Category: Cats

  • CT 11, unfinished projects

    Highway 11 in Connecticut is a north-south freeway connecting a major route from Hartford to, well, nowhere. So one moment, you’re happily traveling south on a nice country highway, and then the next moment, you better exit before it turns into a large dirt track and ditch. Or at least that’s the impression I get, having never been there.

    It’s quite dramatic, as can be seen in these aerial photos from Greg Amy (we saw a few of his photos before when visiting Yale and New Haven, CT).

    It kinda looks like someone just stopped building the highway one day, and forgot to come back and finish. The story, as described on Kurumi’s website and other sources, is that the project simply ran out of funding, and then ran into opposition, though it sounds like plans are now in the works to complete highway 11 to the New London area.

    However, the details of CT 11 aren’t really the focus of this article, but rather it serves as a metaphor for the many unfinished projects here at CatSynth. These include:

    Finishing my album 2 1/2. There are a few tracks left from this project last Februrary that need to be replaced before releasing the album. I still think I’d doable by late November, but so far I haven’t been able to work much on it during this period of “free time.” Technical problem with my “studio PC laptop” provide at least one excuse.

    Although I have been doing work all along on Open Sound World, mostly to support my own music, it’s been quite a while since I have done a full-blown release of the software. It’s hard to feel motivated when most of the feedback reads like this. However, the core software (minus the old user interface) is really solid and musically useful, and I do plan to announce a new direction for the project “real soon.”

    I need to do some revisions to my professional/artistic website. At the very least I need to get the performance schedule updated – fortunately, it is already up at MySpace. The goal is to bring it more in harmony with CatSynth and rest of my websites.

    I purchased one of the last Kittenettik Fyrall kits from Ciat Lonbarde, but have yet to assemble it. I guess I’ve been waiting to find the right “space”, both literally and figuratively, to do this. If I get on it soon, I might have it done in time for Woodstockhausen.

    And of course there are several large articles waiting to be completed and published here at CatSynth, particularly CD reviews, film discussions, and travelogues.

    But then again, maybe it’s not so bad that I’m spending time looking for employment.

  • CatSynth pics: Gonzo and Daphne return

    Some more from our friend sushiluv and his cats Daphne and Gonzo. I think this is the first time we have seen them together:

  • Niki featured on catsynth and matrixsynth

    Remember this picture submitted last week?

    Well, according the site cleverCLAIRE (from San Francisco), the cat's name is Niki. You can see more Niki photos here.

    Even without being able to read Chinese, one can easily get the gist of the post, though I did run it through babelfish just to get a better idea. It seems like they got a kick of Doktor Future's ailurophobic comments over at matrixsynth.

  • New features for CatSynth

    We've been busy working on new features for CatSynth, making it not just a blog but a full featured site. And two of those new features are being rolled out this week:

    CatSynth has a rather eclectic readership, cat bloggers, musicians, photographers, and more. There is already a community forming through regular readers and their comments, and the next step is to bring this community to the new CatSynth Forum. We have space to discuss our core topics of “cats, synthesizers, music, art, opinion” and other frequent themes, such as highway and travel. We encourage all our readers and commenters to join.

    We are also opening up the new CatSynth Store, which features not only our CD and downloadable music, but also the music, film, books featured on CatSynth, and we'll soon have a “gear” site from CafePress.

    There will be more features and integration coming to CatSynth and my other sites. Please let us know what you think, either leave a comment here or on the forums!

  • Weekend Cat Events: Cats of New Orleans Revisited

    We at CatSynth will continue to keep this candle lit along with Kashim and Othello and all our cat-blogging friends. Please visit them for the full list of remembrances.


    This week also marked the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. On Wednesday, we revisited my trip to New Orleans last November. I also wrote about the Cats of New Orleans, both real and imagined, and so we re-visit them this weekend.


    (Click to enlarge)

    We also visited with the Louisiana SPCA and got a tour of their cat facilities in their temporary home, several environmentally controlled units inside a large warehouse. You can see some photos from the temporary SPCA as well. The good news is that they have completed and opened their new permanent facility. So much of the rebuilding in New Orleans has been slow or non-existent, it's good to see this success…


    In addition to the Weekend of Rememberance by Kashim and Othello, the other weekend cat events are going on. Bad Kitty Cats Chaos Festival #8 as at The Mad Mirror. The Friday Ark #154 is at The Modulator. And Carnival of the Cats will be at This Blog is Full of Crap with Laurence et al.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #117: Silence and Remembrance

    The “cat boys” Kashim and Othello are hosting a Weekend in Silence and Rememberance for Weekend Cat Blogging #117. As such, we at CatSynth are are joining them and our other cat-blogging friends by lighting this candle:

  • CatSynth pic: Applejack (black cat) and Yamaha

    Submitted by ADM of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome:

    Of course, we at CatSynth have a special fondness for black cats and synths.

    UPDATE. ADM posted in the comments that the cat's name is Applejack. And Applejack has a LOLCat version of the photo:

  • CatSynth pic: Mimì with Synton Syrinx

    It's been a little while since we've seen Mimì. But she's back, in a pair of photos submitted by our friend polynominal:

    The blue synth is a prototype of a Dutch “Synton Syrinx”, which you can read more about here.

    Polynominal has quite a studio of vintage synthesizers and other gear, and he has some new photos, including several of Mimì, on his recently updated website. The site is definitely worth a visit, and check out some of the new musical samples.

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #116: Luna in stained glass 2007

    For the past three summers, I have photographed Luna basking in the glow of the morning light through our stained-glass window. You can see her previous photos here, from 2005 and 2006. Her new stained-glass photos are below:


    These were actually taken on separate days, one in July and one in August, which demonstrates not only Luna's fondness for this spot of colored light, but her photogenic nature. I am very proud of her in these photos.

    Weekend Cat Blogging #116 is being hosted by our friends at Belly Timber. I really like the new graphics.

    The Bad Kitty Cat festival of Chaos will be held by Pet and the Bengal Brats at Pet's Garden Blog.

    The venerable Carnival of the Cats will be hosted at The Scratching Post. I like this “busniess case for kindness” thing…

    And of course Friday Ark #153 will be where it always is, at The Modulator.