Saturday, 28 August 2021

Here's the first installment of the new video companion to David Builds a Home. I shot a lot of video during the early portion of my house construction, so why not put it to good use? And no, that's not me narrating. I sound awful these days, so I use a synthetic voice. And no, I don't appear in any of the videos, either—I don't have any footage of myself working on the house (a missed opportunity). Funny little side story: the service I use for voice synthesis has dozens of characters from which to choose, so I "auditioned" them to see who sounded best. By pure bizarre coincidence, the one that did the best job is named Kingsley. That happens to be my middle name! So, one could sort of say that's me in the vids. More episodes are online at the video page.

Friday, 27 August 2021

Who, me? I'd never do a thing like that (below). Also, just added two more photo essays: Timelapse VI and Up On the Roof. And in other news, I've begun a series of videos on my homebuilding efforts; they'll be online shortly.

Thursday, 26 August 2021

Well, the bed was made... until Zack expertly unmade it! (He's in there, by the way, under the covers between the pillows.) Also note that yesterday's post inspired Timelapse V for the home website, a surprisingly good timelapse sequence—surprising because of how many images I found taken from the same vantage point. During my searches, I also came up with lots of new images for Timelapse II, Timelapse III, and Timelapse IV.

Wednesday, 25 August 2021

For those who contact me by text, please be aware that my phone's charging port has crapped out, and I may not be able to respond right away. Meanwhile, today's image has much more to it than meets the eye. Taken in 2014, almost a year after I'd purchased the property, it documents some storm damage: that bifurcated tree, dead center, used to be trifurcated; the third part was blown down and is lying on the ground. Although the event was perfectly ordinary under ordinary circumstances, it triggered significant changes to my plans: the house was originally to be on level ground at the top of the ravine, just out of view, with the deck dropping down a little and wrapping around that stand of trees. Thus it was quite fortuitous the storm did the damage when it did; otherwise, it would have taken out the deck and possibly part of the house. Furthermore, the damage revealed the terrible condition of the trees, so I had them cut down, much as it pained me; they were a threat to anything nearby, especially since the storm damage further weakened them. This then cleared the way for the house to settle down into the ravine, a much more pleasing and dramatic arrangement. Nature did me a favor.

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

Going to be a while drying out from Henri—the ground is squishy underfoot. Perhaps appropriate that today's image is a watercolor (albeit a digital one; here's the original image).

Monday, 23 August 2021

Last night I found a treasure trove of lost/forgotten railfanning video files, and consequently I've been producing and uploading new videos like a mad person. If you're a railfan, please be sure to see what's new. And for feline fanatics, there's a bunch of new itty bitty kitty viddies as well. Meanwhile, hurricane Henri has, for me, just been 36 hours of heavy rain, yet no wind, fortunately. May take a week to dry out.

Sunday, 22 August 2021

This is probably the weirdest music video you'll ever see, made for probably the weirdest music you'll ever hear. My kitty Pris is responsible, in a way, for both the video and the tune, "Basic Pleasure Model" (called that because she's named after Pris, a basic pleasure model, from Blade Runner). The music, such as it may be, is strictly made up of two and only two sounds: Pris purring and snoring. All of the drums, percussion, bass and instrumental sounds are derived from her purr, while her snores contribute the singular vocalization. But no meows—that would be much too obvious. Besides, her voice is regrettably rather harsh.

Grump Central Archive: Week of 22 August 2021