Tag Archives: NY

Raiders of the Lost Ark

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For those of you who know what I do for a day job, it will come as no surprise that my career choice tends to at times consume much of my time. Nor will it surprise you that when I get home the last thing I want to do is go on the computer. And so that partially begins to explain where I’ve been and why there hasn’t been too much going on at digitalflood.com for the last few weeks. A harsh winter and an old house that demands me paying attention to how much snow is outside to avoid minor things like– oh I don’t know having my propane regulator freeze so I loose hot water or having my water pump freeze so I lose all water tend to occupy your time.

With all that said, those of a keen eye may have noticed the Code Info page of our site keeps going up a tick or two everyday. Appearances can be deceiving and just because the main page isn’t changing it does not mean there is nothing “going” with the site. So this was the case with my latest endeavor that required much experimentation and playing with our underlying code.

This was all in an effect to make a quick recovery of my employer’s web site at http://www.warwick.net. The site is the web portal for my employer (WVT Communications) and homepage to many of our broadband Internet subscribers. Literally taking down that site is like turning off Google as far as our little web world goes in Warwick, NY. There was therefore a sense of urgency to restore the site when a slight mishap took down the existing (though arguably older) web engine.

It took me about 16 hours of straight time, but I managed to get the framework and branding done. There’s going to be a lot of grunt work needed by my associates at work to get the content filled in, but what you see before you is a CMS driven site that is Web 2.0 in look and feel. It has consistent branding and sensible layout. It loads in less than six seconds. It has a web search feature. Access to our various online portals (including web mail and bill pay) and content fed via RSS streams, as well as, mash up widgets. The result is a full featured basic launch point that is easy to navigate and yet feature filled. It loads well in any browser and depreciates when accessed by mobile device to speed up load times. Considering the time line (three days) and the budget (zero bucks) I am quite pleased with the accomplishment.

In so many ways this is a preview of what I had planned for df.com before I was drawn to put out this fire first, but in so many ways it also helped me understand some new directions I wish to go in that will lend itself to better structure here. So yes while there has been no news– there is good news nevertheless. Stay tuned.

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Snow Blind

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I launched a new page navigation application on df.com today that will make it easier to jump ahead or go back in time from the main “News & Updates” page that you’re seeing right now. If you scroll down to the bottom you’ll see it. I think this will help you move around a bit easier and that’s always nice. It’s also on the archived pages (including the “digitalflood Pirate Radio” show pages). Again, this should make moving around quickly on the site easier to do.

We got a lot of snow here in Orange County, NY (as has most of the Northeast) over the last 24 hours. About 12″ plus. The snow started around 9 pm yesterday and just stopped around 9 pm today. That’s 24 hours of snow. I’m far from buried in though. I managed to shovel myself out. My landlord gave me a hand with his plow equipped pick up truck (which save me tons of time).

I haven’t even had a chance to think about next week’s digitalflood Pirate Radio (that would be “Volume 6 Episode 6” for those of you who like numbers). I can tell you it will be out on 2/16/10 though actual recording still has to happen. I may be able to get MC Mary to do the next episode (Volume 6 Episode 7) as she’s stopping by next week.

Other than that all is well at the Pirate Radio if not a bit quite. I am right now in conversation about a pretty cool project that if it pans out I’ll let you know about. I’m looking to do a remix album and we’ll see where that goes.

Finally, DJ A.D.D. has been kind enough to loan me an Akai controller pad, which I have yet to hook up. When I do (most likely this weekend) I’m hoping to see if I can use it trigger samples and queue points in Virtual DJ. If not it may be time to learn Traktor (I’ve been holding out). We’ll see how that goes.

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DF Pirate Radio – “Absolut Pimping@The Disco!”

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Title: Vol. 6 Episode 3 (Click link to play) Rel: 1/21/10
Description: “Absolut Pimping @The Disco!” – MC Mary @ The Disco! turned twenty one years old on January 17, 2010. That turned out to be a Sunday. The original plan was to record a mix session ahead of time and then record the live interludes at the bar during her birthday party. The mix session went well enough (and is the actual session you’ll hear here), but that’s about all that went right. First it got really icy out and down poured the whole night of the birthday party putting a kabash on any plans to record at GW’s Pub & Grill in Chester, NY. Then when we moved the party to Fratello’s in Warwick, NY it turned out that even though the next day was Martin Luther King Jr. day that most of the Chaos and Fiesta Crew had to work the next day– thus only a limited number (read: five) of people turned out.

Things started looking up when DJ digitalflood and MC Mary’s brother Tom knew the bartender. The drinks started and that itself proved to be a problem (more on that in a bit). There were also an odd number of older middle aged folk at the bar who insisted on blasting bad glam rock thus further kabashing any plans to record live. So we resorted to drinking and that lead to MC Mary consuming enough alcohol to kill an entire herd of moose. That didn’t complicate the party itself (which was fun enough either way), but it did kill any plans to record the next day.

Exhausted by a long weekend, DJ digitalflood took the next night off from production and was only able to catch up later in the week to actually mix the raw live session into the final cut you see here. Now given all of this, this episode should be an absolute disappointment at the disco– it is not though.

What you are about to listen to is the finest “Cut Like Crack” mix session to date. It breaks all boundaries of rock, rap, and everything in between. It is part noise experiment and part dance party soundtrack. It is an accumulation of all that DJ digitalflood has mastered over the course of the last year. It is at times raw. At times confusing. But when things come together there is an undeniable sense of absolute perfection at the disco. And so, the session is published as a stand in for the MC Mary annual Fiesta Party mix, but in no way is it a poor substitute. This is the real deal mix. Enjoy.
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Update – MC Mary’s B-day Party

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Quick update on MC Mary @ The Disco!’s birthday party: We’ll be moving the festivities to Warwick, NY due to the impending inclement weather. The National Weather Service is predicting a freezing rain/slush for this evening. It’s already starting to ice up and because of that we don’t think Chester, NY is the best option. Worse case– we’ll postpone until next weekend. Stayed tuned for updates at digitalflood.com. If we are going to cancel– we’ll do so before 8:30 pm EST this evening. If you want to catch up with us tonight shoot me a text and I’ll let you know where we are.

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Come Celebrate MC Mary’s Birthday With Us!

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MC Mary @ The Disco's 21st Birthday Party

MC Mary @ The Disco's 21st Birthday Party - Come join us and be sure to buy her a drink!

In the proud line of digitalflood Parties, we proudly present our latest reason to drink, party, and be merry (with Mary might I add). Yes, MC Mary @ The Disco! is turning twenty one years old. That can only mean one thing: it’s time to throw a ridiculous party in her honor.

Here’s the info:

WHERE: GW’s Bar & Grill (Chester, NY)
WHEN: January 17, 2010 (Sunday)
WHAT TIME: 9 pm EST to 12 am EST

You must be twenty one years old to both enter and drink. Cover charges may apply. We reserve the right to eject anyone who acts like a douche (so don’t be that guy or girl please). Drinks are available at the full cash bar (as is food). A cover charge may apply (that’s up to the bar owner– not us) so bring some cash to cover that just in case.

It will be a great time for all. There will be tons of people, lots of good music (on the fully loaded digital jukebox), and enough embarrassing moments to make Bill Clinton blush.

Come join us for “Absolut Pimping @ The Disco!”. All I ask is that you kindly buy MC Mary a drink. To make things sweeter, I will be recording an on site digitalflood Pirate Radio that will be released later in the week (please keep in mind this may take me sometime to produce as I do have to recover from all this mayhem). If you need more info drop me a line and I’ll fill any gaps in for you. Hope you turn out and remember– drink responsibility. There is a hotel across the street (Holiday Inn Express) if you need a place to crash. It’s worth avoiding the DWI!

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