Harlo has a blog.

The Numerics of Style. Part 2: "The problem is YOU! Function U, Explicit and Implicit Preferences, and Harlo’s IDM Ghetto

2009-10-09T12:32:00.003-04:00

This is part 2 of a 3-part article I'm writing for my Topics in Digital Media class at NYU.

Question:
What does u: C x S → R mean in terms of Last.fm and Pandora Radio?

the rest is here...

The Numerics of Style. Part 1: “Panic Algorithm”

2009-10-04T17:15:00.003-04:00

This is part 1 of a 3-part article I'm writing for my Topics in Digital Media class at NYU.

Question:
How did the suggestion algorithm emerge as the culture industry’s main weapon in the fight to retain its legitimacy?

The industry pushes the panic button. Enter the algorithm.

the rest is here...

A week without Google

2009-09-23T00:09:00.004-04:00

My topics in digital media class has an assignment that I might find incredibly difficult to fulfill: a week (7 days) without Google. No gmail, no maps, no blogger, no... using my phone (except for making calls & sending txts, thanks, that's generous of you, Mushon!)

So this will be the last post for a week (although i don't really post so consistently-- it guess it's not that big of a deal).

I just set up that stupid email client on my mac to receive my email (although i can't figure out how to access any email sent after 2007 for some reason-- this is bullshit!) and i hope some disaster doesn't happen where i actually go incommunicado and, you know, destroy my life.

Let's see how long this will last...

Harlo.Holmes: A loyal customer since 2/5/05

@ share.nyc!!!

2009-09-20T21:55:00.006-04:00

YES!

give me noise! give me feedback, let me ride it! it's so good to see keiko and to participate here! this is the soul coming home, i tell ya!

was hacked, now back

2009-09-20T10:44:00.003-04:00

Hello! Here are some updates:
I'm in grad school now. It's already kicking my ass. I'm taking classes with such awesome professors: R. Luke DuBois (from Cycling '74) and Mushon Zer Aviv (from Radical Software Group). This is going to be fun!

I'm procrastinating, though-- I have homework to finish, and I walked about 2 miles just to get coffee instead of getting straight to it. I *will* get to work as soon as I finish "blogging".

My site was hacked due to a very old wordpress install I let sit neglected on the server. (UPDATE YOUR WORDPRESSES, PEOPLE!) It wasn't a very clever hack or anything-- just annoying to clean up; left obfuscated code in all of my javascript and CSS files. Much thanks to this guy Kaleh from StopBadware.org who helped me troubleshoot. (Although I had the pleasure alone of discovering the infection in the CSS, tee hee.) Things are now ok.

Brooklyn is awesome. The apartment is sweet, my room has this natural quality about it that just makes me happy. I'm almost all settled in, but I need an armchair and some bookcases! (I think I'll buy those tomorrow with Jonny.) Went to a party at Mike and Vaughn's house last night, and saw all the kids I met through Noah who have become such good friends during my time in Cambridge. Curiously strong jello shots, some ghetto chicken nuggets with Brynn from the corner store, doing the Jane Fonda, you know, typical party stuff.

What else is new? Still working for CMCB, still working for YCF (and am in charge of the Electronic Exchange program there!), still working for NGCS, still freelancing, etc. Burning several candles at all of their ends. Due to the large amount of writing I'll have to do this year, the blog might morph into a kind of project-blog dedicated to my schoolwork. I'm sure you'll enjoy it,though! And maybe you can all help me out...

Almost home

2009-09-14T23:31:00.000-04:00

Spent a good deal of time today unpacking. The workspace is almost 100% ready, with the exception of my not having a chair. The other side, however, is still a mess!

i love beyonce, but...

2009-07-13T02:17:00.001-04:00

Trust me, no one loves Beyonce more than Harlo, but...

...i can't help but think of...

2009-06-22T14:19:00.000-04:00

Late-Spring Updates

2009-06-04T20:30:00.004-04:00

Sorry, blog, for the neglect. I'm not going to give a running tally of things done, nor will I enumerate the woes piling up around me. I'm just going to forge ahead into a recap of the present. (ha ha ha)

Share is fun. Share is not sticking to its rigid schedule like last year, due to its higher quality of content this year. Had a great 1st show in April with all sorts of amazing performers and supporters— you'll be the first to hear about it once we're done shooting and editing!

Summer's around the bend! I'm taking a CompSci course at Tufts this summer, with the hopes of getting a leg-up for the Fall, when I go to NYU and learn about computers and all that. The Tufts class is kicking my butt just enough to be fun/new/exciting, but not so much that I can't catch up. Oh, they call that an "academic and intellectual challenge"? Excuse me, it's been so long, you see, I'm not used to such things...

Share is branching out to the kiddies, it appears. I'm doing a module at this amazing summer camp called Parts and Crafts in... well... DSP for children. I'm writing my syllabus now, but this is new waters for me. Does anyone have any good ideas for gentle introductions to electronic music for the under 15 set? If so, please let me know!

My curriculum so far includes lessons and exercises in timbre, harmony, partials, pitch (and of course pitch-bending!), rhythm, sampling & dubbing, and explorations in room acoustics. I'm using Spear, Pure Data, and Fruity Loops to teach, along with a whole bunch of noise-making kiddie instruments (recorders, xylophones, etc.), and contact mics. The goal is getting kids to make Music Concrete; a friendly primer to that whole "with tape" idea. I'm hoping to get a crew to video some of our classes, and include that in upcoming episodes of Share, too. I hope you'll think it's interesting!

What else? I need cash, guys! With the upcoming move to NYC, I expect my resources to be TAPPED. I am on the prowl for freelance gigs (web design/dev/what-have-you) so please forward my info to anyone who might have a job for someone like me. (CV here if you seriously have a lead...) I might be going to school only part-time this year (No, thank you, Mr. Credit Crisis) so in which case, I'm on the lookout for a good part time job in the city. Hopefully one that would best utilize my skills, but you know, who can afford to be picky these days?

Had a birthday a week or so ago. That was ok. I spent it flat-broke and by myself, reading Debord on the porch. The Merriam-Webster word of the day was "destitute." NEVER AGAIN, WE SAY.

On a more positive note, Noah's in Pittsburgh for the NIME conference! Tomorrow is his presentation, and I wish him the best of the best of the best of luck! He's already gotten to play with (OMG!) the Max plugin for the new version of Ableton Live (MOTHER-EFF!) and attended a pannel with Max Matthews (ok, enough of the Max love!) You should check out his pics on fickr— he's bound to update more as the week progresses!!! (I LOVE YOU! YOU ARE THE GOOD ONE!)

we are the good ones!

2009-05-19T16:55:00.001-04:00

AKA + LvH
Originally uploaded by AKA MEDIA SYSTEM

still my favorite.

This is a great mode of attack

2009-04-10T00:04:00.004-04:00

Strip your enemy of its immanence.

The National Organization for Marriage's lawyers are having this video removed at a rapid pace (copyright infringement— riiiiiight) so thank goodness for web services that allow you to download those videos to your computer and have them "forever" (which I may or may not be saying I did).

I really like how the NOM (nom nom nom) tried to reclaim the phrase "Rainbow Coalition" to describe their coterie of cul-de-sac-dwelling hate-mongers, and I especially love how some of the actors who read for the commercial didn't really get the idea.

And obviously, a whole bunch of jerkwads spewing ignorance in front of a green screen— Colbert Challenge, anyone?

Creating and Facilitating Creation

2009-04-04T10:24:00.003-04:00

Busy bunch of days, weeks...

Piconet went surprisingly well at last week's SWAN Day Festival. This marked a personal turning point for me and my work— I was actually able to see a project through to its logical conclusion, without compromise, and within a timeframe to which I had to stick rigidly in order for the project to be a success. I'm quite proud of this one, and it was very well received. (I even got a compliment from the luminous composer Jonathan Bailey Holland who was in attendance.) I wish I had recorded audio better, but alas that was impossible. I only had the ability to record four spaced-out channels of audio in mono (I should be ashamed, I know!) so the recording in my documentation is pretty lacking. However, I might get the opportunity to install Piconet again in New York (it's being pitched to Tom Tom Magazine for inclusion in their next benefit/showcase) and if that happens, I'll be sure to document it better.

Share is coming up on April 30th at All Asia Cafe. I am super super excited about this, especially because I'll be performing an actual electronic music set for an audience. I've been pretty busy this year with the installations and performances, but I haven't done any live dance-able music in awhile. It feels good to get back to my native instrument. The set I'm working on is a lot of fun, and includes a remix of "Motherboy XXX" that you can bop around to, a violent piece for a violent flute (which will use some of the frequency squishing techniques I worked on in Piconet), and a tribute to Crime Mob, who have enriched my life so much. The show's lineup is pretty impressive— we'll also have performances by NoraJean (who's quite an awesome local DJ), Michael Richison (who looks good in a suit), and a screening of this video produced for the show by artist Yulia Pinkusevich where Yulia scales a huge wall to create big black & white vertical paintings. Yulia's based in New Mexico, but she's actually coming to Boston for the screening. It feels pretty awesome that Share.tv is a forum for Yulia's performance; I guess that makes me an official producer.

I did not get into MIT. Comparative Media Studies did not admit any students this year, due to the loss of their director, and I learned that the group at the Media Lab to which I applied did not have the opportunity to admit any students this year either. I don't know if that was the basis of my rejection, but it definitely feels better to think of it that way. Fortunately, I did get into NYU's Media, Culture, and Communications program, and it looks like I'm going to go there (provided the government gives me some money to pay for it). I am definitely looking forward to studying under Alexander Galloway, who is actually a f*ing god on earth. Galloway is one of the founders of the Radical Software Group, who did Carnivore, and Kreigspiel (in collaboration with Matt Shadetek and DJ /rupture— also heroes of mine). This might actually be the greatest opportunity I could ever have, so my qualms about money, lodging, accruing a mountain of debt, tuition, leaving my life in Cambridge behind, leaving CMCB which is the best job I've ever had, Noah, the horrible job market... might have to take a back seat and I will bite the bullet and just go. This is hard, but then again, it's just life in flux— that's how it goes.

Piconet, PureData, coding with the bricolage look

2009-03-17T11:29:00.009-04:00

So, yeah, posting has been slow. I have been incredibly busy, what with work, freelancing, and fun little projects going on. After Motherboy XXX, I've fallen in love with Pure Data, and am writing a lot of patches with it. What I like about PD versus, say, Processing, is how it satisfies my need to create collage out of everything. Whereas in Processing, you're just going top-to-bottom writing lines and lines; in PD my code is a beautiful object, in addition to the work it outputs.

I'm part of this SWAN Day Festival (SWAN= Support Women Artsts Now) organized by vocalist/composer Eva Kendrick. The festival features up-and-coming female composers, and Eva asked me to submit something electronic. Instead of performing some ambient electro or ”Intelligent” dance music, I opted to create an installation for the actual performance space, that would exploit and recontextualize the idea of “space” in an auditorium. By space, I don’t only mean the physicality of the room: its acoustics, its size, depth. I wanted to transform our involvement with the space as spectators, and explore the expectations we hold of a space when we enter it to become audience members.

So my piece, Piconet, is written in Pure Data, and consists of 4 shotgun microphones mounted in the 4 corners of the audience space. Room noise is segregated by frequency (0-200 hz, 201-600 hz, 601-1100, and 1101+), run through a chain of delays, randomly sampled, and passed along the audience at various playback speeds through speakers placed around the auditorium. I'll become more eloquent in describing the idea as I compile my program notes, but the gist of it is that the piece both ruptures and heightens the sense of relative privacy you require to be an attentive, respectful, and absorbed spectator. Writing the patch in PD has been a total joy-- here's a screenshot so far:

If you're in town, you should come to the show. It's at CMCB on Sunday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m. (34 Warren Ave, in Back Bay.)

In other news, I launched the Surfing Club platform as part of Share:Cambridge (share-tv.us/journal). Some kids have already started to post to it, and I'm hoping it'll take off. (I especially think Bechtold would have lots of excellent stuff to contribute!) Some kids have already tried to vandalize it, but that only pointed out weak points that I had to secure/reinforce. (I thought it was you, Jonny, but nope, our culprit remains at large!)

In other, other news, I have earnestly reworked my artist's statement. It's simple and it's honest: I want you to come outside.

In other, other, other news, I got a G1 for 100% free thanks to Shell and her awesome friends at Google. I can't wait to dust off my Java and start making apps. I'm particularly excited to use somehow use GPS positioning to control audio parameters. I have a big idea in mind, but it will have to wait until I have a bit more time. As of yet, I've only said "Hello World" to the phone, and have instead used it to check my emails, gloat via Google Chat about how I got a free G1, and play sudoku on the T.

Xiao Fei Yang.jpg

2009-02-08T15:04:00.001-05:00

Xiao Fei Yang.jpg
Originally uploaded by lovers v haters

Oh my god It's the best place ever i cannot wait to eat this! YES!

Okay, now R.I.P. Gudrun (9/15/07 - 2/3/09)

2009-02-04T21:26:00.001-05:00

A criminal diet that I quit, and Motherboy XXX

2009-02-01T17:04:00.006-05:00

I was on the "master cleanse" for a brief period of time, and it was disgusting. The idea is, you are supposed to drink this nasty juice consisting of lemon squeezings, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. 2 liters of it, all day, every day, for ten days. Also, before you go to bed, you are supposed to drink a laxative tea, and every morning, you are supposed to chug a liter of salt water and then shit yourself for about an hour. And the thing is, you start to get really disgusted by the fact that the skank juice you have to drink every day looks exactly like the mess you leave in the bathroom every morning. It is gross, and after 4 days of being psychically and physically nauseous, I quit.

However, it is not without its benefits, even if you do it for four days. You see, you are actually starving yourself, so you're bound to lose some weight anyway. Anecdote: I was crossing the street Friday, at a crosswalk with a yield sign, and there was this SUV coming at me that didn't even try to slow down. Finally at the last minute, he did, and I guess not noticing the yield sign right in front of him, screamed at me "What's wrong with you? I could have hit your skinny ass!" I beamed.

Anyway, Friday I also performed that piece I wrote for the Young Composers Festival, entitled "Motherboy XXX". It went well! I didn't have a reprise of 6th grade after all, so that was a triumph in itself. The piece was written for piano and laptop, with an accompanying patch in Pure Data that is constantly polling the audio input for two notes: the E above middle C, and the A flat below middle C. Upon hearing those notes, the patch starts to record a dubbed-out sample of about 2 measures, then plays it back. The cool thing about this is, if the note I'm playing resonates long enough to make its way onto the dubbed sample, when it gets played back, the patch will hear that too, and include it in the next sample it records. This created an awesome feedback effect at excellent points during the piece, adding great texture and sense of space to the samples being played back. It was also really fun to play along with my own feedback; I liked how it forced me to listen carefully to what was being played, and make small adjustments to my phrasing and timing. No matter how extensively I practiced the piece, it will never be played the same way twice for that very reason. Noah was very good to record my performance. My only regret is that I didn't make a recording on our excellent sound equipment in the concert hall, or else I would have posted that, too.

The Pure Data patch

What else? Well, there's this: Share.tv Series 2. (You know, my TV show.) I'm really excited about this! I sent out my call to artists to several lists, but the majority of my submissions (and really excellent ones at that, don't get me wrong!) have been from European artists. Perhaps you can help me out-- spread the word! I would like to get more local talent!

Um... Super Bowl was good. We watched that, despite kind of hating football. But it was good! Wyna will be so proud of me! Hmm, other than that, nothing. Oh, and now the fish is really dead.

Gudrun R.I.P. FTW!

2009-01-29T11:44:00.004-05:00

9/15/07 - ~~1/29/09~~ Forever???
~~I understand this is a long time for a fish to live. She was a good pet.~~

Turns out, Gudrun was not dead. I was about to fish her out for a burial-at-sea, and lo, the bitch swam away from me! She is super old, though. I thought she was dead-- she's very pale, and she floats at a total 90 degree angle in the tank. Although she can definitely swim, and use all of her body, she seems to be too tired to put in the effort to use her rear fins unless she absolutely has to.

Ah well, I'm happy she's alive. I got Gudrun within weeks of moving to Somerville, and she's just always been there. Like furniture. The idea of living in Somerville without her was kind of bumming me out!

A B&E?

2009-01-20T22:57:00.004-05:00

On Sunday, last Sunday, I had to go to CCTV, even though it was closed, to teach a make-up lesson in remedial computer skills to some elderly people. It was snowing a lot, and very cold. And also, CCTV was closed because it was the MLK holiday weekend, and they expected me to open up shop and just teach the class. Okay. But people failed to prepare for the fact that CCTV has a burglar alarm, and I don't have the code to disarm it, and so instead of teaching class, I almost got arrested for breaking and entering.

Jonny is mad at me because I'm a flake

2009-01-13T17:33:00.002-05:00

Jonny was supposed to visit me in Somerville, but I had to cancel on him, opting to go up to New Hampshire yet again and bang on a tree.

(Photo by AKA MEDIA SYSTEM)

In other news, the Young Composers Festival is coming up, kids, and I'm performing a piece I'm composing for a prepared piano (piezo mics and Pure Data strike again!) The working title of my composition is "Motherboy XXX" (so far, that's all I've got— please someone help me come up with a better title?)

I'm nervous about performing: this will be the first time I've performed at a piano since 6th grade, when I had to play the national anthem infront of the whole school and I started trembling uncontrollably. But even then, I chugged through, sour notes and all. Fast forward 10 years and there I am with Vicki, making a fool out of myself and laughing when Windows crashes while I'm on stage. So yeah, whatever happens, it'll be an interesting performance. You should come down!

Young Composers Festival
Piano Department Recital
6:30 pm (Reception to follow)
@ Allen Hall, Community Music Center of Boston
34 Warren Avenue, Boston

exquisite corps w shell.jpg

2009-01-07T21:08:00.001-05:00

exquisite corps w shell.jpg
Originally uploaded by lovers v haters

She's helping me with my song for the Young Composers Festival!

the new museum.jpg

2008-12-26T20:46:00.001-05:00

the new museum.jpg
Originally uploaded by lovers v haters

Ugh. New museum. Saw a video of two pudgy hipster chicks doing the electric slide. Backwards. Best 12 bucks ever.

come on lets go.jpg

2008-12-23T21:43:00.001-05:00

come on lets go.jpg
Originally uploaded by lovers v haters

Hurry! Get on the Dino and Let's go! (Best xmas gift ever, thank you Noah!)

babooshka.jpg

2008-12-13T19:14:00.001-05:00

babooshka.jpg
Originally uploaded by lovers v haters

Oh lord! Babooshka yah yah! Maegh's in town Hooray!

Excuse Me?

2008-12-11T05:24:00.002-05:00

Checked the inbox for my last.fm profile tonight...

The typical spam

But, waitaminute, WHAT does this mean:

Time for me to get in touch with my Portuguese side...?

Whaaaaaaat?!

A thing I'm doing, "A forwarding address"

2008-11-29T01:30:00.010-05:00

As stated earlier, a work of mine is going up in a Boston gallery. Part of a group show called "On The Street" at the Kingston Gallery on Harrison Ave. The opening is on Friday the 5th (you should come! No, really you should!) but I have to drop the work off on Sunday sometime, and I'm going insane matting things, and gluing things, and xacto-ing things, and drilling things. The installation consists of a video and some "photographs," so I've had to figure out a mounting scheme that does both media justice. I don't know if I've made the right choices, but it's too late now!

The biggest challenge is in case-modding an LCD monitor I borrowed from CCTV without doing irreparable damage to it (I'm pretty sure I have to give it back...?) It's a pretty nice monitor, and thankfully I have the Asus Eee PC to run my video off of (on Processing).

ooh, blurrrrrry!

The first thing I did was open up the back, and un-mount the stand (luckily, a very easy task!). Then I separated the monitor part from the front casing, and threaded very sturdy (CROSSED FINGERS!) metal braid in-between, and screwed it back together. This provides an integrated loop of wire braid that allows me to hang the monitor on a wall like a picture frame.

For aesthetic purposes, I bought two of those cheapo plasic box frames, and cut out a frame from dark brown matting board. Then I threaded the metal braid strands through the top of the box frame (after drilling some holes in the top) for proper hanging.

As of 1:50 am, this is what it looks like. I still have to pretty-up the matting (I HATE MATTING) but I think I'm on the right track! Hopefully I will have something to be proud of on opening night! And also, let's hope my Asus doesn't crap out on me-- we've already had some close calls where the screen resolves into the most beautiful gitch art (drool, drool, Cory Archangel).

As nice as this is, it's not the look we're going for!

It could be a sweet dream, or a beautiful nightmare! (Listening to the new Beyoncé,or rather the few good tracks on it, as I work...)