Avatar at the Gates – James Horner rips himself off again.

James Horner is undoubtedly my favorite film composer, but he has a tendency to blatantly rip off his own material.
Avatar is no exception. Nevermind the fact that James Cameron is pulling heavily from his Terminator 2 and Aliens films (See Ship design, Mechs, Sigorney Weaver, etc..) – James Horner is pulling themes from his Enemy at the Gates score.
Below is a direct comparison of the tracks “Crossing Stalingrad” from Enemy and “Scorched Earth” from Avatar played back to back. They have the same theme, albeit in different keys.

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This is just another bullet point that suggests that Avatar is a post modern film, and essentially a rehash of tried and true film conventions. Dances With Wolves meets Aliens meets Terminator 2 meets Enemy at the Gates meets….
.. And I’m totally alright with this. It was a thoroughly enjoyable movie, and I’m it makes me happy to be the first one on my block to find this musical link.

Think Geek Retro Bluetooth Handset quick weight mod. (Increasing percieved build quality.)

Bluetooth Retro Handset from ThinkGeek

I recently purchased a retro bluetooth

Tshirt purchased along with phone.

headset from www.thinkgeek.com, and while it looked absolutely authentic, it didn’t have the heft that you would expect from a classic phone handset. Back in the good old days, before japanese cars made the words small and light synonamous with the word cool, heavy meant good build quality.

So I decided to rectify the situation, and added that classic retro heft to my classic retro handset.  (And void my warranty.) This is a fun mod and a pair of quick hands can probably get it done in 15 minutes or less. (Minus the trip to the fishing store.)

Materials:
1 Think Geet Retro Bluetooth Handset
5 Fishing Egg Sinkers (I used 3/4 size)
1 hot glue gun/ glue

Instructions

Open phone

Open the bottom (microphone) end of the phone by twisting it firmly counter clockwise. It should rotate and then stop. Gently pull and detach the microphone assembly from the phone, being careful not to put tension on the wires.

I could not get the top of the phone open by doing the same thing, so I removed the handle cover by pulling on the bottom and shimmying it out.

Drop the fishing weights in the handle, one between each pair of the structural ribs. Make sure that the wire traveling up to the speaker does not get pinched against a rib (Just run it below everything).

The weights, hot glued in place.

Apply a healthy amount of hot glue. Don’t over do it, and keep in mind that the handle cover is going to be replaced.

Almost there..  Slide the handle cover tooth underneath the speaker assembly and press it back in. It should slide in much like it was removed. Snap it in place.

Screw the mic assembly back on. You’re done! Show it off to your fellow geek friends and have them marvel at the incredible (percieved) build quality of your new toy.

Tags: mod, Retro Bluetooth Handset, Think Geek

Fetch

While the cat cam charges.. here is something to tide you over until then.

Kitteh Fetches:

Tags: Kitteh

Cat Cam

Its passed my bed time.. But I had a really good idea.

Take:

My Cat

add:

Extreme sports camera and cat harness

And what do you get!!!???

Potential Awesomeness??

YES!!!! A SITUATION WHICH HAS A CAPACITY FOR LARGE QUANITIES OF WIN.

Unfortunately the camera is out of batteries. I’ll get back to ou shortly.

Tags: Kitteh

Waterproof synth: Music from Outerspace Wierd Sound Generator kit

A while back, I wired up f a snazzy little synth from a DIY kit I got from http://www.musicfromouterspace.com/  called the Wierd Sound Generator. Then built it into a SKB mil-spec waterproof case. The result is a small black case which opens up to a control panel that looks like it could launch several intercontinental ballistic missles. Over the next couple of weeks, I hope to improve it by adding plastic shield to where the foam is exposed. Hopefully I’ll get some sounds up too. For those of you who know me, this is the thing which is making the alarm sounds on in the background of my voicemail message. 

Wierd Sound Generator circuit board and faceplate

Wires! All the controls on the faceplate are hooked up to the PCB

Almost done - Faceplate is mounted on 4 wooden pegs and ready to be mounted.

Still need to add a plastic ring around the ege of the metal to tidy things up.

This is a great starter kit for anyone who wants to get into electronics. All the pieces are available and the result is good for hours upon hours of knob fiddling.  Just don’t try to walk my version through an airport.

Tags: MFOS, Music From OUterspace, Synth, Waterproof, Wierd Sound Generator

Bot Sex

Sometimes automated scripts find me on the internet and solicit me for sex. I don’t know how they get my screen name. Maybe I just have a kind face. Anyway. Here is a typical conversation the sex-bot and I usually have. I changed the name to uh-oh as a reminder. Extra points if you know what the Turing Test is.

Tags: Bots, MSN, Robot Sex

Purpose of this blog.

Hi. My name is Vincent. I am the sole artist and propriator of the band Tek Support. (See www.teksupportmusic.com). I felt it was time to disambiguate my professional music career from my personal tinkerings (although the 2 will always be intertwined.) The Vince of Tek Support fame persona, who parties with strippers and sniffs blow off of the ass cracks of exotic foreign dignitaries* does not care to have a blog. He is a man of mystery and adventure and cannot be bothered to write down his musings. That is the job for current and future biographers to come.
I on the other hand have a plethora of pet projects that like minded individuals my find either useful, or at the very least amusing. This here blog is exists so that I can show these small projects. I will try to limit posts to things I create. Think music, odd experiments, large scale ballistic tests etc..
If however there is some particular tech trend or the ever so poignant LOLcat, I will leave it up to my mentor and esteemed colleague, Dr. Emanuel Shaffelhausen to post such findings to this board on my behalf. Watch for his musings seperately.

I’m afraid that the initial influx of posts will be a sampling of previous completed projects. While I am rather proud of them, the photographic documentation of the processes will probably be thinner than I would like.

Good things are to come.
V

*Is it the other way around? I can never remember

For starters, I present to you, the scoped banana. 

Red dot scope + Ripe banana = Deadly delicous

Tags: Dr. Emanuel Shaffelhausen, LOLcats, Tek Support