Demos came about as a sort of “visual graffiti” that preceded video games that had been cracked (had their DRM removed) by a team or person who wanted to visually show off their artistic side as well as their technical prowess. In the early days, computing capabilities and space were severely limited and that required a certain finesse to create something amazing using very limited means. That meant that the music and animations created in this format required creativity as well as algorithmic magic, and physical parties sprung up way before the internet as a way to share files and knowledge and to compete and inspire each other. Demoscene: The Art of the Algorithm is a well-crafted documentary that narrates the history of the demoscene and demoparties, and captures the essence of the modern-day scene.

LINKS
Nectarine is a demoscene portal that’s still updated with demos
Pixeljoint Pixel Art Resources
Keygenmuysic.net Download .mod files ripped from demos or keygens / cracks. Requires a .mod player like one of the apps on Modplug.com
Keygen Music Jukebox Listen to demoscene / keygen music without need for a .mod player
Trackers are the original old school way to compose music on computers, using hexadecimal to assign effects and notes. Impulse Tracker was the one I used on DOS, but there are modern day equivalents like Sunvox and Psycle.

Well, apparently luring frat boys into the world of programming is the new hot thing. Great.

I read this article by a journalist at South by Southwest where she walked out of a talk by a guy who was trying to excuse the frat-boy culture he adheres to with a few off handed comments that completely alienated a segment of the audience, and then I decided to poke around some more on the subject. Apparently this is a thing. Wow. Really?

Gross.

Yes, it’s a fact that math and science fields employ far less women than men, but to play up this fact and appeal to the base nature of men in order to sweep them into your new startup? That’s pretty pathetic.

From Adda Birnir, a female programmer in NYC:

“Brogrammers might lack tact, but they’re definitely marketing development in a way that appeals to a new subset of men,” she wrote. By recasting geekdom as an extension of the frat house, she believes, brogrammers are encouraging guys who might have headed to Wall Street to consider Silicon Valley. But if inclusion is the goal, she says, substituting “geek” with “bro” is equally problematic. “Because if there’s anything more alienating to women than a room full of geeks, it’s probably a room full of fratty guys.”

Here’s some reading for you:

“The Rise of the Brogrammer: Can Silicon Valley Solve Its Sexism Problem?”
Twitter’s @Brogrammer
Quora question “How does a programmer become a brogrammer?”
“”Gangbang Interviews” and “Bikini Shots”: Silicon Valley’s Brogrammer Problem”

There is exactly one line of dialog in this, and it kinda is totally true.

However, they all have the same problem I do.. the laptop scrunch. Let’s all agree to go back to multi-screen-iverse land and make our backs happy.

I pretty much agree with this, and I like that they use actual demographics statistics, especially in “self-identified geeks.”

Here’s a hilarious book explaining how computers work, referencing meat needed as fuel, puppies, and a washing machine as integral parts.

In a classic internet video, Bjork explains how television works, comparing the electrical components to buildings in a city, and the wires are “elevators.” It bothers me that people find her “adorable” when she is acting like a child simplistically justifying the “magic” of electronics. What’s also sad is she is an electronic musician who should have technical knowledge of her tools (however, she relies heavily on producers, which could explain why she thinks electronics is a magical process). She is a grown woman and it is sad that this is considered cute.

Condensed Soup: 10/23/08 by JDG6385

Finally, presented without comment, I will leave you with the girls from The Hills attempting to explain the purpose of the Large Hadron Collider.

To complement the visual atmosphere, the artist used samples of Boards of Canada for sound effects. At one point, being familiar with BoC even gives you an advantage…play it and see.

Goldfish – We Come Together (OFFICIAL) from Goldfish live on Vimeo.

An amusing 8bit / retro take on the latest single from Goldfish.

On  June 4th, 2011 is the 4th Annual Experimental Garage Sale! This craft fair  focuses on circuit bending and DIY musical instruments at the Experimental Sound Studio space with 12 sellers who will have plenty circuit bent devices, un-bent toys, electronic parts, kits, experimental instruments, contact microphones, guitar pedals, art, and more. The sale will begin rain or shine at 12:00 PM and last until 6:00 PM.

Here’s the  Facebook Event page.

Cosmic Blooper ( Evansville, IN ) – Laser CNC cut circuit bending panels for SK-1 + others.

Low-Gain Electronics ( Minneapolis, MN ) – SK keyboards, circuit bent devices, synths, parts.

Unatronics ( Chicago, IL ) – Beep-its, Oscillators, circuit bent toys.

Read more over at GeLofi