April 2007 Archives

Learned something new about flash today. I’ve been reading about quasimodes, and the project i’m working on right now is a prefect candidate for using this style of interaction. It involves holding down a key while click-dragging (so you can only drag while holding the key down). What came as a surprize to me, is that when you have a key held down, and the mouse button down, each MovieClip you rollover will register an onPress event. I certainly think this is a bug, as i’ve not pressed down on any of the other clips.

After trying a few crazy workarounds, i’ve got it licked. Yet another example of Flash’s … unique quirks.

I take the pledge. Thanks Stacy.

Finally had to break down and buy a bunch of new albums. The list of albums i was going to get would have broken the bank, so i managed to pare it down to just four. And half are Canadian artists, so i feel good about supporting our own! Go Canada!

So, i picked up The Arcade Fire’s Neon Bible. Now, i have to admit, that regardless of all the critical acclaim they received for their first album, it just didn’t really gel for me. But Neon Bible is, to my ears, a much more approachable album. I also picked up Front Line Assembly’s Artificial Soldier. Good old-school “industrial techno”. I’m finding that some industrial bands just grate on my ear’s, but this album, while not lacking in noise and grindy-bits, doesn’t hurt my brain like some stuff i listen to. Explosions In The Sky’s The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place. Wow. It took me quite a while to just get a copy of their first album “Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell the Truth Shall Live Forever” (ok, really their second), but they have obviously become much more popular since then, as i got the new one at HMV. The second one is even better then the first, go get it! Lastly, She Wants Revenge’s self titled debut album. While it is obvious that their sound is an (incredibly derivative) amalgam of Joy Division, Depeche Mode, and possibly a bit of Bauhaus (and many others), i still dig it. The tune “Tear You Apart” sounds like they have channeled Ian Curtis’ spirit to perform it. How can that be a bad thing?

Overall some great new music! Musicgasum!