Douglas Coupland

I believe Douglas Coupland is probably the greatest author of my generation - certainly my favorite born in the last 50 years. My wife and I just got through reading his latest book, The Gum Thief, and it's absolutely brilliant. His two best books, in my estimation, are All Families are Psychotic and jPod. The latter is now a TV series in Canada. If you're lucky enough to be a Canadian resident, you can watch the first few episodes here.

Noteworthy aside: When my wife and I figured out that only Canadians can watch Canadian TV shows on the Internet - duh! - we soon figured out that we're closer (driving distance) to Winnipeg than we are to New Orleans. Who says Kansas is in the middle of nowhere? Thus, it looks like we'll be doing a road trip when jPod comes out on DVD!!! 8^D

Anyway, if you are a bonafide Gen-Xer, I am willing to bet you will thoroughly enjoy Coupland's work. Happy reading!

Architects and Sound - Part Deux

Sort of continuing the theme from Friday is this article I came across in Pro A/V. ...Sigh...

In case any non-acoustical types are reading my bLog, there is a very easy way to avoid acoustical and audio pitfalls on these types of projects. HIRE AN EXPERT...BEFORE the project is finished! Here are some links:

• In the US, there's the NCAC.
• In the UK, there's the ANC.
• And there's always Google and the yellow pages, as well as the other acoustical groups, such as ASA and INCE, linked on the sidebar to the right.

Great places to start...and, in case I didn't mention: BEFORE the project is finished.

Architects and Sound

Today's Cross•Spectrum blog entry is another good one. The coverage of the Livesound article was nice. And it reminded me of a couple of gems:

"Eighty-seven percent of sensory input is visual." - Architect to me after I introduced myself as the Acoustical Consultant on the project. Needless to say, it was all downhill from there. Of course, I did have a witty comeback: "Yes. And 75% of statistics are made up on the spot."

"No one has ever been saved by crown molding." - Worship audio guru Kent Morris in reference to allotting money towards decorative finishes verus acoustical finishes during a presentation for a NAMM acoustics for worship workshop several years ago. In other words: To hear The Word, one needs to hear The Word.