Cats

CatSynth pic: Teodor Revolution

This photo comes to us from altermark at flickr. To quote: “Definitely a cat on synth picture for once!”

Teodor is a lovely siberian cat, and the synth upon which he stands is a Future Retro Revolution. The Revolution is a very visually attractive instrument – I have seen it at NAMM several times. I don't really have a sense for it as a musical instrument, however. How does a Revolution compare to my Evolver, for example? The Evolver has four oscillators (plus a “fifth” via feedback that I often use), multiple filter options, and other timbral features, while the sequencer is somewhat awkward to use. It seems at first glance, the Revolution flips the balance between synthesizer and sequencer in favor of sequencing, which does have its place.

Perhaps you can judge for yourself by listening to the audio examples. Certainly, we recently saw that Apu enjoys the “acid sounds” from the Revolution.






Standing with Cat

Per suggestion of regular reader “Kitty” in response to a recent post, I will present some more of my own graphic and video work on this forum. The above picture is entitled “Standing with Cat.” It was originally done over a year and a half ago using the 3D modeling software Poser (on which I have commented a few times in the past). Previous digital art offerings include Green Kitties and Music of the (Blue) Spheres.

Although this is an “early” work of mine in the medium, it still remains a personal favorite. It has elements of both abstraction and realism simultaneously, even within the female and cat figures (does that make it post-modern?). The pose of the female figure was inspired by a photo print in my collection by photographer and friend Luxe Zeigler.

Another element of note is the tabby texture for the cat, which was created by graphic artist Lyne of Lyne's Creations, based on her real cat Travis. Astute observers might recognize Travis in the CatSynth banner as well. Sadly, Travis passed away late last year. I passed along my sympathies to Lyne at the time, being a “fan” of Travis as well as his late brother Clancy, whose fur and eye coloring are quite similar to Luna's. Look for Clancy in some dark, surreal or abstract works in the near future.






Weekend Cat Blogging #86: Even when things get tough…

Well, it's been a rather difficult weekend here, one of the worst in a long time, actually – regular readers know I prefer not to discuss details of my personal life, but things are bad enough that not even the whacky exploits of Burbed and other refuges in snarky humor have been able to help.

But we at CatSynth are troopers, and shall go ahead with Weekend Cat Blogging regardless. Here is a picture from about a year ago of Luna enjoying her perch on the barstool. She is of course elegant as always.

In all seriousness, Luna is a great comfort when things are difficult, she is a master of “kitty love” with purrs, head-butts, nose kisses and snugglies. Here is a candid shot of us enjoying a moment together on the couch, taken with the little built-in webcam on my new MacBook:

For something a little more festive, please visit this weekend's hosts Kate and Bustopher (and let's not forget Harmon who seems eager to take a nap). There's a great cat-and-human photo leading off the party.





Why the pet market?!

Even with the daily violence we hear about from Iraq, this one hits home:

Birdcage bomb kills 15 pet lovers in Baghdad

A bomb disguised as a birdcage killed 15 animal lovers in a Baghdad pet market today, in the latest attack apparently designed to disrupt a city-wide security crackdown.

From the BBC:

The blast ripped through the Ghazil market in the city centre, a popular destination which sells dogs, cats, birds and other animals.

It's heartbreaking to hear about peaceful persuits, especially my own in music, art and animals, being specifically targeted. Why go after the pet market and animal lovers? Certainly, markets in general are common targets of violence, where large numbers of people gather. But maybe some markets or gatherings are more vulnerable than others:

The open soukh is a popular attraction for Sunnis and Shias alike, farmers and pet store owners are drawn by the reptiles, tropical fish and other exotic animals in a city where open air attractions are rare.

However, some extremist Islamist groups in Iraq have issued edicts denouncing the ownership of pets as 'haraam' – prohibited under Islamic law. This is not the first attack on the market – it was also hit eight weeks ago.

So do pets come under the same heading as music for these extreme Islamists? Or even just having a little bit of enjoyment seeing and interacting with the animals when there are so few options for brightening one's day? And what did the animals do to deserve any of this?

Death, destruction and suppression of joy – why would anyone want to follow these people?





CatSynth video: Apu the "Acid Cat"

Gustavo (aka “audioel” on YouTube) submitted this rather appropriate (and very cute) video:

Apu really likes the TB-303 acid sounds of the Future-Retro Revolution demos

Of course, he is a cat and tries to use “kitty science” uncover the source of the sound, but to no avail.

Looks like the laptop is a black macbook, similar (or the same) as the one I got last December. I'm wondering whether the tb303 track is just a recording, or a softsynth running on the macbook.






SOTU in situ

Listening to W's latest state of the union makes me wistful for the days when I could respect the residents of the White House:

No gems this year like last year's call to oppose human-animal hybrids.

He did get nu-cu-lar in there a couple of times, though. I could have had some fun with State of the Union Bingo from Drinking Liberally, but I'm not drinking tonight.

Not a single word about that little situation down on the Gulf Coast. You think the man who two years ago thought steroid-use in sports was a national crises could spend a few minutes on the recovery effort. Did he forget? Or maybe if he doesn't mention it, it doesn't exist…

People have given Bush some credit for actually mentioning climate change, and even proposing an increase in fuel efficiency standards. But take a closer look at what is being proposed:

Environmentalists noted that the proposal could lead to an average fuel economy of 34 miles per gallon in vehicles by 2017, but it would not require the industry to increase the fuel economy of their new cars.

Huh? My car, a non-hybrid from 2001, gets better mileage than that! So it's really not much of a plan at all. I guess I shouldn't have expected much. There was also no mention of the increasingly popular idea of CO2 costs within products and processes. For cars, that could be adding the cost of fuel inefficiency into the sale price (as opposed to adding the cost to the fuel itself). In fairness, having such a proposal in the speech would have meant he would have to explain it…






CatSynth pic: Moogy

From our friends at matrixsynth, here is Moogy the moggy!

Moogy is actually the feline companion of Corky Burger. You can hear a “collaboration” of theirs entitled Moogy Boogie. Apparently Moogy enjoys hiding in the gaps between analog synth modules. I hesitate to think what would happen if Hercules attempted to fit in there.

Matrix had been campaigning for Moogy to win a contest featuring cute animals with electronic gadgets. She definitely got my vote. Unfortunately, the contest is now over and it appears that Moogy lost out to a chinchilla. We will have to launch a better coordinated campaign next time…





Weekend Cat Blogging #85: Hiding under the bed

We all need a safe place to hide from the world now and then. For Luna, one such place is under the bed, especially when the vaccuum or some houseguests make an unexpected appearance. We at CatSynth recently followed Luna under the bed and caught her on camera:

“What do you think you are doing down here?”

“Hmmm, what the heck is that?”

If you want to leave any advice, or join us hiding under the bed, leave us a comment. In the meantime, check out our friends at the Cat Blogosphere, who are hosting this weekend's roundup.






Fat Cat in the News


All I can say is, “man, that it one fat cat!”
He has actually made quite a name for himself since getting stuck in a dog door while scavenging for food. The owners of the garage (and the food) were hoping to catch the culprit but did not necessarily expect the 20 lb “Goliath,” as he became known at the Oregon Humane Society, where he was taken after being freed from his little predicament.

You can watch a video of “Goliath”, whose actual name is Hercules, below.

Happily, Hercules was reunited with his family – you can see a nice picture of him and his human by following the link. One sad note to the story, however, is that Hercules was diagnosed as having FIV (feline immunodeficiency, similar to HIV for humans). But that should not stop him from returning home to lead a happy and contented (very contented, it seems) life.

Cute as such a fat cat might be, pet obesity is increasing in the U.S., similar to the obesity epidemic among humans, and can carry many of the equivalent health risks. Fortunately, Luna and I have both managed to avoid this trend so far – we are both naturally quite thin. Here are some resources for those who are interested or concerned with issues of obesity in their feline friends:

OBESITY IN CATS at the pet center
catnutrition.org




Weekend Cat Blogging 84: brrrrrrrrr!

It's been a rather cold few days here in California. We woke up to near freezing temperaturs here on the central coast:

Luna and I share not only black fur and slim physique, but also an intense dislike of the cold, so we've been doing our best to keep warm. The heat has been running full blast, and Luna once again spends much time resting on the glass table above the heat:

Of course, readers of the forum have seen Luna pose in the same spot before on cold days. I love the way she dangles her paw over the edge in the photo, though.

Meanwhile, it's party time with Upsie and Sher, who are hosting Weekend Cat Blogging #84. Another thing both Luna and I share is a fondness for fish, and that ahi tuna suhi is looking mighty tasty…