a boy and his noise

Sunrise on Mars

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:16:00 +0000

Strong, but Wrong

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 16:21:00 +0000

There's a new Rick Perry commercial going around, and it looks like this:

Governor Perry's coat looked awfully familiar, so I asked a friend with some photoshop skills to do a little mash-up. Here's the result:

CVG->BOS

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:55:00 +0000

A Guide to Gift-Giving for Long-Distance Givers

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:04:00 +0000

I live far away from much of my family, as does my wife and many of our friends (here in LA, most of us are transplants from elsewhere in the country). Every January, as the holidays wind down, I hear lots of stories about gift-giving gone awry due to the great distance between gifter and giftee. Of course, the gifts are given with generosity of spirit and magnanimity of soul, but despite the best intentions, the process of giving and receiving can often cause stress and duress. I hope that I can mitigate some of that stress by compiling a small list of gift-giving guidelines for long-distance giving. Follow these guidelines, and the gift-giving-and-receiving process will be more focused on the spirit of the season and less on the stress of commerce and retail.

If the recipient will be flying, avoid giving large gifts. No microwaves, no cases of wine, no bulky sports equipment. If you want to give something that’s sizable, consider giving them a photograph to open in person and ship the gift to wherever they live.
Unless you see your giftees often, don’t assume that you know their tastes. Do some research. Look at Facebook photos, talk to their spouses, significant others, friends. Ask the recipients for a wish list (amazon.com has a great wishlist feature). I have a friend who gets clothing from his in-laws every year. He has never worn any of the clothes; they’re not his style. He always ends up returning them or donating them to charity. Which brings me to:
Unless you are absolutely sure of the recipient’s taste and size, make sure you give gifts that the recipient can return in THEIR hometown, not yours. National chains (Macy’s, Target, etc.) allow you to buy at one store and return at another. IF you prefer to support the local economy, perhaps there are local boutiques in your recipient’s hometown that you can shop via the internet?
Even if the recipient is visiting you, restrain from buying from local boutique in your hometown. If the gift doesn’t work out, your recipient will need to spend time during their visit returning the gifts instead of spending time with you.
Are you shipping a gift? Confirm the shipping address with the recipient. Many people have different addresses for receiving letters and packages, and if you send packages to a mailbox, they can often end up disappearing.
Are you buying for children (grandkids, neices, nephews, etc.)? Avoid the desire to buy every cute outfit and stuffed animal you see, and instead, focus on gifts that are meaningful. Ask the child’s parents for great gift ideas. Says pal Lael Logan: “Many of us are trying to give our kids the joy and excitement of presents while also balancing it with teaching the "true" meaning of this time. Perhaps you could take the kids on a special holiday outing instead - to see Santa, or ride a train - creating traditions and memories is how we'd like to teach our kids about this season.”
Can’t think of a good gift for someone? Consider making a donation. It’s a terrific way to give something with meaning for more than just your recipient, and it’s very convenient for weary travelers. Says friend Katherine Resch: “We're doing that for the adults on my side of the family this year, and we're having a lot of fun choosing a charity that will be personal to each family unit.”
Don’t give crap. Are you sending your loved one a candy-cane filled with M&Ms? A bobblehead Santa? If so, consider just abandoning the gift altogether. Maybe just send a card, or a gift certificate, which brings me to my last guideline:
Gift cards, gift certificates, and cash are always welcome, though they’re admittedly impersonal. You can make them less impersonal by buying a gift card for a specific store that’s local to the recipient. Was there a boutique that you discovered the last time you visited your sister? Buy her a gift card for that place, and when she calls to thank you for the gift, you can have a nice time remembering your trip. See! Much nicer than a boring sweater from Macy’s.

These guidelines are assembled from my experiences as a long-distance giver and receiver, and those of my friends. If you’ve got any additional guidelines, feel free to post them to the bottom of this note, and next year, when I repost, I’ll try to include some of them!

Bouquet of Doom

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 16:29:00 +0000

Hacking the Mix.

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 15:34:00 +0000

A while back, I wrote a piece for Stage Directions Magazine about a (relatively) simple way to use an iphone to control levels of sound in QLab. The piece was published in the most recent edition, and you can read it here!

Thanksgiving in Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 06:50:00 +0000

A good day today. Lots of food, family, and friends. I'm headed to bed soon, so I'm not going to write much. Mostly, just photos.
The pan, waiting for the turkey. In the pan: apples, onion, celery, carrot, fennel, olive oil, salt, pepper. On the bird: a bacon & herb-infused butter.

Le bird, she is in le oven.

Mom dresses some flowers, D does some tidying, and I check our status on an elaborately color-coded spreadsheet of cooking madness.

Flowers on the table, places are set.

Le bird, she is out of le oven.

I'm not sure why, but my camera had trouble focusing on N today. Happy first Thanksgiving, bud!

C, R, N, Dad, Mom, D, and S all wait for me to stop taking photos so they can start eating. Dinner included applesauce, yams with streusel, herb-bacon turkey, herb-onion dressing, pumpkin-ricotta ravioli, green beans with pecans & dijon vinaigrette, cranberry sauce, sauerkraut. Oh, and manhattans and wine. Everything turned out well except for the gravy, which was very time-consuming and got rushed at the very end of the prep. Instead, we called it turkey 'au jus.'
The pear-blueberry cobbler with corn biscuit topping. This turned out remarkably. We also had a yummy farmer's-market-bought pumpkin pie.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Willy Loman rides again

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 06:59:00 +0000

The fall term got off to a huge start, and I've been remiss in posting for a while. Here's a quickie before heading off to bed.

A few weeks ago, a friend turned me on to this column about how baby boomers have failed us (I'm a child of boomers) as a generation. Not my parents, of course (I noticed how the author also excused his parents), but their generation in general took an amazing world gifted them by the greatest generation and turned it into a myopic, selfish, litigious world full of terrible leadership and terrible advice. I had a great conversation about the column with my father-in-law a week and a half ago, and the other day, he referred me to this column, which forms a sort of rebuttal by taking my generation to task for their superficiality.

I've been thinking about both columns, and about Willy Loman. The 'hero' of Death of a Salesman grew up in a time when a man could provide for his family, when a handshake meant you had a deal, and when a good personality was all you needed for professional success. He advises his sons that the most important thing to be in life is to be well-liked. By the end of the play, Willy Loman, having seen his whole world shatter, is driven to suicide.

We're supposed to view Loman as sad and out of touch. The world has changed and left him behind. It's no longer useful to be well-liked: you now need to be smart too! Poor Willy - he's doomed to obsolescence.

Except that what Willy believed is what we're taught. We're taught that a smile and an emoticon is enough to get you out of trouble. We're taught that it's okay if you're not smart as long as you can tell a joke. We're taught that those who are intelligent but not well-liked end life at the bottom of the pile. We're taught that masking your true feelings behind a veneer of pleasantness is the way to the top.

The truth lies in between, as most truths do. It's not enough to be well-liked, but it is important. It's not enough to be intelligent, but it is important. It's not enough to be honest, but it is enough.

Well-liked, Intelligent, and Honest. Willy Loman had two (mostly), and he killed himself. Bernard was all three. Biff, two, and he hurt for it. Happy, two, and he was blissfully ignorant.

You need all three for success.

Soundwalk 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:28:00 +0000

Saturday night was Soundwalk in Long Beach, CA. Soundwalk is an annual sound art festival. This year, there were about 40 artists who took over about 6 square blocks of downtown LB with their noise installations. I had two projects in this year.

The Whole World Blind was a partnership with Roxanne Varzi, an anthropologist here at UCI. We worked together to create a binaural recording that de-contextualizes the visual elements of war photographs. It was a really interesting piece, and I heard a lot of great response about it.

City Park (2011) is a project by my collective, Push The Button. Brad Berridge, Davin Huston, and I created an interactive environment using ipads and iphones. We installed in a storefront on 3rd St.

Over the course of the night, we had lots of visitors come into our room. The population cycled between 5 and 35 people, each of whom got a chance to use the iDevices to control the sonic environment.

We got a lot of great feedback during the event, including more than one person who called us 'geniuses' (which, of course, we won't let to go our head). Plus, this installation was the first time we had children take part in the exhibition, and we found that kids as young as 2 REALLY got into the way that they could control the sounds with their fingers. Here's a couple older kids (younger adults) pushing the buttons.

What's next? Well, we're not telling. But Push the Button's got plans.

Ovation nomination

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 04:20:00 +0000

The LA Ovation Awards nominations came out today. They're like the Obies in NYC, or the Jeffs in Chicago. Local theatre awards to recognize outstanding good work on the (more or less) not-for-profit stage. And...

I got nominated for an award for my design for Extraordinary Chambers at The Geffen last spring! Hooray!

Prop Phone!

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 22:55:00 +0000

It's tough to fake a mobile phone on stage.

In the old days of wired phones, there were some great options. Tele-Q boxes worked well, as did specials/recordings and hiding bells in secret places. Mobile phones, on the other hand, are much trickier. The tele-q option doesn't work, because there is no base station. Hiding specials doesn't work very well either, because people carry their phones with them, making the sourcing very tough. Plus, if you want get picky, the sound of a phone ringing varies dramatically as you pull the phone out of your pocket, purse, etc. That's a complex change that is tough to replicate.

I'm happy to announce that a friend (and former student) of mine has written an iPhone/iPad/iPod app called PropPhone that lets you use one iDevice to control the play/pause of audio on another iDevice. You can use the 'controller' device to send those triggers to the 'prop' device, and as you do it, the 'prop' device will change screen images to replicate an incoming phone.

Not only can you use it for phone rings, but if you attach it to a battery-powered loudspeaker, you have a very cheap wireless special (not including the cost of the iDevice, of course).

Here are some other things to note:

The audio does NOT stream from one device to another. The audio files themselves live on the 'prop' device. This cuts way down on lag.
Currently, you can only choose the sound file from the 'prop' phone, not from the 'controller' phone.
This is the very first version of the app, so expect big changes to happen as the developer gets feedback.

This is a great thing for our industry - something that we've been trying to solve for a long long time. I'm looking forward to using it soon in production! $2.99 well-spent!

Backyard Redesign: Time-lapse movie

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:26:00 +0000

We have a backyard.

We have never really had a backyard before, so this is sort of a big deal for us, and we want to use it. S and I have been talking about what to do with it, and while we've got some ideas, there are some challenges to the space. They include:

* We rent, not own. All of our changes mustn't be structural, and anything that is expensive needs to be removable (so we can pull it out when we move).

* There's an ugly cinderblock wall on the perimeter.

* Half of the backyard is full of dead/dying plants. We weren't sure if the plants were dead/dying because they've been mistreated or if they're not getting enough sunlight. We've noticed that the right half of the yard tends to house the dead plants, and also the grass cover is spotty, and also it seems to be shadier. To fully examine this, I set up a time-lapse of the backyard, from 6am-8pm. Here's the video:

As you can see, the left half of the yard gets a lot more sunlight than the right half. So, if we were going to grow a garden, that's where it would go! On the right half, maybe a seating area? We're looking to make something that's less water-intensive, or that focuses water-use on dual-purpose plants (pretty AND tasty, for example).

I'll blog more about this as we continue the process...

Some Press

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 21:24:00 +0000

There's been some good press with my name in it of late. Here's a taste:

About The Understudy (currently playing at Theaterworks in Hartford), The New York Times says "Vincent Olivieri’s sound design [is] doubly impressive."

About The Oldest Story in the World (which ran last year and was produced by Theatre Novi Most in Minneapolis), Minnesota Playlist notes "the pulsing, pounding, erotic slither of Vinnie Oliveri’s sound design."

I'll take it.

Push The Button @ SoundWalk

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 00:34:00 +0000

Push The Button, one of my projects (this one with Davin Huston and Brad Berridge) has a piece of sound art in this year's SoundWalk, a sound-art-festival in Long Beach, CA (until recently, my domicile). Huston, Berridge, and I are going to install a piece called City Park, which had its premiere in Prague in June.

There's a bunch of great artists participating this year, and FLOOD, the organizers, made this promo video. Check it out!

Packed home. Sad face.

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 01:24:00 +0000

Want to sublet our condo in Long Beach?

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 15:16:00 +0000

We're subletting our place in Long Beach, CA so that we can move north so S can be closer to work. Here's the CraigsList link. If you know of anyone who might be interested in the unit, please send them the link. Thanks!

Babies!

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 03:38:00 +0000

I'm 35 now. My friends are, more or less, my age, which means that we're all well-ensconced in the baby-making part of our lives. There's a whole lot of baby-making going on (in the metaphysical as well as the -ahem- physical sense), and all in all, it's delightful. Still, today, there was an exceptional amount of infantastic news.

First, my friends D & N had a happy healthy boy, baby M. A long labor with a small bout of weak heartbeat, but now it sounds like all three are happy, healthy, and exhausted. D called me today to chat, and he sounded super-exhausted. D - B and I were about to make you a picture of B birthing me, so that you'd know what to expect. It's a good thing that M came when he did.

Second, my friend HS from South Korea (one of the members of the theatre troupe with which I created Clown MacBeth) just announced that his wife is pregnant again. At least, I think that's what he announced: he just posted a photo of two pregnancy tests, both testing positive. All the text was in Korean.

Third, S and I have some friends K & E in Minneapolis. They announced a few days ago (I just caught it tonight) that K is pregnant with baby #2. Terrific!

It's wonderful news all around, and S and I are sending our best to all of the new parents, old parents, and soon-to-be parents!

Happy Birthday to me!

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 17:57:00 +0000

Today, I'm 35.

That means:

* In another lifetime's worth of life, I'll be 70.

* I've been driving for over half my life.

* I've live away from my parents for longer than I lived with them.

* I'm closer to 40 than 30.

* I'm closer to 50 than 20.

* I'm veering dangerously close to middle-age.

I've been doing a bit of reflection on events in the last year, and there have been some significant ones. I designed/scored my first Broadway show (the disappointingly-short-lived HIGH). I got tenure at the University. I took an exceptional trip-of-a-lifetime with my lovely wife. I'm continuing my design career, am improving as a teacher, and am starting to move in a new direction as a sound artist. Things are looking good, moving ahead, and I can't wait to see what exciting things I get to report when I turn 36!

Put This On

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 06:16:00 +0000

In the last year or so, since I finished my own personal downsizing, I've had to buy an entirely new wardrobe. With the exception of shoes and socks, almost every piece of clothing has turned over (the only exceptions being some clothes which had been too small [and which are now too big], a couple of heirloom garments [I have a navy blazer from my grandfather - now too big], and a custom-made suit which is way too big, but which my grandmother advised me not to get rid of in case I got re-fat). As part of the rebuilding of my wardrobe and the curiosity that comes with a new toy (that is, a new body), I started taking a much more significant interest in the way I dressed. Color, fabric, cut, style, etc. All of these things are now much more important to me than they were when I was fat. However, when I tried to find some resources to explore how to best suit myself (literally), I came up short. There are plenty of vague how-to-dress sites for women, and a handful for men (usually connected to a brand, which makes them suspect), and even a few independent sites for older men, but not much for guys my age who want to spiff up a bit.

Then, I discovered PutThisOn. They're a web presence all about, as they put it, 'dressing like a grownup.' Part youtube video series, part blog, part shopping portal, and part twitter feed, hosts Jesse Thorn and Adam Lisagor take you through the finer points of how to move your fashion and style out of collegiate slob and into early-middle-age. Parts of PutThisOn are a little out of my price range ($420 for a pair of shoes is high) and parts are a little too un-me for me (I don't think I could pull off a blue blazer with white buttons and white pants, nor would I really want to), but much of it is terrific.

Three big takeaway lessons from the web series: expensive shoes can be cost-effective if you care for them well (see Episode 2: SHOES), buy shirts to fit your neck, sleeves, and shoulder (you can get the mid-section tailored to fit) (see Episode 6: BODY), and I've been shaving wrong all these years! (see Episode 4: GROOMING).

Seriously, if you are a guy, or know guy, or are near a guy age 22-39 who needs to shape up his style, they should watch this series.

Also, can I borrow a couple of hundred bucks for a pair of shoes?

Getty Center

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 05:51:00 +0000

Play day today! After a quick stop at Stan's doughnuts (S was less than impressed, though I remain transfixed by the delicious refined sugars), we headed up to The Getty Center to see some art and some flowers. The art didn't photograph so well, but the flowers were lovely...

Red and moody.

Blurry lens makes abstractions.

Cactus or flower? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.

Love this shot.

War of the Clowns

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 22:52:00 +0000

I've got a couple of projects coming up in the next few years, but one of the ones that I've been really looking forward to is tentatively called The War of The Clowns. Eli Simon is directing, and it's a piece that we're building for the National Theatre of Romania. They'll keep it in their repertoire to pull out whenever they want it.

Eli teaches clowning at UC-Irvine, and many of his clowning students end up in a troupe that he calls Clownzilla. Clownzilla has four or five shows in their repertoire, most of which I've designed. Some, I've written music for. Some, I've toured to foreign countries to put up. One, Clown MacBeth, is only a Clownzilla show in as much as Eli and I worked on it; the performers were members of a Korean theater troupe. As Eli and I have worked on these shows, we've both learned a lot about this new style of clowning that he teaches and how it can be used to tell story. We're both looking forward to going to Romania next summer to put this piece together.

Recently, we've been doing a lot of research into structure and themes for the show. We've got a rough plot outline of the show, and we're tapping a lot of resources for inspiration. Here are some of the avenues of research that I've been exploring:

* Beach Boys music
* The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss:

* Lord of the Flies
* Hogan's Heroes:

And some other avenues of research that I still need to explore:
* The Green Table
* Johnny Got His Gun
* Catch-22
* Woyzeck
* Rory Stewart - The Prince of the Marshes
* Ken Burns' The War miniseries

We're looking specifically for macabre humor to help keep the clowns dark and funny while exploring the themes of war, so as I sift through the research, I'm looking for examples of humor or dark levity or silliness in war. I'm particularly looking forward to re-reading Catch-22 again!

settling back in

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 03:40:00 +0000

S and I got back from our hiking trip to Montana on Sunday night, and I've been working hard ever since. I'm almost done with setting up my new office and am working hard on the sound design for The Understudy. S has been sending out resumes and looking for work in her biz. We saw Harry Potter last night, which was nice.

That's all! Just a small update!

another black bear!

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:12:00 +0000

Lunch at Iceberg Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:11:00 +0000

Moose!

noreply@blogger.com (Vincent Olivieri) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:10:00 +0000