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It’s been a weekend of questions of subsistence. I’m not really sure what I’m doing here because the novality wore off months ago. I think it’s the repetitiveness that frustrates me most, something that happens less in bigger places, some people love it but I detest it, don’t get me wrong I’m happy to clean my teeth each day but I dam glad I’ve got a ticket out of here shortly! I don’t think I’ll be back in a long while, If I could take my parents, 1 friend and my dog I’d never be back!

A pretty heavy update has been made on “www.tomhall.com.au”:http://www.tomhall.com.au which has made it easier to update (more regular content updates) and navigate around and load alot faster too. So hit the link and check the new content and be sure to check back frequently.

For the 1st time ever the entire album I created in Japan titled Irashai Mase – New Forms is available as a download. The entire album was made using a process of starting with the Japanese phrase I recorded ‘Irashai Mase’ (meaning your welcome, come in) and used it to create Track 1, I then exported Track 1 and used that to make Track 2, then exported Track 2 and used it to make Track 3 and used this process all the way up to Track 10. So Get it NOW “Irashai Mase – New Forms”:http://www.rhanster.com/Sound/Irashai%20Mase%20-%20New%20Forms.zip

Music I’ve Been Listening To This Weekend;

TOOL
Tori Amos
Tracy Chapman
Oasis (Heathen Chemistry)
Utada (Japanese)

Check this great duet, “Tori Amos and Maynard James Keenan (TOOL)”:http://www.rhanster.com/Sound/Tori%20Amos%20&%20Maynard%20James%20Keenan%20(Tool)%20-%20Muhammed%20my%20Friend.mp3

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Got home yesterday morning to a nice little surprise. A big envelope from the Australian Council for the Arts telling me that I have received a grant I recently applyed for. I was pretty stoked to get hold of one of these as they’re extremely competitive. Basically, it is going to give me the funds to produce a full length album (10 tracks) much like my “EP This & That”:http://www.mp3.com.au/artist.asp?id=25443 which was released at the end of last year, except this time I will be able to get it professionally mastered, pressed (around 1000 copies) + distribution fees.

I’m also stoked because I got hold of a hosting deal thanks to my mate Tommy D, that gives me 20GB of web space and 1 Terrabyte of bandwith per month, sounds too good to be true when I say it was only $12.95 AUD for the whole year. Check’em out at “dreamhost”:http://www.dreamhost.com/ p.s. you need a discount code for the $12.95 per year deal.

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This subject of how we are perceived/judged/stereo typed by different people in different ways is something I have thought about and considered for a long time. Below is an extract written by “Dave the Chimp”:http://www.fotolog.com/chimp243/ which sums up my thoughts and perceptions on this topic to a ‘T’.

What I was thinking about was how we create an image in our brains of who other people are, based on the information about them we see and hear. Thing is, that image we create isn’t that person, just an incomplete copy of them. For example, I know a lot about my best friend Lucas , but my image of him, the “Lucas ” that exists in my mind, is based on the things I know about him, my emotions about him, both positive and negative, etc. That isn’t who he is. He is the only one who can ever hope to know who he is, as he is the only one that knows everything about him. Another example would be our mothers. A lot of us find our mothers annoying for various reasons, so our image of our Mum is this woman who is annoying. That’s not who she is to her mother though. It’s not who she is to her husband, employer, bank manager.

So, what I’m getting at is this. Everyone who knows us, either personnally or through the words, images, music, clothes, whatever, that we project into the world, creates an image of us. That is not us. So when someone attacks you, especially over the internet, they are only attacking the image of you they have created. They are beating up on their own creation! And how can that possibly hurt the person they’ve created that image of?

I figure everyone reading these words has an image of who I am. Those images aren’t me though, because the “real” me (if there is such a thing as “real”) is sitting here, and none of you are in this room with me.

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Experimenting with Sound is something I really enjoy. I find it very easy to eat away half a day just jamming but I always try to set myself small tasks. During a Jam session the other day I decided to try to make a kind of cohesive sound scape using only 3 copies of 1 sample and minute variances to maintain interest without loosing the original sample which, to make it more interesting/challenging is kept to a length of .01475 of a second. The sample was taken from a field recording of mine of a spray can.

Give it a listen, chuck it on loop and let it go for 1/2 hour, the more it plays the more you’ll find!

“Spray Can.mp3″:http://www.users.on.net/~nightrider/Spray.mp3

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The place I was born In (the ex-Devonport Hospital) (more…)

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I have fond memories of this town as a young tacka (more…)

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Before
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After

A friend came home from Sydney,
so all us boys caught up for a crushing all
day drinking session, 2pm – 3am.

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Daydream
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Devonport by night (more…)

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Those of you who know me well, know that I have a different perspective on life, somewhat abstract. As it happens something I enjoy working with in my favoured medium of photography is “depth of field”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field which allows me to accentuate this perspective. (more…)