I'm a piece of shit.



Several of you have inquired, "Hey, what the fuck is up with Mason lately?" and the answer is: I don't feel like writing at the moment. I'm sorry. Fart. I love you, and I have some amusing musings to post and some cool electronic projects to document, but I haven't been in the mood to blog everyday. Getting up at 5am has really fucked my life all up. You wouldn't think an hour would make that much of a difference, but it does. Relieved of the pressure of posting EVERY SINGLE DAY, I'll probably go back to a more casual schedule. So that's what the fuck is up with me.
- posted by Mason @ 5:32 AM (0) comments

Circuit Bent Walkman/Drum Machine



I've had this shitty walkman (or portable cassette player) lying around for ages (I paid $1 for it at an estate sale two years ago). I've added three pots for varying levels of speed control. The one on the left is the master speed, the top left is double speed and fine adjust and the top right is 1/2 speed and fine adjust. See that grey wire running across the middle? That's an awesome bass boost I added. This bitch hits so fucking hard now, you wouldn't believe it.

The Big Idea here is as follows: you take a cassette tape with a length of drum sample on it. You then press play on the deck and adjust the speed to the desired tempo. If you're super cool, you'll turn the speed of your drum machine all the way, then cut the the speed by half. What happens? Oh shit! Your casio is now rattling the dinner plates.




- posted by Mason @ 1:24 PM (1) comments

I went to Garland to buy parts



Because awesome electronic hobbyist website BG Micro is local, I went to pick my order up in person this afternoon. They were incredibly nice and helpful, and even let me swap out a 6pin din jack when I'd meant to order a plug. The prices were great and I wouldn't order from anyone else ever. Thanks BG Micro!
- posted by Mason @ 8:37 PM (1) comments

Sex, Stupidity and Greed (1997)



This is one of my favorite books of all time. It's all about LA in the 80's - it's the ultimate indictment of Hollywood excess and self indulgent solipsism. It features my favorite story ever, as I'll relate in an abridged form:

Ian is at a bar in the mid 80's. The guy next to him is completely hammered and spends the whole night bitching and moaning about what a hack his brother is and how shitty his movies are. Later Ian finds out the guy's name... Tony Scott.

Like I said, I love this book. I bought this copy for my friend Craig, with the secure knowledge that it will be passed around to everybody at work who knows anything about anything.
- posted by Mason @ 7:24 PM (0) comments

I can't stop buying books...



Oh, what's that you say? A book about home recording from 1989? For a BUCK? Eat a dick up motherfuckers, them shits belong to ME! There was no book ever written that was more up my fucking alley than this book. Look at the bonerpoppin' pikkies:





I also picked up a copy of "The Grouchophile", a giant book written by Groucho himself and filled with amazing pictures from his long and storied career. I wanted to buy it a month ago, but wasn't willing to pay $3 for it. At $1? Fucking forget about it. Now it's mine.






- posted by Mason @ 7:19 PM (0) comments

Patches and Buttons, Patches and Buttons...



It's been AGES since we found anything worthwhile at a garage sale. This weekend was fairly miserable for the savvy shopper - NO estate sales worth going to, only one decent chuch sale and a crappy neighborhood sale... with one exception. This stack of patches and buttons was in a dirty plastic tub underneath some Slim Whitman tapes [not kidding]. I got the whole stack for $5. These are my favorites (because they're so fucking sexist and so perfectly 70's):





I have an entire drawer full of awesome vintage patches and buttons, but I've never actually used them for anything. I probably never will, but I can't resist buying them when they're cheap.
- posted by Mason @ 7:44 PM (0) comments

Disney's Robin Hood (1973)


one can watch the whole film on youtube, were one so inclined

We're watching Disney's Robin Hood, and I'd forgotten how much I love it. The team that made Jungle Book, The Aristocats and The Rescuers was also responsible for this lovely film. The message (like every incarnation of the Robin Hood story) is heartwarmingly pro-communist, anti-government and anarchistic. The magic of this movie lies in the combination of friendly anthropomorphic animals, catchy songs, slapstick comedy and an openly anarchro-socialist viewpoint (the result of which is a generation of full of people just like me: knee-jerk liberals with a healthy distrust of power and deep-seeded sense of self-righteous, classist hatred of the bourgeoise).

Robin Hood tells kids that the wealthy have become so solely through ill-gotten gains at the expense of the poorest among us. That just makes me smile. The only downside to that message is that fair taxes are, as a point of fact, a benefit to all under a capitalist system.

As an added benefit, novelty country god Roger Miller narrated this film, as well as wrote and sang three of the songs. "A pox on the phony king of England!"
- posted by Mason @ 8:46 PM (0) comments

It's May Day!





Happy International Workers' Day! (It's also Beltane for those of you living in Emerald Isles.)

War to the Palace, Peace to the Cottage and Death to LUXURIOUS IDLENESS.

It should horrify us all that 120 years later, the same disgraceful practices abound in American industry. The only difference between The Jungle and Smithfield is the country the exploited immigrants come from.


- posted by Mason @ 5:34 AM (1) comments