Further Trends in Packaging

Many, many years ago I noted that people selling vinyl were starting to use vinyl as the packing material.

At that point, they were using stuff that, well, was junk. But today I got a package from the US that made me go “hmmmm”. Or “yay”?

I was exploring discogs.com looking for new stuff from Circlesquare. (I thought his Fight Sounds EP was amazing, and I was wondering whether it was possible to follow up with an album that was as good, and then he made Songs About Dancing and Drugs which was mind-bogglingly good.)

But then nothing more.

So I’m constantly trolling discogs.com for new stuff, and the other week I noticed that he’d been “feat.” on a single by somebody called Mugwump, so I bought that.

I got it today. And the packaging was two other 12″ EPs. I understand why sellers do this: They stiffen up the packages so that it’s less likely that the thing you’re shipping gets destroyed.

But the bewildering thing this time is that the two packaging EPs were rather good. I mean, they’re better than the Mugwump EP.

The first one is by DJ Deeon, a pre-footwork Chicago house producer. The EP looks very well-worn what with all the handwriting across it and all the cosy firework crackle going on.

The other is a nice copy of Energy by Jamez, and it’s also pretty good, since I’m in an 90s techno state of mind lately.

So what’s up? So few people want vinyl these days that people use even nice stuff as packaging material? Or perhaps it’s just somebody just being generous? I mean, I guess the problem with most vinyl nerds is the unwillingness to throw anything away, so just … outsourcing the problem by sending it off to other people makes sense?

I mean, it does.

But isn’t there a vinyl revival going on?

WFC Guyana: Exploration Guyana

Another Youtube documentary.

Perhaps I should say something about my methodology for finding films from these smaller countries. First I check Istanbulfilms, because they have an impressive list of interesting films. But the only film they listed from Guyana wasn’t available anywhere, not even Amazon Video.

So then I google for “best films from Guyana”, which usually doesn’t turn up anything interesting, and it didn’t here either. Then I go to imdb and use their country-based listing, and sort it by number of votes (because that’s usually a good indication for how available the films are).

Then I just go through that list and search for the films on US Amazon, UK Amazon and sometimes French Amazon, and then I search Youtube.

So when I end up with a film like this (which is really a British travelogue from a Guyana), it’s not because I’m trying to avoid feature films. It’s just getting difficult now to find films. So little makes it out of these countries.

Exploration Guyana. Charles Montier. 2011. Guyana.

The Georgetown

  • 2 parts dark rum
  • 1 part maraschino liqueur
  • some dashes of orange bitters

Pour into an ice-filled mixing glass and stir for a minute. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with an orange twist.

I thought this was going to be horrible, but it was refreshing.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.

My New Fashion Designer Blog x Useful Consumer Review

I’ve been trying to use an Android device as my “lug around the apt. while doing stuff” device, but it’s just not good enough. None of the apps for sshfs file browsing or video watching are beyond the “well, it kinda works” level. The ssh times out and doesn’t come back again until you do *stuff* and all the video apps have audio/video sync issues.

(Don’t all Android users play TV via sshfs?)

So! Back to Linux!

I got this laptop which has a “tent” configuration where the keyboard is in the back. Since it’s Linux, sshfs and mplayer work perfectly. The only issue is just the portability.  Physically. See, it’s all tent-ey and stuff, but when it’s in that configuration, picking it up is very awkward. There’s nothing to grab hold on.

So! I got my sewing kit out (a gift from my mother like ten years ago and seldom used since) and bought a ribbon thingie.

Oh, yeah, the computer is a… is that a d and a q? So it’s a … Dairy Queen laptop?

Let’s go with that.

I had planned on wrapping the ribbon around a wine cork, but the wine tonight turned out to be from New Zealand and had a screw cap. So instead I just rolled the ribbon up…

… and then expertly stitched it up. (Don’t show that seam to anybody with sewing skills unless you want them to have a heart attack.)

I did one at either end and now I have a handle!

See! It works!!! (He says while gingerly walking around with it.)

(Oh, the thing being shown is an episode of … Killjoys. Yeah, that’s what it’s called. It’s about people pointing guns at each other… IN SPACE!)

This is what the Dairy Queen looks like from the other angle. Not quite as … TV-ey. That’s a word. (The keyboard is switched off when it’s in this position.)

I had to adapt my Emacs video viewer for touch action, and I used Touchéegg along the lines for the music player. Seems to work OK. I added touch actions for mplayer, too, so that I can pause and skip and stuff.

THIS ALL MAKES SENSE!

WFC Grenada: Blinded

This one can be found here and then and then and then the last part is missing! It’s a no-budget shortish film, but I didn’t realise that the last 20 minutes wasn’t available yet. Oops! It’s told in flashback form after something disasterous has happened, and then we learn… what. But (I’m always sorry to say this about non-professional films in this blog series), it’s just not very gripping.

Blinded. Anderson Quarless. 2006. Grenada.

Tropical Teaser

  • 2 parts dark rum
  • 1 part Amaretto
  • 8 parts grapefruit juice

Shake vigorously until very cold. Strain into an ice-filled glass.

This post is part of the World of Films and Cocktails series. Explore the map.