Below are some links to a great documentary on Frank Zappa broadcast on german TV after Zappa passed away in 1993. After watching this you should love him as much as I do… mmm not sure of that…

First words of FZ in the documentary: “Don’t expect friends, don’t expect fun, don’t expect a good life, don’t expect anything and then if you get something it’s a bonus.”

Ein Leben als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa (part 1 of 6)
Ein Leben als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa (part 2 of 6)
Ein Leben als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa (part 3 of 6)
Ein Leben als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa (part 4 of 6)
Ein Leben als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa (part 5 of 6)
Ein Leben als Extravaganza - Das Genie Frank Zappa (part 6 of 6)

Last words of FZ (to the interviewer): “You have to remain crazy despite the fact you are austrian.” Always kidding!

By visiting the top links on this blog you learn about my musical project tokoloten but there’s nothing that tells what actually means “tokoloten”. Well, “tokoloten” as such doesn’t mean anything but “tokoroten” does (see the “r”?). It is a japanese dish of thin translucent jelly strips. It is usually served cold and eaten with vinegar-based dressing. Believe me, it’s delicious! I’ve changed the “r” into “l” because japanese pronounce the “r” letter as “l”. Got it?

I liked the word and the food, so I stole it! And my music sounds like tokoroten looks by the way!

Interesting stuff found on Flickr. Alexandre Duret-Lutz (aka gadl) first builds 360° panoramas (by shooting hundreds pictures), then makes a sphere using stereographic projections. The results, as shown below, look like small planets. He calls them Wee Planets. Nice and even funny!

I like observing ruins, seeing the effect of time on materials, seeing how the nature recaptures its territory. And often scenes are very evocative; it seems people just disappeared, forgetting tiny pieces of their lives at that place.

I’ve discovered the website of a japanese photographer who seeks abandoned factories, hotels, hospitals, houses, parks all over Japan and takes wonderful photos. He must be my favorite photographer actually.

There’s a great gallery on Hashima Island.

Hashima Island (端島) is a small island in the Nagasaki Prefecture about 15 kilometers from Nagasaki itself. At the end of the 19th century, Mitsubishi installed a factory for retrieving coal from the bottom of the sea. A bit later, they built large concrete buildings for accomodating the workers. In the late 50’s, the island had the highest population density in the world. Mitsubishi closed the coal mines in 1974, the island is completely abandoned since then. It is also called “Ghost Island” by the way, and the access is prohibited.

If you visit the gallery, don’t miss the “Next Page” link at the bottom right (it’s written in japanese but you should find it).

I took this photo in 2002 when I was living in Japan. I had a 6-tatami flat close to the Kintetsu-Gakuenmae train station. This picture was taken from the Kintetsu train while going to Osaka. Japan is my third home country. Two first ones? France and Switzerland.

I’ve been playing around with Processing for some months and I’ve eventually made something that is now online. It’s a kind of machine which produces abstract paintings. One interacts with it using the mouse, first by drawing one or several lines, then by moving the mouse’s cursor on the canvas (new lines can be drawn at any time though). It’s quite straightforward, just try it!

A Painting Machine

Below is a drawing generated with this machine.

I was in Beijing (北京) some months ago and I recorded a musician playing erhu (二胡) close to Tiananmen Square. He was playing in a tunnel under the huge street in front of the Forbidden City’s main gate. The sound was beautiful, I guess this man chose this place for its natural reverberation. I feel nostalgic (for what?) every time I listen to this music…

I used an Edirol R-09 for recording.