vinyl sided prison.

I had to clean some rust out of the tank and put a new spark plug in, but after that she ran like a dream at a cool 30mph. If you know me you know I love going fast, so naturally I upped the displacement from 50cc to 70cc, and put on a new carburetor and pipe. Now I'm netting around 45mph and I have no problem cruising on Woodward from Detroit to the suburbs.

Even though it was pretty cold out today, I needed to take the moped out for a spin, my throttle wrist was burning. I had to blow out the fuel filter, a little rust formed in the tank (I'll be coating the insides this year so that doesn't happen over the winter) but after that it started right up and rode like the wind. Still had air in the tires and all.

The pillow on the back is for my girlfriend when she wants to go for a spin. She bought me a gift certificate to 1977 Mopeds so I could buy a two person seat haha. If you ever need moped parts, the dudes from 1977 are totally rad, and I'd suggest buying stuff from them.

She's still a little rough around the edges, but I plan on tackling some of that once it gets a bit warmer. Michigan is great for mopeds. You only have to register it once every three years, and it's $15 to do it. Oh yeah, and you don't have to wear a helmet. I do 85% of the time, but once in a while it's nice to feel the breeze. 

[onelargecoffee]

Sid & Nancy

Well, I watched the Sid & Nancy movie, and I have to say it wasn't bad. I liked it. Now I'm no film critic, and I don't pretend to be, but the acting wasn't bad and it was interesting. Of course, I may be bias; I thoroughly enjoy punk music, including The Sex Pistols.

In regards to the comment Chuck Klosterman made about her annoying shriek of a voice in Killing Yourself to Live: He was spot on. Right off the bat it was apparent, but there is a line when the band is in the studio, and Sid wants to eat pizza instead of record.

"What are ya doin here? You're in the studio, these places cost like fifty grand a minute. You could be really shining out! But what? You're just wonking off!"

Right when she said those lines it clicked. Wow. I mean...WOW...I now fully understand what he meant about her voice. It was awful!!!! Now, I know this was an actress doing her interpretation, but I can't imagine it was far off from the real deal.

I didn't really learn anything new from the movie though, except that apparently Sid Vicious loved pizza. If I open up a pizzeria, I'm gonna name a pizza after him. 

I also found it funny that Courtney Love was in the movie playing a heroin addict; because if she wasn't already using during the film, she most definitely went on to use it in the future.

[onelargecoffee]

Killing Yourself to Live

So, admittedly, I don't read a whole lot of non-technical books. It's just that 85% of the books I pick up, I lose interest in after a few chapters, if that.

I recently had to fly out to Salt Lake City for work, so I looked around on the bookshelves at my house and noticed a book by Chuck Klosterman called Killing Yourself to Live. I had heard of Chuck Klosterman before. A few of my ex-girlfriends read his books, and this copy belonged to my current girlfriend, so I figured I'd give it a read. They weren't that terrible of people, they couldn't be totally off-base. 

I had to force myself to put the book down. And for me the only books that have had that effect on me in the past are The Da Vinci Code, American Psycho, Animal Farm, and 1984. Not a very long list. The book is about the journey Chuck embarked on while he was doing research to write for Spin Magazine about why rock starts who may or may not be worthy of infamy, gain it when they die; in plane crashes, overdoses, etc.

I read the first four chapters and as I read it, I made notes just like I would with a technical book; this is why I stopped after four chapters. I realized I had almost three pages of questions I wanted to find answers to, and things I wanted to do so I could better understand everything the author was talking about/referencing. Once I get through this block of questions/investigations I will reread the first four chapters and then read on until I have another block of things to look into.

This week I plan on watching Sid & Nancy. In the book, Klosterman says "...I will ask people about the 1978 murder of Nancy Spungen, a woman whose ultra-annoying shriek was immortalized in the 1986 film Sid & Nancy."

So I'm off to find out exactly how annoying this shriek is, and maybe learn something new about the story of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen.

[onelargecoffee]

Why I Started This Blog (I Think)

I have tried a few times in my life to start different kinds of blogs: photo-blogs, auto-blogs, diy-blogs; but none of them really stuck, and I never really knew why.

Well I think I figured it out.

I was always blogging to a certain audience, and I’m not saying that it is a bad idea to do so, on the contrary I think it makes a lot of sense to do so, but it just wasn’t working for me. I didn’t/don’t have the personality/gumption/attention-span to stick to just one common theme.

So now I am going to be blogging “for myself.” i.e. I am going to update this with whatever I am currently working on or interested in, which runs the gamut, believe me. I jump around between many projects, ideas, and themes, and this little ditty will hopefully help me keep track of them. And if it helps someone out, makes someone laugh, makes someone angry, sparks some thought, or anything like that, that would be fantastic.

I don’t think I will have a bunch of followers or anything like that, and that is okay. This blog will probably end up being a place that is randomly stumbled on from a google search or followed by friends and family.

Enjoy. Or don’t.