How To Stain-Glass Watertowers.

-  Okay so I was actually able to find a hard copy of the new How To Destroy Angels at a major, corporate outlet.  I know what you’re thinking: “what’s a hard copy??”  I was there to pay bills, not to record shop.  So it was a nice treat; because — and I might be in the minority here — I do like owning a CD much better than just having it on my computer.  Granted, this will get thrown onto my computer at some point… I just have yet to do that cause I’ve been blasting it through the stereo for the past few days.

So how is it, right?  Fucking awesome.  I’m loving this album.  And it’s scary because like I’ve said in the past… I think I like this stuff more than I ever did NIN.  And I consider myself a Nine Inch Nails fan, too.  Mariqueen Maandig, as she’s credited in the liner notes, does a miraculous job breathing more life into into an ever expanding body of Trent Reznor production.  I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t enjoy this as much if it was a purely Reznor sung collection of music.  Not that he doesn’t sing.  He does, only a little.  It makes his vocal appearances all the more exciting, and even haunting, when he’s not around all the time.  To say this album is simply a showcase of Maandig’s etheral, spot-on vocals would be beyond misleading of me though.  Indeed Atticus Ross and Reznor alike really bring their A games to the table here: using their illustrious pasts apart, their work together on David Fincher soundtracks, and something new and simple as a very like-minded production team.  I guess when you go back and really listen to the soundtracks they’ve done — particularly The Social Network — it is pretty simple music, really.  On the surface at least.  Those more ambient leanings appear on “Welcome Oblivion“; they just sit behind some really catchy, borderline basic, Electro/Industrial beats that sound like they’ve ripped directly from a late 90′s MPC.  Catching a theme here?  This record manages to combine simplicity with a more organic brand of Electronic music, which oddly creates a forward-thinking sound.  “A house on fire/burning all the past away.”  Haunting, progressive, simple, organic… like the future.  This is future music.

-  Stained glass water-tower.  Brooklyn.  By Tom Fruin.

-  “Iran shipping Chinese weapons to Yemen” sounds like a Tom Clancy novel’s starting point… but:

THINGS GET WORSE.

“As the article makes clear, the Iranians, via the Revolutionary Guard Corps, are accelerating the volume and sophistication of weapons supplies transferred to extent and potential proxies in the region. In the case of Yemen, that’s the Houthi rebellion. In all cases, Iran’s support is to Shi’a or Shi’a offshoot groups fighting Sunni government or groups.  The qualitative escalation is symbolized by the presence of Chinese-manufactured manpads—the QW-1M. These weapons come from a Chinese state-owned company already sanctioned by the U.S. government for illegal arms dealing.

What are Iranian and Chinese officials thinking (and let me note that in neither case can we assume a monolithic government decision system)?”

-  SonnyW.

2013′s Secret War.

-  I’ve been getting really into a remix project lately, and will likely come very close to finishing on my days off work this week.  Seems like lately I keep having the same crisis: during instrumental breaks do I go batshit crazy with a guitar or with a turntable.  Obviously this depends on the song, but it’s still hard to be clairvoyant and know which one will work better.  So typically I will just record both and compare and contrast.  First World Producer Problems.

-  I think I’ve posted Ulises Farinas’ art here before, but it’s well worth a second mention:

-  Wired has a good article about how patents actually shackle innovation, not encourage it.  As is evidenced by the Apple v. Samsung lawsuits of the past year.  It’s a long article, but very enlightening.

The past three decades of wanton patent-granting have created a disastrous environment for innovation. Today it’s practically impossible to build anything without violating a patent of some kind—and risking a multimillion-dollar lawsuit for your troubles. Once intended to protect lone inventors, patents now form a kind of shadow tech industry, in which billions of dollars are spent on amassing huge portfolios. (A recent New York Times article noted that Apple and Google, companies that define themselves by innovation, now invest more in patent acquisition and defense than in research and development.)

Why are companies spending so much money on patents? First, as protection. “Patents are like bullets,” law professor Chien says. “They’re cheap to acquire but can cause a lot of damage.” But if you have your own bullets, would-be assassins are less likely to target you. That’s the thinking behind RPX (Rational Patent Exchange), whose clients include Google, Microsoft, and IBM. RPX amasses patents, it says, to keep them out of the hands of lawsuit-happy competitors, and it vows not to sue anyone over them.

-  I’m a massive proponent for not going to war with Iran.  The problem with my viewpoint is we kinda already are at war with Iran.  It’s just a sophisticated war, a secret war.

The dramatic spike in suspected Iranian cyber attacks this year also has some in the U.S. distinctly worried. While direct denial of service attacks on U.S. banks – widely seen as retaliation for US sanctions and attempts to freeze Iran from the international financial system – were seen relatively simplistic, attacks on US allies in the Gulf were more complex.

The most worrying, experts say, were those on Saudi oil firm Aramco and Qatari gas export facilities. Last month, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta described the Saudi attack as the most sophisticated yet launched on a private company, effectively destroying tens of thousands of computers – although he stopped short of blaming Tehran directly.

-  And finally, Futurist Magazine Unviels Its Predictions for 2013 and Beyond.

-S.W.