CATSYNTH

cats synthesizers music art opinion

Category: Cats

  • Weekend Cat Blogging #64: Luna and laptops

    Luna gets distracted while checking whether the battery on our iBook is subject to Apple's recall.

    Apple has determined that certain lithium-ion batteries containing cells manufactured by Sony Corporation of Japan pose a safety risk that may result in overheating under rare circumstances.

    That is Apple's gentle corporate-speak way of saying “may burst into flames.” Fortunately, it looks like we dodged this one. My Dell Latitude at work was not so lucky, and is now relegated to desk duty while awaiting a replacement battery. Ironically, my home Dell Inspiron whose warm and toasty characteristics I described preparing for my August 6 performance was not on the recall list – indeed, since installing the fan-control software things have improved significantly.

    Thanks for boo_licious and her cats Ms. G and Fluffy over at masak-masak for hosting this Weekend's Cat Blogging.

    It looks to be a pleasantly lazy Saturday for all of us.

  • catsynth pic: Gingerbread

    MIT Media Lab assistant professor Dr. Joseph A. Paradiso includes the above photo of his old Himalayan cat Gingerbread atop a synthesizer cabinet as part of his web page documenting his modular synthesizer. His collection of modules and writings about synthesizers are quite impresesive, and I've spent a bit of time looking through them. That is one of the fun things about looking for these pictures of cats and synths: it often leads to something more interesting.

    Dr. Paradiso's synthesizer has received note in Keyboard magazine, and he had a synth rig featured at the 2004 PrixArs Electronic festival. He has some great photos of synth rigs from the 1970's as well.

  • Luna joins Weekend Cat Blogging…

    at least if I'm not too late already. Weekend Cat Blogging, or WCB, is being hosted this week by Heather along with her adorable cats Pause and Carmel. Hopefully, I get this post in time. If not, it's a good excuse to post a recent action shot of Luna enjoying a new gift from a friend:

    I have also added a separate category for Luna alongside the existing cats category for those who want to see more of her and less of the other stuff…

  • Actual Cat Synth

    jfm3 of Ouroboros Complex posts about as literal a “CatSynth” pic as you can get, featuring his cat Kona and accoutrements as part of his rig. Cat aside, the rig and website include a wealth of personal experiences with analog synthesizer hacking as well as circuit bending (note the mod'ed Speak&Spell). Please give jfm3 and Kona a “catsynth welcome” by visiting their site.

  • Green Kitties

    Green kitties need green love!

    This was an early rendering I created with Poser, combining cats and geometric elements into a surrealist image. It brings together my interests in cats and modernist art of the 20th century.

  • morning cat

    A black cat that looks and sounds a lot like Luna has taken up residence in my neighborhood – a bit shy, but he(she?) wandered over to the patio this morning, walking around me and mewing, then going over to the fountain for some water – I've seen cats do that before, lick the water of the sides of the fountain. Unfortunately, i don't have a camera handy at the moment, not even my cell phone. Just use your imagination for now…

  • another cat from Lebanon

    From AFP: a kitty amidst the rubble in a fishing port south of Beirut. This is essentially the type of image I see in my mind when I think about the situation, or cats in war more generally. It was part of an AFP article that Yahoo! syndicated for their main news page covering the middle east conflict today, right under the news that the Lebanese PM had rejected the cease-fire deal.

    I haven't seen or received any updates from BETA or the groups in Israel since my previous article, I will certainly post anything that I receive.

  • catsynth pic: Sneaky w/ E-MU Xboard

    Sneaky impersonates Schroder from Peanuts atop an E-MU Xboard 49.

  • shades of luna

    As I was writing the previous post, Luna poked her head out the glass door leading to the patio. I can't help it, just had to snap a pic:

    Cell phone pics aren't particularly high quality, but they're creat for moments like this. Plus, the image inspired a few variations. Enhancing the reflection of the patio in the glass gives us a cat as mirror to the world:

    And I also like this highly processed version in red and black, done with some of the new image-processing tools I've build for Open Sound World:

  • Update on cats in war

    This is a follow-up to my previous posts about cats in Israel and Lebanon.

    First, the following update from BETA in Lebanon:

    On the 28th of July, BETA team re-entered the Beirut southern suburbs (one of the war zones) to feed the stray and abandoned pets. On the way, we encountered an abandoned pet shop and were able to retrieve some of the surviving animals – four cats and one puppy .

    On the 2nd of August, and for the third time, BETA team, accompanied by a PETA representative who came all the way to Beirut to help our animals, have been able to enter that same area. Again, we put food and water for the strays and fed the rest of the animals at the abandoned pet shop -pigeons, birds, and turtles- We will come back to pick them up as soon as the pet shop owner unlock the cages.

    We also visited the small zoo and made sure that the worker is still there feeding the remaining animals.

    People are working to help cats and other animals left behind during the evacuations and attacks in northern Israel as well. A reader of this forum responded with the following information about current situation and the groups active there:

    Bashan Shelter is located in Israel near the Lebanese border. They are
    taking in animals abandonned by people who fled south in search of safety.
    At great risk to their own personal safety they are also making the rounds
    surrounding communities distributing food and water to the animals that
    remain behind and to people also. This totally volunteer organization has
    no income outside private donations.
    liz at shay.co.il
    http://bashan-dogs.org

    Haifa SPCA is taking in large numbers of animal war refugees and like with
    the above organization their expenses are growing while their income has
    almost stopped. Contact info at
    972-4-8729696
    hspca at netvision.net.il
    http://civilsociety.haifa.ac.il/orgDet. … ;orgid=149


    Israel Cat Lovers Society is located in the Haifa area. They have been
    affected by the war situation here as many pet owners or homeless cats
    feeders fled towards the center of Israel leavingthe animals in horrible
    conditions. As so we are in great need of fosterhomes for kittens and
    massive food donations as well.
    www.isracat.org.il
    972-4-8244724

    Yes, I am partial to kitties that look like Luna…

    One of the things that struck me, in addition to the photographs of the animals and the people with them, was the reference to “civil society” among the resources. I fear the civil society on both sides of the border is one the things in danger in this conflict, and indeed in other conflicts as well. The Civil Society of Haifa describes their mission as “to ensure and further participation, solidarity, tolerance, social mobility, basic human rights and honesty [as] a goal that can contribute to the general welfare of all members of society,” including in this case our small and furry members of society. Sadly, such goals seem quite lost in the tribalism, fear and focus on base needs and emotions that seems to dominate much of the fighting in the Middle East and elsewhere…