CatSynth video: PHOENIX – Love Like A Sunset Sound (nearly)

By KidsAtMidnight on YouTube, via matrixsynth.

PHOENIX – Love Like A Sunset Sound (nearly)

Was supposed to be working on new track (and feeding the cat) but got sidetracked by the MoogerFoogers. Found a sound a bit like the mad glissando CS80 at the start of Love Like A Sunset so tried to work out the part a bit. Stole the Marimba-like bit from the Multitrack they put online.

Arthur (cat) was just hungry and attention seeking. He’s not normally too bad a chewer. Mind you, I did find all but one knob from my Digi002 in the hallway once. Bad boy …

Carnival of the Cats #414

We at CatSynth are happy to host Carnival of the Cats #414!

The Carnival of the Cats occurs every Sunday and features feline-themed posts submitted from around the “blogosphere.”  You can participate by leaving a comment or using the handy submission form.  Although we are questioning the handiness of the submission form this week, as we have very few participants.  But we’re here for those who are participating, so let us get started.

Elvira turned two years old this past week. Please join us in wishing her a happy birthday!  It looks like she had a good celebration with her family.  Her birthday week also happened to coincide with Valentine’s Day.

Meanwhile, Nikita relates his dad’s recent acquisition of cat-themed books.  It looks like they have quite a collection going, including some vintage books from the 1940s and 1950s. [Note: it is actually Elvira in the photo above.]  It reminds us at CatSynth that we should do a similar post one of these days.

In addition to hosting this carnival, we did a photo of Luna for the Weekly Photo Hunt on the theme of “point”, along with a pointing maneki neko. We encourage visitors to check it out.  There is a highway sign as well (yes, we’re a little odd).

It’s Flash Back Sunday at Life from A Cat’s Perspective, with significant pictures from the past, including one of the last with Samantha and Mr. Tigger together. They all miss him very much.

Over at Sweet Purrfections, Truffle and Brulee claimed this bed as their own and are enjoying a nap on it. I think they match the bed and the room quite nicely.

Jill of BabyBakes introduces Chuck (aka “Kat”), a new kitten. She relates the story of how this tiny kitten came into their lives, and also the adventures of putting together a new “kat tree.”

At Animal Shelter Volunteer, Moosey knows exactly how to spend a Sunday: enjoy a nap in a patch of sunshine. He looks quite comfy and relaxed there.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Point

There are so many interesting ways that one can interpret this week’s Photo Hunt theme of Point. Mathematics and highways come to mind, but this is of course also Weekend Cat Blogging, so as usual we feature cats. First, one of our many maneki nekos points its paw:

And here is Luna pointing while basking in the morning sun:

Both of these photos were taken with the latest lens and film options I got for the Hipstamatic app on the iPhone.

Another Hipstamatic photo on the theme does veer into the realm of highways. Here is one of several studies I did with the freeway entrance shield for the Bay Area’s infamous Interstate 238 for an upcoming article on the highway. It has the customary downward pointing arrow of freeway entrances in California.


Tomorrow (Sunday), we at CatSynth will be hosting the weekly Carnival of the Cats. If you have a feline-themed blog post from the past week, you are welcome to participate. Just visit the handy BlogCarnival submission form or leave a comment below.


Weekend Cat Blogging #350 is hosted by Kashim, Othello and Salome.

The Weekly Photo hunt theme is Point.

As stated above, we are hosting the Carnival of the Cats tomorrow.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

CatSynth video: The Scanimate

Moog Little Phatty and the Scanimate

From experimentalsynth on YouTube, via matrixsynth where you can read more and see more images. A cute black cat makes a cameo appearance during the video 🙂

“The first attempt at controlling analog video animation with control voltage created by a Moog synthesizer. Learn more at www.scanimate.com and www.experimentalsynth.com”

“Scanimate is a 100% analog video animation system in use form the late 60s to early 80s. It was used on a number of popular films & TV shows including, Star Wars, Logan’s Run, Sesame Street & NBC Sports. Only eight were built and they originally sold for around $1,000,000.”

It’s interesting to consider in the context of the recently released LZX analog video modular synthesizer.

Weekend Cat Blogging and Photo Hunt: Heart

Our combined Weekend Cat Blogging and Saturday Photo Hunt features the theme Heart. We have a few images that blend the theme with our interests in music, mathematics and of course, cats.

Here Luna poses with a heart-shaped kalimba (thumb piano).

Luna peers at the iPad, which displays a plot of a cardioid. We used a mathematical function that produces the heart-shaped figure when plotted with polar coordinates. The formula for the cardioid is: r = 1 – sin(θ), where r is the radius from the center of the plot and θ is the angle sweeping around the center. The best way to visualize polar coordinates is using one of those old circular radar screens where the plotter sweeps in a circular motion.

The photo also features one of Luna’s favorite toys, a heart-shaped plush toy with the word “kitty” inscribed on it. We have had it for years now (indeed, it was featured in a WCB/Photo Hunt back in 2008).


Weekend Cat Blogging #349 (Valentines Day edition) is hosted by Meowza.

The Saturday Photohunt theme is Heart.

The Carnival of the Cats will be up this Sunday at Meowzings of an Opinionated Pussycat.

And the Friday Ark is at the modulator.

Todd Hido: Excerpts from Silver Meadows, Stephen Wirtz Gallery

One exhibition I have come back to a few times over the past month is Todd Hido’s solo photography show, Excerpts from Silver Meadows at Stephen Wirtz Gallery.


[Todd Hido, Untitled #10121-A,2011. Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery]

The show features large images that were taken near Kent, Ohio, where Hido grew up. We see wintry scenes of modest houses and fields in a flat landscape with a few trees. The effects of snow, wind and the windshield of a car give the images a somewhat blurry quality. Interspersed among these pieces are a contrasting set of clear, high-contrast images featuring female models in vintage dress or poses. All the pieces bear very dry titles that are presumably based on serial numbers of some sort, a detail which I find interesting for what are emotionally strong images.


[Todd Hido, Untitled #10106,2011. Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery]


[Todd Hido, Untitled #10473-B,2011. Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery]

At first glance it may seem to like two shows mashed together into one, a stark wintry landscape in a small community, and stylized portraits of female subjects. The often blurry effects of weather and glass in the exterior images also contrast with the hyper-clarity of the indoor portraits. But taken together they do form a narrative whole that is very film-like. Indeed, I had the impression of stepping into a David Lynch film. The wintry exterior is a small town somewhere in the Midwest that seems perfectly normal. It’s a not a picture postcard of a the archetypical “small town” adorned with a layer of snow, but rather a place that is maybe a little more bleak, a little more tired, a little more isolated. But afterd entering a few of the snow covered houses, a more eerie and eccentric reality emerges within, populated with unnerving but seductive characters. The effect is accentuated by the fact that several of the portraits feature the same model in very different roles and appearances (something I would not have recognized if it were not pointed out to me), but by the dreamlike effect of the inclement weather and dark skies in the outdoor photographs.


[Todd Hido, Untitled #9221,2010. Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery]

My impressions seem in line with Hido’s mission in this collection, “the artist’s metaphorical reckoning with his own past, while providing a majestic summation of the suburban childhood experience in general…homes built similarly to convey stability actually conceal lives seething with sexual and psychological instability.” I also like how he uses road trips as his part of his execution of this vision (indeed, the feeling of looking out a car window in stormy weather permeates much of Hido’s outdoor imagery). It suggests a dark corner of one of my “Fun with Highways” posts.


[Todd Hido, Untitled #1843,1996. Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery]
[Todd Hido, Untitled #10502-42,2011. Courtesy of Stephen Wirtz Gallery]

The cat portrait is a bit random, but it is quite humorous and does fit into the overall structure. I thought it worked especially well paired with the classic head portrait reminiscent of the late 1950s or early 1960s.

The show will continue at Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco through February 25.