on the shore of the ultimate sea

With a flyer boasting quotes from both J.G. Ballard and Colonel Kilgore of Apocalypse Now, by the time my chum Luis and I arrived at NYU a few weeks back for a special lecture we knew we’d be in for an interesting discussion.

Steve Goodman, aka Kode9, dubstep producer and owner/chief curator of the massively great Hyperdub record label, was talking about his new book Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear. (MIT Press)

Introduced as a “rogue academic” and member of the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit, it wasn’t immediately clear if the talk was going to be highly abstract or grounded, but it turned out the latter–lucid, well researched and informative. Here are some notes.
Read more on Steve Goodman's Sonic Warfare talk at NYU

Louis C.K. at the Comedy Cellar, originally uploaded by nparish.

I galloped down to the West Village with my buddy Sam last night to see Louis C.K. tape a few bits for his upcoming FX show (March). It was brutally hilarious. I suspect some of the material might be too horrifying for the FX audience but if he puts out a DVD of the show it might have some of the crazier stuff from last night. Oh yeah, we got to sit right in the front, too.

Louis (@cklouis) gathered the audience via a tweet the day before. This was by far the most exciting thing to happen via Twitter.

This is Sam’s favorite C.K. video bit; his YouTube channel is pretty golden.

A four-month-old Saker Falcon, originally uploaded by nparish.

Here are a few photos I’ve got from a recent falconry talk at Orvis’ Manhattan store.

Henry’s Lake sunset, originally uploaded by nparish.

Mostly vacationing and rehab, really.

Well, charity run training diary update fans, there’s a reason why I’ve been absent since our last check-in. That IT band issue really had me slowed down on the training front.

After my 7/25 trip around the reservoir I shut training down completely, began a mini rehab program in earnest and took about 10 days off running in hopes of driving the problem away. Unfortunately, it’s still around. But, I’ve learned largely how to contain the pain, am working on efforts to restore the muscles whose weakness contributes to it and have been back on schedule over the last few days.

The rehab has mainly come from stretching sessions with my new invaluable training tool, the foam roller. I hit the roller twice a day for 30 minutes, whether I run or not, to iron out the kinks in my legs, not just the parts that scream during excruciating IT band stretch. I’ve also got a brace/strap contraption I wear during runs, a big-ass tube of Ben Gay and a bag of frozen peas that’s used solely for post-workout icing. Also, hip hitches and resistance bands are building up the parts of my glutes that have been degrading since I stopped weight training in May.

Luckily, I was able to do some fun cross-training in Montana, wading through deep, fast rivers in pursuit of oncorhynchus mykiss, oncorhynchus clarki and salmo trutta. Between the cold water and the lateral work involved it helped a lot. (Check out the photos–no pain there!)

Getting back, though, I realized I had a lot of work to do, and would have to train back to my previous level. And fast. The race is in less than a month. Unfortunately, the marathon is out of the question at this point, but I think I can still hit my original goal: a sub 2:00 finish in the half event.

8/16: Slow, short. 2 miles in 25 minutes, AM

I had planned to go across the Manhattan bridge, back via Brooklyn and home for about a 7 mile trip, but shut it down when a twinge kicked in early. This was irritating. Even though I felt some pulls in Montana, on heavy hikes, humping up and down canyons in felt-bottomed boots, I hoped those weren’t around anymore. Home to rest and ice.

8/22: Slow, long. 6.5 miles in around 2 hours, AM

Finally last Saturday I had a breakthrough. A long, slow run without a huge amount of discomfort. Rehab was paying off.

This is really only a few miles off our target for this stage in training (8-9 miles) so this weekend I’ll probably bump it up to 8.5 on our long Saturday run.

Best of all, there wasn’t any pain after I stretched and iced post run. Jump for joy! (But don’t pull anything.)

ON FUNDRAISING:

We’re getting to the point of no return. Fundraising ends September 8th. I still need your donations to fulfill my minimum obligation, so now’s the time to pull your moral compass out of its pouch and help make a difference.

So many of you have already responded to the call. Jocelyn, Merrilee & Rance, Cousin Ian–you’re the best. Thanks. Thanks also to all of you that came out to support us during our open bar last week. You’re golden. I couldn’t have done this without you.

For all you fence-sitters, now’s the time to get into it.

Want to help? You should sponsor me here!

UPDATE: Last night’s meeting went great. I schlepped on about becoming a better geek, Matt from McCann introduced some tools to make anyone into a rabid Twitter fiend and James from Saatchi poked the crabby bear that is the age-old debate on advertising’s merits as art and the ethics of creative borrowing. Good times. Hopefully the ladies enjoyed as much as we did.

check out the slides and resources links

I’ve got a new job! This just went out over the e-wire, and here it is now for some edification.

=-=-=-=-=-=-

Greetings,

My term as Creativity’s associate editor has come to a close.

I’m still under the Ad Age umbrella, though, and have exciting work ahead of me.

As of next week I’m moving into a role programming and developing content around Ad Age and Creativity events–recruiting speakers, creating leading content around concepts and panel agendas, making sure everyone knows what’s coming up, etc.–as Ad Age’s events content manager.

While it’s a disappointment to see my part in the day-to-day reporting in Creativity’s exciting world diminish, I’ve got something new to be looking forward to: shaping how we interact with you, dear reader, in the live space, how we help confer knowledge and make deeper connections.
read more about Parish's new post

Shared suffering as much as excitement compels me to share this week’s Top 5, in which my teleprompter skills get another workout. At least I was able to work in references to Biodome and the leaked BNP list.
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Come out on Friday, November 28th to have a drink and celebrate Black Friday (and my birthday on the day before) by drinking like an unemployed auto worker at Motor City Bar.

We’ll be there from 9pm onwards.

It’s at 127 Ludlow St (between Delancey St & Rivington St). Here’s a map.

om nom nom, originally uploaded by nparish.

While I’m mid-chew at this week’s five borough-sourced dinner, Jeff sez: can you believe the sea salt isn’t locally sourced? Frakkin’ travesty.

Read more on the event at Creativity Online.

(And no this isn’t turning into an ego-tripping Tumblog; something of substance soon I promise.)

Video from the evening if you click through…

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Nick Parish at Interesting New York from David Nottoli on Vimeo.

Here’s video from the Interesting New York conference of yours truly pushing that nasty-tasting drink kombucha. It’s a little tough get the whole story (and all those lame jokes) without slides, but download them from my main Kombucha page and play along at home. Of course, David Nottoli, the erstwhile organizer of that fine afternoon, has many more of the presentations lodged in his Vimeo.