#organ tuner? that at least sounds fun

[sfucked]

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[belleslettres-love]

Five Things Tag Game

So, @fleetofshippyships, whom I adore, tagged me in this 5 things game. I did it before… but things changed. Some things didn’t.

Five things in my bag:

Wallet.

Phone.

Dental floss (don’t laugh; my uncle is a dentist).

Notebook and pen.

Mints (I bought them for the tin, because I thought it might be fun to try my hand at being one of those responsible mothers who carries band-aids in her purse… but I don’t want them to get squished, do I?).

Five things in my bedroom:

A bed (sorry, that’s just the kind of mood I’m in today; also, for years we didn’t have a bed, just a futon on the floor).

A gazillion books.

Empty water glasses (probably some of the same ones that were in there when I did this before; it’s a problem).

Dust bunnies—big ones (seriously, don’t go under the bed, I think some of them bite).

A bag of clothes ready to be donated (I’m still on about that minimalist wardrobe thing).

Five things I have always wanted to do:

Learn French and Dutch. And Irish.

Learn to sew (like make my own clothes).

Take—and pass—Calculus (I think I’d need to start with remedial 10th grade math, but I’d still like to do it).

Fly (yes, superman style; nowhere did this say it had to be reasonable, or even likely).

Become a Neat and Organized Person (ultimately not any more likely than the flying bit).

Five things that make me happy:

Wine.

Tea with cream and honey. And, ideally, some sort of shortbread-y biscuit/cookie thing.

Reading.

Writing.

Having a clean kitchen (especially if I’m not the one to have cleaned it).

Five things I am currently into:

Keeping my house, refrigerator, and pantry in a fit state to entertain at the drop of a hat (I have a friend who is like this, and it’s harder than it sounds; what’s easy is to take her up on her offer to drop by anytime).

Greek cooking (yes, still, and I’m getting better—besides, hummus is a great thing to feed random people who just stop by).

Keeping my garden weeded. I’m actually doing this! I am giddy!

Figuring out Tumblr. Really. (Yes, still. Geesh. I’m old, people.)

Writing. It makes me happy.

Five things on my to-do list:

Not forgetting to take my kids to the dentist. TODAY. 

Make yogurt. (It’s actually super easy.)

Finish the last chapter of In Plain Sight because it is becoming ridiculously long and will probably make you cry in at least three separate places. (I have written a chapter since I last played this game… it just wasn’t the last chapter, as it turned out!)

Read at least one chapter of Harry Potter out loud to my kids… because it is that day. Harry Potter is old.

Take my kid’s violin to the tuner’s apparently. (I didn’t know that was on my list until two seconds ago!) And now for my list of people to invite to play, too... @stargaze113, @carpemermaid, @charlotte-bird, @ohsodraco , @bixgirl1. 

(I promise, I won’t even be the tiniest bit offended if you don’t want to play... I can’t keep track of who has played, and I have no idea if they might want to play again, of course. So... enjoy! ;) ) 

[jodiwalker]

These Are the Best Things Happening on ‘Game of Thrones’ Right Now, Part II

Hey y'all, something bad is coming on Game of Thrones, so just real quick, let's remember the good times in episodes 3 and 4, when teenage assassins were reuniniting with their teenage ruler sisters and teenage psychic brothers. When Littlefinger was getting ragged on so hard. When Jon and Davos had nothing better to do than chalk up the cave walls of Dragonstone with little bitty zombie drawings to prove a point and flirt with Missandei, respectively.

There were Catspaw Dagger references for the most careful of watchers, Jon saying "I'm not a Stark" as a Targaryen dragon flies overhead for the mildly observant viewer, and there's Jon and Dany touching each other's wrists in caves for everyone else who's just like, I don't understand what's happening here, I've never understood what's happening here, I don't care what's happening here, but I will be here until it's all over and Dany has married her nephew, SO HELP ME R'HLLOR.

So, once again, this is not a recap, not a review, just a simple, definitive, and all-encompassing list of The Best Things Happening on Game of Thrones right now (which is to say last week and the week before):

Almost Everyone Playing the Game of Thrones Is a Baby-Child

It suddenly became clear in episode 3 that while the lead characters in Game of Thrones don't seem particularly young when they are commanding their armies and large, magic animals—when they come face to face in a throne room, they suddenly seem like two particularly formidable and hormonal teenagers facing off at a Model United Nations simulation. Except, y'know, one of them recently died and was resurrected by a thousand year old sexy priestess, and the other has a bunch of giant toddler dragons and, like, ended slavery, I think.

I'm, of course, speaking of Dany and Jon, the two most popular rulers at Westeros High. Now, since Kit Harrington and Emelia Clarke are each 30, you wouldn’t think they would seem that young…but they're also both, like, 5'1 if they're an inch, so when they first came face-to-face in episode 3, they more often resembled a couple of adorable Shiba Unus tussling over a Kong ball and sniffing each other's butts, instead of two rulers arguing over getting to save the world in the specific way they want to.

In that sense, their first meeting was a particularly precious reminder of how young they still are. Yes, all the GoT kids were aged up three or four years from the books at the start of the series, but Dany and Jon are still only 22 or 23 as they fight to save the world from heretofore unknown evils—and by that, I of course mean Queen Cersei making ever woman get her goofy pageboy haircut. 

When Missandei announces Dany like one of Blair Waldorf's be-headbanded lackeys, Game of Thrones briefly turned into a Disney Channel Original movie, bringing along all the clashing dynamics of darkness and precociousness a DCOM denotes. You can practically hear Missy saying, "You stand in the presence of Daenerys Stormborn, President of the Student Council, rightful member of the A/B Honor Roll, rightful owner of a used Ford Prius she got as a reward for said A/B Honor Roll, Haver of an Afterschool Volunteer Internship at a Veterinary Office, Breaker of Bullies, the Sister of a College Sophomore Who Lets Her Wear His Old Fraternity Formal Shirts So People Think She's Cool, Voted Most Likely to Play with Fire and Like It a Little Too Much, and the Survivor of a Particularly Bad Case of Strep Throat Last Year.

You scared yet Jon Snow, you creepy-loner-who-doesn't-know-he's-hot-and-smokes-cigarettes-behind-the-school-but-secretly-makes-all-As-and-has-a-heart-of-gold-Patrick-Verona-lookin'-ass, you?

If Dany hasn't stood up on the Iron Throne and tearfully choked her way through a rendition of the "10 Things I Hate About Jon Snow" by the end of all this, I will be shocked. Because, as we will discuss later, Dany doesn't hate King Jon (King Snow? No, that doesn't sound right, does it Davos)…not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.

The Stark Children Are Happy…Well, As Happy As a Live Stark Child Can Be

Of course that's not even mentioning the actual children roaming around Winterfell with severe PTSD and a recently developed case of the huggies. Sansa's running the Stark show at Winterfell while Jon is away at Dragostone giving up all his weapons and doing arts and crafts in the underground caves, and in her time as a prisoner of various evil families, she seems to have picked up quite a knack for organizing grain supplies and commanding that leather be added to armor because the dipshits apparently haven't heard that WINTER HAS COME.

I thought Sansa would be cool for like an episode or two and then go back to being dreadful, but her recent transition from Little Sister to Big Sister inside the walls of Winterfell seems to be suiting her well. When Meera finally brings Brann back home and after dragging his 6'4 ass all over the North, she gets exactly zero sibling hugs because her brother died protecting Brann—justice (and a warm shower) for Meera—but the newly minted Three Eyed Raven gets a sweet embrace from big sister Sansa. 

He returns the love by informing Sansa that now he can see everything that's ever happened in the world, including the worst night of her life when she was forced to marry Ramsay and he raped her.

Hey Brann, I know it's not your fault that Jaime Lannister pushed you out of a window, and your dad got beheaded, and Theon fake-torched you, all setting you on a fan-least-favorite path toward becoming the Three Eyed Raven but—you totally suck! Someone else can tell Jon he's a Targaryen if it means you having to be all weird to your sisters now that you're finally, gloriously, wonderfully reunited. In this extended high school analogy I've been drawing, Brann is the kid who took one philosophy class at the community college for extra credit and thinks he knows everything now. You don't know shit, Brann!

Okay, fine, Brann knows some shit, and is obviously intended for some higher purpose in this game of thrones or he surely wouldn't have been—quite literally—dragged through all seven seasons. I just wish that purpose was being a nice supportive brother to his super-survivor sisters, which brings us to…

ARYA IS BACK AT WINTERFELL AND SHE SPARRED WITH BRIENNE AND MAYBE THEY CAN GO LADY-ARMOR SHOPPING TOGETHER NOW, WHAT'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD?!

As it turns out, the already disparate Stark children have become even more contrasted with time and (grueling, awful, traumatic, painful, oftentimes unbelievable) circumstances. Sansa, who was a pretty girl who wanted to marry a prince, is now the Wardeness of Westeros' largest region with a keen political mind and a dude who would fucking love to marry her that she's constantly mocking. Arya was a tomboy who had a real good time at her afterschool swordsmanship lessons, and has since grown into a stone-cold assassin who cuts people's faces off and magic-pastes them onto her own face, then feeds those recipient of the face-cutting to his own family, and then also kills that entire family. Brann has turned from a boy who liked to ride horses into Westeros' creepy Miss Cleo, and also, he no longer goes by Brann, and also, is a pretty constant dick to the women in his life.

That all kind of made me love their reunions even more though. Arya saying, "Do I have to call you Lady Stark?" as her first greeting to Sansa was incredible. Sansa replying, "Yes," very much in the way of Old Sansa, but then turning around and hugging Arya and bonding with her about how much pain they've lived through and how everything they used to know is dead except for each other was even better. And Sansa telling Arya that "Brann has visions," in the same tone of voice you might warn a guest that your little brother has recently gotten really into making his own chainmail was EVEN BETTER.  There was also Jon all the way over at Dragonstone being all "She's startin' to let on" when Tyrion says that Sansa is smarter than she lets on—love those two, sure hope Littlefinger doesn't turn them against each other and shatter my heart into a million pieces!

But simply the best was watching those three rough and tumble Starks wheel and walk their way back from the Weirwood tree and into their home at Winterfell, down a couple family members, not really sure of who they've become, and probably on the brink of being murdered by ice zombies, sure…but they're also together—three lone wolves restored to a pack—and, for now, they're alive.

Of course, it is hard to ignore all that side eye Sansa was giving Arya as she sorted that out that Lil' Sis super-duper was not kidding about having a murder list. But Sansa isn't on said murder list, and hey, she also once fed a dude to his (canine) children, so maybe this girl gets it. Maybe everything will be fine and once Jon and Dany save the world, they can all go in on a family beach house together and parasail on dragons. Speaking of…

THAS-A-MUTHAFUGGIN-LOOT-TRAAAAAAAIN

I've always thought of Weiss and Benioff as kind of cool young dudes who were surprisingly hot and surprisingly married to Amanda Peet (which I would want to brag about in Emmy speeches too, no shade). But for some reason, recently, they've started to seem more and more to me like kind of clueless dads who, were we ever to see their legs in the after-show interviews, would be wearing pristine New Balances with loosely fitted light-wash jeans.

I don't know if it's because I recently fell into a deep dark YouTube black hole where I watched clips of a panel where Sophie Tuner and Maisie Williams interviewed B&W and just keep making fun of them for being old (of note, Sophie Turner is really funny). Or if it's because they're quite literally getting older and making this show where they have to spend three million dollars to light 20 real people on fire in order to make it look like 1,000 fake people are being lit on fire has probably aged them an extra decade.

But mostly I think it's because now that they're out from under the shadow of GRRM they can stop pretending they're dead inside and let their TV pathos flags fly, and that alone makes them seem a lot less hard than they used to. Them talking about how Dany and Jon it's so obvious Jon and Dany have developed feelings for each in the cave scene was just adorable. Guys! They've had like, two conversations, and neither one has made a single inappropriate "bend the knee" joke which they obviously would if they were two real life 19-year olds falling in luv in a cave.

All this is to say that, I am so thankful to them for bringing GoT to my television, but truly, only two dumb dads could have taken this insane, explosive, dragon-fueled battle and called it…"The Loot Train Attack." Or as I prefer to call it: the mutha fuckin' LOOOOOT TRAAAAAAIN!!!

There is nothing that I can personally write that would make the battle where Dany brought dragons to a sword fight at the counsel of Jon any better than it already was, so I'll be brief: It is in episode 4 of season 7, at the end of the Loot Train—LOOT TRAAAAAAAIN!—battle, as Jaime charges Daenerys with a giant spear, that it became clear just how impossibly complex this web of character has become. It used to be impossible to root for anyone because they were all either evil or definitely going to die in the next episode exactly because they weren't evil. No more.

I had no idea who I would choose to live and die between Jaime and Dany. And that is perhaps unique to me because in this game of thrones, everyone can choose their own winner and we can all be simultaneously right and wrong. Just as the people of Westeros are born into certain houses, we all have our allegiances. But the time is coming for us to also make important choices, because things can only be happy reunions and convenient river dives and spare Sand Snake killings and flirty-cave-fun-times for so long. Sides will be chosen, alliances will be made, and main characters will start getting their heads chopped off again. Weiss and Bennioff might be out dads, but if TV has taught me anything—and it has taught me literally everything—it's that tough love is the most rewarding form of parenting.

And also that women always keep their bra on during sex—except for right here on H-B-O!

[yammineyammine]

Yammine: Targa Trophy German Car Festival in San Diego – 2018 – Nick’s Car Blog

Targa Trophy is one of the better known organizations that throws rallys for exotics and higher end cars, especially in Southern California. They host a number of events each year, with my favorite being their German themed event dubbed the German Car Festival. It starts as a 2-3 hour long car show at a rotating location, then the rally entrants depart on the rally while the rest of the folks leave and go about their day.

The rally itself is pretty fun and I participated back in 2014 in my old B7 S4 – the organizers give you some intentionally vague directions on where each check point is, and it becomes much like a scavenger hunt to see who can get to all of the check points and figure out all of the clues then make it to the finish in time. Ideally you need a navigator to help you figure out the instructions, and a good knowledge of the city you’re going around for short cuts and pit falls.

This year the German Car Festival / starting point of the rally was held at Audi San Diego and Porsche San Diego, just a few miles from my door step. It was a nice synergy as you could also see the latest and greatest from these two German brands, and Porsche San Diego actually has a nice collection of older Porsches in inventory such as a few choice 993 and 930 turbos.

Personally though I was impressed they had not one but two Cayman GT4s, and that would be the car I’d strongly consider if I had the funds for it since it’s such a well balanced car for both track and daily usage, which has always been what I look for in a vehicle. They happened to have two of them for sale, both about $100K and both with low mileage – this particular one had some Vorsteiner carbon fiber bits and a CPO warranty, making it an awesome buy for an enthusiast.

Audi San Diego of course also had its enthusiast-oriented offerings on display, such as this RS3 which becomes an even-more enticing car as I see tuners getting this car in the sub 10 second quarter mile range with some bolt-ons. I remember growing up and thinking that a 10 second car was near impossible, and now a family-oriented sedan can hit that figure with relative ease and still be totally drivable on the street – crazy. While I do love the two-door layout of the TTRS, I think I’d buy the RS3 over the TTRS if I were buying a new one from Audi just for the added practicality and the “holy shit you just got smoked by a sedan” factor the RS3 has.

The rest of the show and rally had all sorts of cool cars, from bagged Lambos to classic cars. It was a nice mix with a little something for everyone to appreciate, and certainly not limited to just the Germans as their Italian and even American friends also came out to play.

This GT3 was one of the most notable cars in attendance – while I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of GT3s, and even plenty with some wild wraps, what makes this car unique is that this is no wrap. The owner (who appears to own or at least be affiliated with a body shop) had this done in actual paint. While not for the purists, it came out really well…and it takes some serious balls to do this to a $200K car, so you have to give them credit for that.

My favorite car; however, was easy to decide upon. One of the co-founders of Rotiform has recently acquired this legitimate B5 RS4, which was also imported by AZ Euros like the last one I reported on. Brian of Rotiform wasted no time getting it dropped and fitting some custom, forged Rotiform wheels on it to make this car neck snapping to any Audi fan such as myself. I took a ton of pictures of this thing as it was my first time seeing a real RS4 in person, yet alone one modded.

Besides the RS4, there were plenty of other great Audis in attendance…there was even another MK2 TTRS like mine, which I parked next to but stupidly didn’t get a photograph – it’s pretty rare to have two of my car parked next to each other since there are fewer than 1,000 in the US.

This RS5 was rocking AG wheels and a freshly installed roll cage from Studio RSR, which is a shop making some major waves right now by producing bolt-in half cages for pretty much any car you can dream of for some pretty affordable prices. I’ve been considering one myself from them, and after checking out their work in person I can tell you the work is top notch.

There were also several R8s in attendance, both new and old. The first gen R8 is still timeless in terms of its looks, but the new R8’s angles are absolutely stunning and Audi deserves a lot of credit for improving upon the design instead of ruining it like most sequels do.

The most popular brand was Porsche, which should be no surprise. There were several 911 Rs in attendance, although none participating in the rally. Porsche San Diego has a few for sale, and their prices have dropped considerably now that the new GT3 has a manual option once again – but don’t get too excited, they’re still roughly $300K which is only a bargain compared to the ~$1M asking price some dealers were quoting when they first came out.

Porsche, like Audi, has some of the best grey colors – this one was my favorite, as it seems like what would happen if you mixed Audi’s Nardo Grey and Suzuka Grey, which are my two favorite colors, to come up with something right in the middle. Combined with the black wheels and subtle white striping on the doors, this car absolutely nailed it from the factory and is one of those few cars that needs no aesthetic modifications IMO.

There were also a handful of aircooled Porsches in attendance, which is always great to see. These cars are not easy or cheap to maintain, but they sure do look and sound amazing.

From the “other” category, there was a Ford GT in attendance which looked and sounded amazing, and parked next to it was HGMS’ Gullwing which is always a pleasure to check out:

I’ve posted a few other favorites below, and you can check out the full res versions of any shot I took over on Flickr…if you share, please tag @nickscarblog for credit.

Find your next Audi using Nick’s Car Blog partner AutoTempest.com:

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[musicdish]

Gig Performer 1.5 Makes Performing Live With Software Instruments Easier And More Musical Than Ever

With Gig Performer, Deskew Technologies established a powerful and versatile cross-platform host program that enabled keyboardists, guitarists, vocalists, and entire bands to assemble their favorite plug-ins into worry-free onstage rigs. Both virtual instrument and audio processing plug-ins alike could be patched and interconnected in any scheme the musician desired, then controlled via user-built panels that accessed key parameters via customizable "Widgets" such as knobs, faders, and switches. That patching and control panel setup is called a Rackspace. Now, Gig Performer 1.5 ups the ante with even more features that make getting through a live set as stressless as when working with hardware instruments. Headlining these new features is predictive loading. If loading all the plug-ins for an entire set of music might ask too much of your computer's CPU and/or RAM, you can now pre-load only the plug-ins that will be needed by the next few Rackspaces in your Gig. These load in the background, so they're ready the instant you need to play the next song. Jumping randomly to Rackspaces beyond those that are preloaded might incur a slight delay (for example, if a new plug-in needs to load a large sample library), but with just a little bit of planning, transitions are absolutely seamless. Speaking of seamless, Patch Persist is a Holy Grail among keyboardists, and Gig Performer 1.5 has it. If you switch Rackspaces, notes you've been holding down—either via a sustain pedal or your fingers on a keyboard—will not be cut off by the "patch change." Instead, they'll ring out through their natural envelope release until you lift off the keys or pedal, and new notes struck will play sounds from the new Rackspace. You can even control how long the audio "tail" from the previous Rackspace will persist. New Widget groups empower you to command multiple parameters with a single movement of your mouse or hardware MIDI controller. This works like the "macro" knobs on many software synths, but with the advantage of letting you see how all relevant parameters are being changed at once, right from Gig Performer's panel view. Of course, you have complete control over the scaling (parameter sweep range) of any parameter, which makes it easy to implement useful musical moves such as cross-fades. With tap tempo support, plug-ins using time-based functions such as tap delay or looping will now march to the beat you conduct via a pedal, MIDI controller, or Open Sound Control (OSC) message. Tempos specific to your current Rackspace can also co-exist alongside a "global" tempo for the entire Gig file, which is a lifesaver if your set list includes backing elements at different tempos. Significant enhancements to OSC support include an updated template for the Lemur touch-control app on iPad — even Gig Performer's built-in guitar tuner can now show up on the Lemur display! Sticky notes lend "latch" behavior to a MIDI note-on message, with the note-off not being sent until you strike the note again; this is great for triggering and then silencing loops. An internal MIDI filter plug-in can block unwanted MIDI data from destinations you'd prefer not receive it, and the related MIDI monitor can display all MIDI messages coming into Gig Performer globally, or just those messages going from a specific MIDI-in Block to a specific destination. Further additions include velocity layers, which can make selected MIDI-in Blocks trigger only those notes within a certain velocity range. As on a hardware synth workstation, you could trigger one sound (say, a piano, string section, or synth) playing normally, then an accent sound (say, a cymbal, orchestra hit, or EDM pitch-rise) if you dig in and play hard. Likewise, you can scale layers to output notes at specific velocities. Main panel I/O faders are now grouped in sets of 16, which makes it easier to manage large numbers of channels you've mapped to inputs and outputs on your audio interface hardware. Changes in Widget values can be excluded from Rackspace variations, so that (for example) you don't need to worry about an abrupt jump in the volume of this or that plug-in. Last but not least, Gig Performer 1.5 supports copy-pasting of Widgets—which saves time if you want to create multiple Widget sets for frequently-used controls such as organ drawbars or synth envelopes—and "hardens" plug-in validation so as not to crash if a problematic plug-in is encountered. As always, Gig Performer's benefits include: • Instant and glitch-free switching of Rackspaces (multiple plug-in setups). • Full MIDI and Open Sound Control (OSC) support; controllable from outboard interfaces such as TouchOSC and Lemur. • Easy transpose, split, layer, and other functions you'd expect on a synth workstation. • Intuitive and fun user interface for creating your Rackspaces. • Low CPU usage compared to competing live plug-in host software. • Works on both MacOS and Windows, with VST support on both and AudioUnit support on MacOS. • Built-in tuner. "I haven't encountered a live-oriented host program that combines radical open-endedness with relative ease of use as effectively as Gig Performer does." – Stephen Fortner, Keyboard Magazine. Gig Performer has an MSRP of US $249.00. Special pricing is currently available for $124.00. For more information about Gig Performer and to download a 14-day trial, please visit www.gigperformer.com