Swoon 052 - June 28, 2004

U-ziq - Hector's House (Rephlex)
Radioactive Man - The Mezz (Rotters Golf Club)
Slam - Alien Radio (Soma)
Robag Wruhme - Mensua (Musik Krause)
Maetrik - Tool One
MRI - Tied to the 805 (Force Tracks)
Plastikman - Digital/Divide (M-nus)
Rechenzentrum - Benshi (Mille Plateaux)
Martini Bros - Hot (Poker Flat)
Deadbeat vs. Stephen Beaupre - Coquille (remix) (Onitor)
Captain Comatose - Comatose Captain (Playhouse)
Sideshow - Slide (Mathew Jonson remix) (Simple)
Arovane - Windy Wish Tree (City Centre Offices)
Telefon Tel Aviv - Bubble and Spike (Hefty)
Mono - A Thousand Paper Cranes (Rykodisc)
The Album Leaf - Another Day (Sub Pop)
Christian Kleine - Shifts of Wood (City Centre Offices)
Casino vs. Japan - Running to Catch Up (Attack Nine)
Soel - To This World (Warner)  ¶ 8:55 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 051 - June 21, 2004

Starkid - Crayons (Release)
Michael Burns - Sunshine in my Shadows (Little Mountain)
Vampire - Live in the Light (Evolved Trip mix) (Plastica)
Formidable Force - Mind Games (Brett Johnson mix) (20:20 Vision)
Broker Dealer - Modif (Club mix) (Traum Schallplatten)
Paranoid Jack - The World Must Change (Fifth Sun)
Monkz - Nu Bluez
Luca Ricci - Una Historia d'Amor (Antoine 909 mix) (Mo-Do)
M Project - Don't Forget About Me (Luke Chable and Ivan Gough mix)
Circulation - Ecru (Circulation) samples Fingers Inc. - Can U Feel It?
Amani vs. Teapot - Wise Man Speaks
Highland - Coloured Dreams (Ocean Wave mix) (Vapour)
Medway & Pete Gawtry - Optical Illusion (Katania mix) (Progress Inn)
Art of Trance - Killimanjaro (Circulation mix) (Black Hole)
Spacefunk - Evil Moogafooga (MTA)
Laurent Garnier - The Man With the Red Face (Mute)
James Holden - I Have Put Out the Light (Bedrock)
Salome & Ives - Mystic Roya (Bedrock)  ¶ 9:09 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 050 - June 14, 2004

Claro Intelecto - Peace of Mind (Ai)
Dot Allison - I Think I Love You (Radioactive Man mix) (Mantra)
Christian Kleine - Handsome Used (City Centre Offices)
Amorphous Androgynous - The Conga Run (Fulfill)
Spektrum - Freakbox (Villalobos mix) (Playhouse)
Kalle M - Fukifuki (Iron Box)
Fabrice Lig - Underground Will Never Die (Playhouse)
Circulation - Ecru (Circulation)
John Aquaviva - Metal Detector (Benz and MD mix)
Paranoid Jack - Soldiers of the Underground (Stickman)
Kenny Hawkes and Louise Carver - Play the Game (Music for Freaks)
Soul Mekanik - Get Your Head Stuck On Your Neck (Rip)
Fex - Striken Roots (Marine Parade)
Scsi-9 - All She Wants Is (Wighnomy Bros. mix) (Kompakt)
Deadbeat vs. Stephen Beaupre - Ample Slacks (Onitor)
Avus - Real (Nathan Fake mix) (Border Community)
Quivver - Space Manoeuvres Part 3 (Boz Boz)
Luke Chable and Jono Fernandez - Come to Me
Telefon Tel Aviv - Nothing is Worth Losing That (Hefty)  ¶ 9:43 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  I went to my club's observatory Friday night in Niagara, Ontario. Around 11:30 or so I got it pointed into the Virgo cluster, and then the fun began. I observed about 50 galaxies in the next 1.5 hours. which is a personal record. Obviously I wasn't going for detailed observations, but maximum number of objects. I won't bore you with the list, but if you glance at your own maps, the westernmost one I saw was M98, the southernmost was NGC 4694, the easternmost NGC 4762 and the northernmost NGC 4293, which is just a bit northwest of M85. I was using the cluster map in my Advanced Skywatching book, and with the big aperture was finding NGCs that aren't marked on that map. I had an excellent time.

After that I hunted for Pluto, using S&T's chart. Pluto is by far the most difficult to find of the planets. I think I found it, probably for the first time. Or at least, I definitely had it narrowed to two closely packed stars and the planet. Coincidentally, it was opposition night.

My normal scope is an 8" Dob, so using a 16" on an EQ pier always takes a little getting used to. To finish the night I pointed it into Sagittarius, near the top of the teapot. While orienting myself I came across NGC 6638, a globular cluster near Kaus Borealis/Lambda Sagittarius, that is only a rough mote in my 8". In the 16" I mistook it for M28. After I looked at M22 I was blown away by the huge difference.
  ¶ 4:20 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Stupid Things People Do

Driving around St. Catharines this past weekend, I was struck by not one, but three, really stupid personalized plates. Ontario's Ministry of Transportation has a special program of customized plates. The MTO says:

Once reserved, your plate must still pass a review committee, which may reject the plate if it is considered to be objectionable, for example:

derogatory
profane
racist
sexual
religious.

Note that stupid isn't in there. That said, on to the plates:

FARR T: Disgusting. I'm surprised this was even allowed. I don't care if the guy's real name is T. Farr.
OPRAH: You're not Oprah, and you're not her biggest fan. She doesn't need extra advertising, so what the hell were you thinking?
A1 TWIT: Since there aren't (many) laws protecting people from their own stupidity, I guess if someone wants to label himself an A1 twit, he's perfectly able to.

Oh yeah, these people all paid $225 extra, in addition to the normal annual licensing fees, which are about $75, for the privilege of making themselves look stupid. Way to go!  ¶ 4:00 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Here are two shots of this morning's Transit of Venus. I have posted a lot more here.


  ¶ 3:52 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 049 - June 7, 2004

Orbital - The Box 3 (ffrr)
Wagon Christ - EZ Listener (Rising High)
Teknostep - I Think Part Time, I Feel Full Time (Nice+smooth)
Andrea Parker - Invasion (Quartermass)
Amon Tobin - Proper Doodidge (Ninja Tune)
Telefon Tel Aviv - What It Is Without the Hand That Wields It (Hefty)
Andrew Duke - Stone Skips 7 Times (Cognition)
Gentle People - Journey (Aphex Twin mix) (Warp)
Beef Terminal - Your Revolution (Noise Factory)
Casino vs. Japan - Night of April (Attack Nine)
Christian Kleine - Stations (City Centre Offices)
Galerie Stratique - Souvenirs Maritimes (Statik)
Boards of Canada - 1969 (Warp)
Millimetrik - Dans la Profondeur, tout S'eclaircit (Statik)
Manual - 1986 (Darla)
Fires of Ork - Fires of Ork (FAX)
Deadbeat vs. Stephen Beaupre - Little Cosmonaut (Onitor)
Daft Punk - Face to Face (Demon mix) (Virgin)
Plaid - Stills (Warp)
Amorphous Androgynous - She Sells Electric Ego (Fulfill)
  ¶ 2:53 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Swoon 048 - May 31, 2004

!!! - Instinct (Warp)
Kalle M - Fukifuki
Margo - La Baumette
Martina Topley Bird - I Still Feel (Jori Hulkonnen Aura Remix)
Crackhaus - French Cheese and Moonshine (Musique Risquee)
Brooks and Dani Siciliano - Wandering (Tiger Sushi)
Wighnomy Brothers - 1974 (Freude am Tanzen)
Chelonis R. Jones - I Don't Know
Black Disco - Timing, Forget the Timing (Rephlex)
Broker Dealer - Dig Deep
DJ Chus pres. Moth - Foxy
Goldfrapp - Twist (Jacques lu Cont's Conversion mix) (Mute)
Graham and Blades - Topliner (Vocal mix)
Matthew Dekay - Twinkles
Roland Klinkenberg - Aeronautics (Steve Porter mix)


  ¶ 3:17 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Here's a good article on this year's annual celebration of Detroit techno, Movement, published in the Detroit Free Press. Unfortunately, the event's in trouble.   ¶ 3:29 PM 0 Comments Links to this post