Month: September 2011

Weekend Cat Blogging #327

Fellow black cat Jules at Judi’s Mind of Matter is hosting Weekend Cat Blogging #327, so we’re ready to participate with recent photos of Luna.

Yes, more fun with Hipstamatic on the iPhone. It’s a fun and unforgiving form of photography – you are pretty much limited to what you get from the capture. The standard digital manipulations would destroy the overall retro quality of the image.

Weekend Cat Blogging #327 is hosted by Jules at Judi’s Mind Over Matter. And they have cheezy fish!

Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Mind of Mog.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Animal welfare and wild cats for “Mo’ Cats Day”

Back in 2009, some individual or group declared that 09/09/09 would be “No Cats Day”, a day on which there would be “no cats on the internet.” It is true that there is a preponderance of cat-related material on the internet, some of it fun and endearing, some quite informative, and some downright insipid. But the idea of banning cats from the internet for one day is preposterous, and quite mean. So in defiance, many cat-related blogs declared “Mo’ Cats Day” on 09/09/09, and on every September 9 since then.

We have not participated in the past, but this year we are doing so with a brief post highlighting the work of organizations that promote the welfare of domestic and wild cats. The Humane Society of the United States is one such organization – one of their recent monthly magazines achieved coffee-table-quality and is shown in the above photo at CatSynth HQ.

Locally, we have the San Francisco SPCA, which has adoption and animal-welfare advocacy programs among their many functions. They are behind those holiday windows at Macy’s Union Square that feature adoptable cats.

Both the SPCA and our local Animal Services operate no-kill shelters, and indeed we became the first “no-kill city” in the United States.

Luna was adopted back in 2005 from the local shelter in Santa Cruz, and in gratitude we continue to support Friends of Santa Cruz County Animals.

We are also thinking about wild cats on this day and the organizations that work towards their welfare and conservation. The International Society For Endangered Cats (ISEC) Canada is dedicate to the conservation of small wild cats, who often don’t get the attention of their famous big-cat counterparts. The have lots of information and are involved in several programs around the world.

Closer to home the Felidae Conservation Fund “aims to advance the conservation of wild cats and their habitats planetwide through a combination of groundbreaking research, compelling education and cutting-edge technology.” They are involved in several research studies, some of them quite local to northern California, as well as conservation efforts.

Please visit our previous wild cats posts for more information and links to other organizations.

Back Door! and Romanowski at Fabric8

Two concurrent shows at Fabric8 in the Mission District of San Francisco touched upon topics that frequently come up here at CatSynth, highways/transportation and modern geometric design. They also followed two artistic styles that I associate with contemporary urban art: cartoonish humor and street art, and geometric architectural elements.

In Back Door! at Fabric8, artist Andy Stattmiller “visually expounds on the subject that San Franciscans love to hate: the MUNI transportation system”. And it is true, we do have a rather strained relationship with transit system we depend on in the city – there have been numerous times I have opted to walk because I felt is was more reliable. On the other hand, MUNI is a place where the colorful residents of the city cross paths and sometimes get squished together, and where one can observe the contrasts among neighborhoods and streets.

[Andy Stattmiller. 14 Mission.  Image courtesy of Fabric8.]

Stattmiller’s canvases featured individual lines from the MUNI system, mostly busses, which he populated brightly colored cartoon-like figures that simultaneously seem like real denizens of the city and creatures from other planets. The larger heads on the bus drivers were particularly fun. The busses themselves and the surrounding space take on different character of the lines and the neighborhoods that the serve. There is even a triangular canvas representing one of many steep inclines.

[Andy Stattmiller. 67 Bernal Heights.  Image courtesy of Fabric8.]

This was very much an show for locals, who could identify, and identify with, the individual busses and metro lines featured. People did seem to enjoy finding the piece that featured the lines they often use, whether part of their daily routine, or a particularly memorable misadventure. I did find a couple that I have frequented.

In contrast to the chaos and humor of Back Door!, Romanowski’s pieces in the concurrent show Bees and Things and Flowers had a very serious and ordered quality, and was quite calming.

[Romanowski. Le Roy. Image courtesy of Fabric8.]

Although several of the pieces are assemblages of found objects, they give the appearance of abstract sculpture or even painting. Indeed, one can see similarities in the patterns of the found-object pieces and his Installation of stencil on paper.

[Romanowski. Installation (stencil on paper, framed). Image courtesy of Fabric8.]

 

Some of the more intricate pieces, such as Le Roy, remind me a bit of Lousie Nevelson’s sculptures. However, while the abstract geometric designs feel modern, the use of mostly wooden found objects gives them an older feel. And as such, they seem to get in touch with the older architecture in many parts of the city.

Bees and Things and Flowers closed yesterday (September 5). However, Back Door! remains open at Fabric8 until September 12.

CatSynth video: Neon Indian – Step Into the World With Your PAL198X

Neon Indian – Step Into the World With Your PAL198X from Neon Indian on Vimeo.

The cat appears a little over three minutes into the video and “plays” the PAL198X. But I recommend checking out the whole video – it has very complete retro style.

Static Tongues Industries Presents:

“Step Into the World With Your PAL198X”

Pick up your own PAL198X only at neonindian.com

Written by Dr. Alan Palombro, PhD.
Directed by Dr. Alan Palombro, PhD and Johnny Woods.
Music written and performed by Alan Palombro, PhD / Neon Indian.
Editor: Johnny Woods.
Director of Photography: Stefan Fernandez.

Starring:

Dr. Alan Palombro, PhD as himself.
Leanne Macomber as “Clarissa”.
Jason Faries as Scientist #1.
Ed Priesner as Scientist #2.
Josh McWhirter as Scientist #3.

Filmed at the Static Tongues Amplidrome Facility, Arctic Circle, Earth.

For our friends outside of the United States go to the Rough Trade shop to get your PAL198X.
roughtrade.com/​site/​shop_detail.lasso?search_type=sku&sku=342647

John Cage’s 99th Birthday

Today marks the 99th birthday of one of our musical heroes, John Cage.

In this video, we see Cage discussing sound and silence in his apartment on 18th Street in New York. There is a romantic quality to hearing his words, imagining music, and listening to the sounds of the city in the background, all in concert.

Although he is perhaps best known for his experiments in silence, sound and chance elements in music, I am most fond of his work for prepared piano and toy piano. Despite what was adventurous instrumentation at the time, the music itself comes across as traditional piano compositions. They were for a long time part of my rotation of morning music.

This is a good moment to simply stop at listen to the ubiquitous sounds of the urban environment here, including the ever present trains and traffic on I-280.

Weekend Cat Blogging #326

In between days at my current photography show in Oakland, we are catching up with a little quiet time on the patio:

It’s actually a typically foggy San Francisco morning, which may not be clear from the distortion in the Hipstamatic photos.

In the second photo, Luna is perhaps showing a bit of disdain for my recent absence – in addition to the photography show, I had a performance this past Thursday with my band Reconnaissance Fly. And lots of time rehearsing and hanging for both events over the previous week. So I think someone deserves a little extra attention soon.

Weekend Cat Blogging #326 is hosted by Pam at Sidewalk Shoes, with help from Patchouli and Coco.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up tomorrow at Meowsings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator

CatSynth video: elka synthex demo by polynominal.com

In the midst of our busy performance/exhibition week, a little light fun with cats and synthesizers:

From polynominal.com on YouTube, home of Mimi. Look for some appearances by Mimi in the video (including a couple of photos that have previously appeared here on CatSynth.

If you have your own cat-and-gear photo or video to share, let us know via facebook, twitter @catsynth, or by contacting us directly.