Ambient Techno is my Friend.

Comments Must Die

I turned the comments off due to spamming problems.

2093 comments destroy a rookie-blog. Let's start.

And on a different note, I'm back online with Loverly?

Writing New Chapters

Saying goodbye, probably — sort of.

Said it there and I'll repeat it here: I'm putting my online presence to rest, most likely not only temporarily. There's new situations I find myself in, and new behaviours I picked up or force myself to be with — reading, playing, working — all of which are in meat space. The only part that's going to be in use (far less though) is my Flickr account.

You can unsubscribe this blog, as well as the temporal offshot, in case you knew it. I'm getting back to old media, and probably most importantly, productivity. No offense ;)

Lightning Rambling

The effects kicked in yesterday around 19:00, which has the result of me being pretty confused. Please bear with me.

I forgot my laptop power cable and my battery is broken, so this is the only photo I have for now. No-one was injured, although me and Andreas have a slight whiplash. So, what happend? A Chinese guy who lives in Switzerland, who had his 23rd birthday that day, didn't know how to handle cruise control, but kicked it in at 180km/h, and couldn't turn it off. Crashed into us, about here where there's grass and a field on the western side of the A9. I didn't even see him as I just wanted to change to the righter track. We were pushed away a few hundet meters, spinned once or twice after I had to steer a little to the right after the quite new Audi A6 was slowly getting ahead of us. I didn't want to crash into it when it came to halt.

I think I should say thank you to my father, who's the reason why I was always surrounded by the road saftey topic, due to my fathers job.

We got another car, and arrived in Vienna at around 2:30 am, a little late but, I can't tell you how glad I am to be home. Listening to Maximilian's Tuvalu Radio stuff (I really hope, and not only because of egoistic reasons, that those recordings get released some day. Maybe they should contact Morr) as well as Kepler, as I do often when something incredibly odd and confusing happens. So I'll get a little rest now. Next update on Sunday, when I'll definitely have returned permanently. *blink*

In Which Our Hero Was Struck By a Lightning

Seriously.

Had a car accident - not my fault, guy hit us with 160-180 km/h when we were going at 80 due to a building site. Us and my stuff ok, car wrecked, will arrive at least 4 hours late. Lots of photos later.

Yay for phone posting!

Revealing Less

Remember: learn before you volunteer for something you don't know yet.

Repeat after me: summarising 3 different and unsynced camera perspectives while retaining one layer of sound (or at least, have it properly cut) with linear video editing software equals lots and lots of pain.

But I think the result is better than pain. Here we go …

Hiatus (Not)

I temporarily left this blog to pursue the depth of life outside of silicon chips. (Not really, just been lazy.) After reflection, the result is: plans = catfood.

Most people know by now, I'm moving back to Vienna. There's a myriad of reasons (surprising!), all in all boils down to one simple line: I have not found anything that is important enough to me to keep sticking around.

When I first came here, Tina told me that Berlin is able to do both, lift you up to new heights and crash you into new lows. Neither has happened to me, but my experience tends towards, as you've guessed, the latter.

Even though I'm not carrying out my catfood as intended, I do not consider my actions to be a failure - they were of great importance and helped me learn. Some may take the following points for granted, but for someone grown up in Vienna, they're not:

• Use language encouragingly – enthusiasm wins
• Find a balance between thinking and doing – great catfood is still just catfood
• Catch peoples sight and smile – it's rewarding for both sides
• Experiment more with your environment - not only because it rhymes
• Spend more time outside – your mood will thank you
• Instinct > intellect – my guts proved more reliable, what about yours?

So it's all good.

Why catfood? It's not the most important thing, but you shouldn't forget about it.

Blank But Mine

Most of you probably know already, but I got the keys for my flat on saturday.

Next: minimalist quick-hack furniture, job. And oh, the hijacked connection works here. Still flakey but hey, free! Thanks unknown neighbor.

Everything But Bored

I'm keeping myself busy, not necessarily with important things though. *cough*

It's pretty sure I'll be getting a flat in the house Markus lives in. The one I want is slightly larger, a little prettier, has a stove (that might explode upon wrong use, ha) and costs €5's more. I like it. A lot. Moving in for July should work too. Exciting!

Regarding a job, to be honest, I have yet to actively look for one. So far I've only used a few of my apparently excellent contacts (in the not so distant past, I was told several times by different people how odd it is that I know so many people everywhere) to ask at several companies if they need some help (with anything). Wish me luck :)

Most of the time, I'm enjoying myself here. Should change that a little, I guess? However, I've attended my first demonstration, which happend to be for Yorck 59:

Markus took me for a "little" 4 or 5 hour walk in a nearby forrest:

I took him to Gob Squad's Me the Monster. It was a lovely performance, despite it's "frightening" name. They handed out a questionare before the show, to find out what monster everyone is, to later explain what exactly that means. The monster descriptions where surprisingly accurate, at least for me and Markus. Yes, I admit, I do believe in love, as kitschy and unrealistic this may sound. Thank you for making me remember that.

Last but not least, we went to see Simon Bookish and Leafcutter John (whom I've missed in Vienna last year, according to him an awful show anyway) at the Zentrale Randlage. Both performances were very nice, if not to say inspiring:

The thing you can barely see in the picture is a Slinky, modified to emit some electronic signals picked up by the iBook, which then transforms it to sound (via Max/MSP?) that resembles a storm heard from a hut. At least, that's how I perceive/imagine it. I've caught it on video.

Metroblogging activities continue as well: I posted my first article for Berlin today. I hope to get flamed.

Now that was one huge catch-up entry.

The New World, Now

I've packed again, I've arrived.

Since yesterday I've got Internet at home. It took two days of sniffing the traffic of 19 wireless networks with KisMAC. If you happen to live round here and have a WiFi access point with no encryption/password called WLAN, please contact me, I'd like to thank you and of course pay you half of the costs. I don't mind the wonky nature of the connection and its slow speed – you have no idea how good it feels to be able to stay in touch with my loved ones easily.

Does that make me sound like an addict?

Anyway. I owe you my first impressions. Berlin is big. And it's hard to find some orientation. It was easier to find myself getting through London alone at stations and places I haven't been to. As far as I've noticed, there are hardly any one-way streets and Zebrastreifen but other pedestrian crossings. Coffee culture is completely different if not to say, not even comparable with the Viennese one. Everything is frickin' cheap. I hope I won't spend more money because of that …

It's hard to get hold of one opinion here. Some say Wedding (the district) is a horrible place to stay due to crime, other's say it's nice, some say the Carnival of Cultures is bad, others recommend me to go there. Maybe riding a bike is really the way to go here, even though I've been told it's suicide? Oh well, orientation first anyway.

So let me introduce to you, Markus' flat:

I really hope to get a flat in this house, even though playing loud music and organising wicked parties is out of discussion (you can hear the person below us singing and playing an acoustic guitar).

Of course, two of the few days outside, I spent with Austrians: Thursday and Friday were mainly devoted to monochrom which are part of Heimspiel 2006, a nice exhibition in Kreuzberg, where we (me and Markus that is) helped them a little with their video loop DVD.

But! I'm going to meet Till from the Berlin Metroblog where I'm hopefully be able to participate soon, and Enki introduced me to Julia that will show me the CCCB, and Jan said he might show me a little bit of the city. Yay for locals!

Yeah, and this is how Markus makes (delicious) pizza. Minimal kitchens rule, don't they?

I'm sorry, does this entry sound a little silly to you?

The New World, Not Yet

I've packed, I've relocated. I've fought with tears, I've overcome my negative thoughts.

After 8 hours on the train, I'm visiting my father and his family for a few days. This is a short stop on my way to Berlin where Markus will be so kind to share his flat with me until I found one for myself.

I'm quite aware of the lack of information about my plans here. So I'll do a quick introduction to the oh so simple idea: get my (pardon) ass up in a city I have some support in, but not enough to be able to slack (like in a certain city that has been called Vindobona at some point). And I'll stay for a year.

Because this sounds rather radical, there's a need for more context: I've been trying to move out since I was 15. Back then, I had all the information I needed to get independent from my parents, I even looked at a flat that seemed alright for my needs. But after I presented everything to my mother, the communication problems we had were far intense worse than before.

After that, all the flat-sharing plans I started since I was 17, such as the one with Karin or Philipp (and Clemens and Matthias), failed at several attempts. When I first started this journal/blog over a year ago, I even mentioned specific plans on moving. Embarrassing that it hasn't happened until now…

With this past, don't you think 20 is a good age to finally move out?

After discussing my situation with Tina, who told me about her Seattle/San Francisco dilemma, I remembered I don't have to stay in Vienna.

After 2 minutes of thinking a little further, Berlin seemed to be the perfect place to go. I have a friend who lets me use his quite limited space for a month or two, the overall cost of living is quite low, while the pay the same as in Vienna. Now, the only issue would be finding a job, I'll take almost anything just to survive, as long as it's not too frustrating.

Yes, what you've may noticed is right, this entry does have a strange and rather unemotional feel to it. And I think you've guessed right if you thought of sub-conscious self-protection.

Playing With Annika

One of the uncountable reasons why I want kids.

Thanks to Philipp for taping it!

Beware of Internet Memes

Constant repetition of songs, phrases, words or even seemingly random letters do not only have an impact on your social life, they may also magically bring you into situations akin to the described ones.

No, I'm definitely not talking about Buttsecks. I'm talking about Nigga stole my bike. Yes, correct, my recent habit of getting around the city with (what is actually not even) my bike, came to a sudden halt. My bike was stolen and my face resembles ':('.

And still, I find this amusing: Nigga Stole Carnegie Hall. Internet meme's are dangerous.

Guilty

Brought to you by the imaginary Viennese Blog Communications Initiative, for more interlinking and collective awareness of entries.

Kronos Quartet are playing at the Konzerthaus in two days (as I've mentioned elsewhere). I'm incredibly excited. More than I am usually when it comes to concerts, and that says something. And it's not because TH wants to kill me.

Just like The Reformed Faction (of Soviet France) did it in November, Kronos Quartet do it now: they play exactly what I crave for these days. Even if I only know two of the pieces they will play, I consider them deeply emotional. Although one would now think ah melancholic, not exclusively so. I experience Steve Reich's Triple Quartet as very demanding. Demanding in terms of how much you let yourself go within the boundaries provided by the constant flow of energy throughout the music. It's puzzling.

I'm glad I'm going on my own.

Argh, comments were broken for a few days, fixed them now. Show me your love!

"All Will Not Be Revealed"

A weekend of strong emotions, unique experiences and new found loves.

On the 30th of April, I was part of a performance at the Donaufestival, arranged as well as executed by Andreas Constantinou and Uniform (Wajid Yaseen and Alice Kemp). It's about time that I publicly write about it.

If you read the Viennese Metroblog, you may remember that Uniform was looking for dancers. Since I felt that their music is very head-based, with the tendency to crawl down to your guts, I though that the performance will be choreographed and rather sophisticated. A good reason to join for me…

The first performance-related question of our meeting was How comfortable are you with being naked? My answer, Fine.

The whole choreography was put together in two days with about 12 hours of rehearsals overall. We've used, but not strictly enforced, Butoh, a dancing style dealing with unconventional imagery. 8 of us were placed on platforms right in the middle of the crowd, the other two on stage. 3 of us were completely naked, one of them me, only protected by the white colour we were covered with from head to toe.

Andreas' and Wajid's vision was to play with power and sculptures – we built up both, to destroy them, break apart and bleed into the crowd to interact with them. The outcome was grotesque, at some points scary, powerful and filled with contrast.

That it worked so well still surprises me when I'm watching the tapes (thanks a lot to Christina, Karin and Stefan). And even though we hardly knew each other, there was a kind of familiarity in the group that I haven't come across before.

The experience and its intensity was unusual and extreme – not only for some of the performers and musicians, but also parts of the crowd struggled with what they've had been confronted with. For me personally, there was a lot I needed to work up afterwards.

But … all will not be revealed.

All photos by Clemens Lippl. Thank you.

This Needs to Stop

Lots of activity. No really.

This place has been quiet. Although I've attended the Fluc re-opening, reported about the Netznetz Backbone-Grant Voting, helped with the Metalab bootstrapping, and lurked at the East Erh Egg.

Or in photos:

Both known and new faces all over the place. I finally got to meet Tina a fellow Metroblog author, who although doesn't jump in your face, somehow has an aura of enthusiasm about her. Teemu told me how much he loves Daniela's Metblog entries, I fought with Tim over RDF and I think Angelo is a good dancer ;) Oh and Philipp and me might collaborate with Esel soon.

Leo was visiting for a few days, and made me realise that we'll know eachother for 4 years not soon (time is flying fast, seems as if I'm not the über-kiddo anymore). He showed me the DFKI's latest Gnowsis results, and I have to say, this is far better than what he showed me until then. I'll happily test it once they release a version that's stable and usable.

And since yesterday, I'm doing some temporary hosting for music for robots. As far as they told me, they have ~100GB traffic per week. The logs will be interesting :)

Most of this you would've known in one way or another, would Ambient Techno is my Friend. be in the state I've wanted it when I started it as zine.niij.org. I've finally came to the point where I have the tools to easily get it there, and it's only a matter of weeks now (come on, the Donaufestival is rapidly approaching).

Also, I've rewritten my blog, with Aaron Swartz' web.py and Kid, will be online in the next few days, along with a 0.1 version of Siesia LF. And I'll be switching to my new favourite piece of server software, lighttpd, as soon as possible. But more on that when everything is done.