The Adventures of JStar88 on The Blue Marble

Life in Transition

2007-04-14T12:19:00.000+02:00

I left my beautiful sun-bathed balcony-laden top-floor Swedish home on Karlbergsvagen in the afternoon of Monday, November 20. I put most of my possessions in storage, gifted others to some lucky people, and left with a suitcase, a guitar and a laptop. That night I flew to Vienna for a few days to run a poker industry seminar for the BWIN board, then on to Barcelona for twelve days.

In Spain I supervised the production of the Ongame Network Poker Classic (“The ONPC”), a massive new hybrid online/offline poker tournament format I first imagined in September of 2005. Fifteen months’ time passed while it was evolving from scribblings in Microsoft Word to players from around the world pushing chips across tables in the Grand Casino de Barcelona. Even after countless challenges with planning, promotion, format, player communication and logistics, it was an extraordinary – and, in the eyes of many, an unexpected – success.

The ONPC was magnificent. My clever colleagues put tremendous effort into making sure hundreds of details and “The ONPC Experience” were meticulously arranged. The players had a great time, the poker was superb, and the tournament was tremendous fun for everyone involved. As the $5,000 buy-in event played down online until the bubble burst, all 45 players arrived in Spain already assured a piece of the prize pool. Having no losers meant a different kind of tournament atmosphere, although players were still upset with how they finished.

Between live-blogging and talking to players, I even took a late-night turn playing some juicy 10/20 Pot-Limit Omaha with a few loose & loco Catalan locals obsessed with betting the pot to prove their manliness. I appreciate them funding a spectacular snowboarding trip after I wrapped up my job at Ongame Network and BWIN.

Yep, that’s right. After executive-producing the ONPC, passing ownership for all Ongame Network’s products over to a pair of extremely clever Product Managers, and handing-over two years of planning, proposals, documentation, presentations, reports and a mountain of market intelligence (what I humbly called “The Bible of Online Poker”), I dropped off my laptop with IT and my keys with the office manager. It was a melancholy moment full of mixed emotions and reflection. Primarily, I felt deep satisfaction and gratitude towards Rickard, Patrik and David for giving me the opportunity to learn and shine.

I mostly adored living in Stockholm. It was a beautiful environment full of hip, happy and happening Swedes. Even while I kept company with intense type-A alpha-male workaholic braniacs who thrive on pressure, performance and power, I was able to laugh and play with some fun, delightful people who made sure my liver stayed in top form! Friday night dinners with my newfound family Martin, Oscar and Calle the Renaissance Man were together a significant part of my home in the ‘holm.

After Scandinavia (thanks to the nice Spanish men I mentioned earlier) the lovely Britt and I went to Val d’Iseres to relax, clog our veins with French cuisine and try some serious snowboarding on some formidable hills.

The French Alps were awesome. While taking the gondola up to a lift that took me to another lift on my way up to a peak, the world seemed simple, enormous and white. There was only snow and rock and bone-chilling cold, like a lunar landscape, a white desert or the heart of my seventh-grade French teacher. I love finding places in this world where simplicity and beauty completely replace for a time the complexity and challenges of life. Because once at the top, the only thing to do was breathe, appreciate the grandeur of Gaia, and ride her snowy spine back down the mountain!

After Europe, I went to Toronto for a few weeks to indulge in friends, family and familiar foods. Channukah, X-Mas, Festivus, some birthdays and New Years were all celebrated with a light heart and a big smile. I got to hang out with some beautiful people, have coffee with The Flink, catch a few Kevin Quain songs at the Cameron with Marissa, rock out repeatedly to Guitar Hero with Farf and Noah, indulge with the original Jay Lo, and catch up with a lot of other people near and dear to my heart. It was like revisiting a normal life, and that was a sweet fruit to savour.

Then the next chapter began.

Since leaving Toronto after New Years Eve I have been on the road working towards getting my new “project” ready. I know that is unambuously ambiguous, but until an announcement I hope to make by mid-May brings the details into the public domain, that’s all I will say here.

I have recently been feeling rather articulate, motivated to write and share, and just generally start blogging again. But due to the competitive industry in which I work – and the surprising number of people I meet who tell me that they found this site while doing some research in preparation for meeting me – I’m going to keep my mouth somewhat shut while my eyes and ears stay open.

I can say that I’m based in Asia now, that my language skills are slowly improving (to the delight and laughter of many), and that I’m working in an exciting business development role. As I write this, I’m flying over the South China Sea on my way from Hong Kong to Singapore for the ACE Conference.

Singapore

is going to be hot and humid – melting temperature, I believe – and I look forward to seeing some friends there before taking my next step to Australia. More on that in my next post!

The ONPC Champion's Trophy: A Golden Bull with a Ruby Eye

2006-11-30T18:24:00.000+01:00

The ONPC Champion's Trophy
Originally uploaded by jstar88.

After more than a year of planning, preparation, coordination and tremendous effort, the Ongame Network Poker Classic Live Final is finally here. I'm in Barcelona with my team and the BIG PARTY is tonight. Players are arriving at the Hotel Majestic now from all over the world and excitement runs thick in the air.

I took this pic on the rooftop patio of the Hotel Majestic in Barcelona. Shown here is the gold trophy that the champion will receive on Sunday December 3. The 75-gram Swedish-handcrafted solid gold "coin" (with a ruby where the bull's eye is) can be removed from the polished granite trophy base and used as a card protector, if the player feels like using a $10,000 card protector. :

It's a nice little extra for the winner, on top of the $283,038 first prize.

The Free Hugs Campaign

2006-11-23T18:23:00.000+01:00

Have you heard of the Free Hugs Campaign? It's incredibly cute, fantastically endearing, and so full of positive energy that it brings a smile to even a hard-hearted cretin like myself. :)

According to the official site:

Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whos sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.

In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.

As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.

I absolutely adore this idea, though a quick SWOT analysis (I can't help it) shows some fairly gaping holes in the strength of an extended campaign.

Check out www.freehugscampaign.org for more information.

Noah & Jeffrey in Dublin

2006-10-28T18:54:00.000+02:00

Jeffrey and the Whiskey Boiler

The Old Jameson Distillery

Noah and I had a half-day off in Dublin to tour some local establishments and enjoy the sights. We visited the Holy Land (the Guinness Brewery at St. James's Gate) and the Jameson distillery. It was four hours full of delighting the senses and indulging in the finer (brewed) things in life.

Here are a two of my favourite pics from that day trip.

Following the WSOP final from Stockholm

2006-07-31T12:33:00.000+02:00

For the 2006 World Series of Poker Main Event (event #39), here's where to get the best live updates online:

CardPlayer.com: Chip Counts - Live Updates

PokerListings.com: Live Updates

PokerWire

Esthero Acoustic Tour & Video Blogging

2006-07-31T12:26:00.000+02:00

This is Part I of the TOUCH production of Esthero's acoustic tour with j. englishman and Ricky Tillo. See Part II and Part III on YouTube.

I really like how more artists are using YouTube to tell their stories with video blogging. It's great content that - when done well - is incredibly engaging. I spend far more time watching online video these days then I do in front of the TV.

I'm also enjoying Lindi Ortega's Indie Lindi, an ongoing video travelogue of her musical journey in New York. On a low level, it is just video blogging. But as she captures live performances and other adventures, she's developing distributed relationships with current and potential fans where she can easily speak to many in an intimate (and sometimes exhibitionist) way.

More thinking about video blogging is necessary, for one major event in particular. More on that to follow...

Segovia plays Mozart's Magic Flute

2006-07-31T12:15:00.000+02:00

The Legendary Andres Segovia is one of my musical idols. I found this video today and thought I'd post it to share something beautiful with my fellow residents on this Blue Marble.

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna

2006-07-19T09:01:00.000+02:00

St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna
Originally uploaded by jstar88.

This is a pic of the roof of the gorgeously gothic 15th-century St. Stephen's Cathedral in downtown Vienna. I pass it quite regularly and its presence never fails to make me stop and take notice.

If you're interested, there's a LOT of information about this building here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephansdom

Saltspring Island

2006-07-03T06:45:00.000+02:00

I'm running every morning on Saltspring Island and the eye candy is breathtaking. I've been listening to Matisyahu's new Live at Stubb's on my i-pod at a low setting so I can hear a spectacular mix of spiritual reggae, heavy breathing, bouncing steps and nature. Just soooo delicious.

Cannot Sleep; Pondering Life

2006-05-29T06:41:00.000+02:00

At 0435 on Monday morning in Stockholm, the sun shines brightly through fissures in my makeshift towel-drapes and keeps me from further sleep. I blame the reaching fingers of Sol, who rose over Terra almost two hours ago, for my consciousness, but likely ought to assign fault only to my rabid mind.

I am awake, thinking of life and the role of work in my life and escalating points of diminishing return for raw effort, time and self expended towards professional productivity and achievement.

Change, as well all know, is a constant. We can never really appreciate a zenith or nadir until the point has passed and there’s room between now and then for reflection.

I lie awake now, reflecting. There’s so much to say about the change and the aftermath of change and the rippling effects of all those pebbles dropped into my pond of ersatz tranquillity, but there’s so little I actually can say for so very many reasons.

I think it will make for an extraordinary tale one day, perhaps reserved as a sub-plot in a future novel. The dramatis personae and their motivations, interlaced with cascading decisions of questionable commercial acumen and widely varying people-chess skill, will make for a dynamic play full of intrigue, colour and joie de vivre.

That, however, will be a story that needs greater reflection before it is told. After all, the cliché rings true: Only time will tell.

Or, maybe, in time, I will.

I could perhaps concoct the story with multiple media while dissecting the conversations filed in my head. Carefully, I would reach inside them with cold pincers and extract crawling agendas. These I would then drop into boiling water with the hope they could be distilled to find the warm essence of truth and reason.

Alas, I say too little with too much art. I encourage you, dear reader, to simply delve between the lines.

Speaking of storytelling...

I’ve had a tremendous number of conversations recently about the origins and future of the online gaming industry, particularly at GIGSE two weeks ago and afterwards in Toronto. I’m frequently amazed by how shallow most of my peers’ knowledge and speculation is about these things. How can people move forwards without extensive prognostication? Maybe not everyone is such a pugilist, or I am too into pontificating? Or perhaps I just like five-dollar words that start with P?

How online poker has so far emerged as a viable, sustainable business is a fascinating story, about which I believe I could write a fairly compelling book. I’m now an expert in the area, know most of the major players, and have deep insights into the technical, financial, legislative, jurisdictional and operational business issues relevant to the industry.

From the rush to build between 1997-1999, to the great PlanetPoker debacle that almost destroyed the nascent industry, to the tremendous 91% marketshare that ParadisePoker pissed away, to the tipping point of 2003, to the emergence of the top-5 dominant brands, to the current wave of IPOs and M&As, I think chronicling the evolution of online poker would be a fascinating experience.

Of course, I’m a tad busy with my regular responsibilities, my secondary responsibilities, and executive producing the ONPC. So this will have to wait a while, but it’s something I’ll think about doing when and if I get some spare time.

More to follow, as I ponder.

Sharing beats with the RLB

2006-05-21T22:27:00.000+02:00

Last night I saw the Russell Leon Band perform with Marcus Walker, their new bass player, the man who replaced me when Scandinavia came calling. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect, what I might hear, and what I might feel watching someone else play MY parts, but I honestly have to say that I was pleasantly delighted with the whole experience.

I anticipated their gig at The Savoy in Toronto like I might anticipate spending an evening with an old girlfriend who I still *really* liked, but who was inexplicably partnered with someone else, someone distasteful, inferior, bland, humourless, dull, out of time and out of synch with reality... Someone who could not possibly step into my 10 ½ inch shoes and fill the void of my absence but who somehow manipulated the universe to their own deviant advantage...

You get the idea.

I guess some part of me was hoping they might really suck without me. But that was on a subconscious level.

On the theta-level, I was looking forward to seeing my friends play, to hear some great tunes with the pulsating live groove I expect from the funkadelic RLB, and to stare once again in abject amazement and stark humility while Ansgar, Brian and Keith pulled tasty solos out of the air and dropped them like golden hammers upon our grateful little heads.

I was not disappointed.

The band are even tighter now than when I played with them, and their groove was more infectious than a sneezing four-year-old in economy class. The RLB made the whole room bounce and shake to the bombastic quake of their rocking beats.

They massaged the senses with delectable aural treats for about 45 minutes and pleasured us with songs from the repertoire I know (from back in the day, when I used to throw down the sticky, sickly basslines) and a few new tunes that I only knew from the scratchpad of joyous jazz head-oriented improvisation from rehearsals in another era.

It was an enormous treat to listen to the band, and I have to say it was also a treat to listen to their new bass man play. While he was certainly playing along to the same songs I used to play, he wasn’t playing MY parts; he was playing his own parts. And they were tasty, meaty, groove-inducing and ... appropriate for the songs.

I felt good listening to the band, with me not on bass. And while I would have loved to be up there playing with them, I was honestly surprised not to be bothered by being another plebeian in the audience. I was able to enjoy the swooning horns and brilliant smiles, and feel the great, positive energy from their music cascading off the stage and through the speakers.

And this is where the gushing ends.

After the set, I hugged the boys, and Marcus introduced himself with a warm smile and handshake. It was (and is) all good...

I joined them for the post-show ritual, and it’s good to know that some things never change. People are people, my friends are my friends, and I’m proud to share a love for music with them, no matter who is making it.

Apple's Updater trashed my iPod

2006-05-01T23:36:00.000+02:00

I lost frustrating hours today with the first Apple product I’ve ever purchased.

I’ve been using iTunes for managing podcasts for almost a year now, but have never felt the need to get a dedicated audio player. I thought myself a dedicated 1-device man as my Sony Ericsson K750i mobile phone has a great audio player in it (along with a radio and a video camera and a reasonable contacts and calendar synchronization with MS Outlook).

However, thanks to the generosity (and bad poker playing) of some friends in Toronto a few weeks ago, I treated myself to a spiffy new black iPod Nano. It took about 6 hours to charge-up after a 20-minute install process, and synchronization was a snap. Since then, I’ve been enjoying the iPod on planes and trains, while running, and in the subway.

Today marks the first day I ever swore at Apple like I used to swear at Microsoft.

This afternoon, I updated iTunes, and was prompted to update my Nano with the most current iPod Updater (2006-03-23). After running that, the Updater froze, trashed my iPod, froze my system and changed my desktop image to a pic of Steve Jobs smoking a cigar and blowing arrogant, triumphant smoke rings at me as acidic, maniacal revenge for all the PC v.s. MAC jokes I've made over the years.

That last part is not true. Really, Steve, it's not. I'd actually like to keep the iPod...

Anyway, I tried troubleshooting and debugging my machine, the programs, the iPod and my brain but it took what seemed like forever (a few hours anyway, while toggling between e-mail and TV) before I found the perfect support thread in an Apple forum where poster TrevorQ suggests:

...go into My Computer with the iPod connected, right click it, wait till the right click menu comes up (could take a few minutes), click Format, wait for the Format window to come up (again, could take a few minutes), and format the iPod with the default settings there (FAT32, Default allocation size, and Quick Format NOT checked). Then open up the iPod Updater and restore the iPod. Should work fine from there.

Note that this did work for me.

Evidently there’s a major bug in either the Updater or the iTunes update which screws with your PC and Apple is going to need to update their Updater to debug the bugs which bugged me for hours tonight.

Bleagh.

On the bright side, I get to listen to my “Running Hour” playlist tomorrow morning.

Happy Valborgsmässoafton, btw. And yes, I was in Uppsala yesterday!

Chillaxing in my Stockholm flat

2006-04-29T16:52:00.000+02:00

I'm chillaxing in my apartment today, cleaning and organizing some things that have been neglected recently, listening to tunes and eliminating some munchables. I'm filing photos from my travels, ordering prints from KodakGallery.eu (a great service), arranging my desk and my desktop, and basically just taking care of the online and offline spring cleaning that my life needs right now.

I just finished and posted a few old blog posts that never actually made it out of draft status, including the Midnattsloppet and Hong Kong posts. I'll add some other pics and words later today.

The Midnattsloppet post is particularly relevant because I'm running again in next Sunday’s Vienna City Marathon. Not an entire marathon, because that's currently beyond me, but as part of a relay team. My leg is 9.1 kilometres and I've set myself the goal of finishing that in 50 minutes.

I've been ill for the past few days and unfortunately not training, but today I've made many trips up and down my five flights of stairs rather than taking the lift. And tomorrow morning, I'll run to and around Kungsholmen for a full 10K route and see what my time is for that.

The only other interesting thing to share now is the soundtrack for my day: I’m listening to Dr. Alan Cross' Ongoing History of New Music which The Edge is now streaming, and just enjoying it so much. It’s not quite the same as timing my drive home from Montreal so I hit Peterborough at 7PM so I can listen in earnest with a steaming Tim's in one hand, but it's still fine academic and musical whisperings for my lonely ear… Thanks, Alan!

Speaking in Berlin

2006-04-25T23:32:00.000+02:00

I am 10,000 metres above Denmark, but I feel bowed under the weights heaped in disarray across my mind. It doesn't help that this lousy De Havilland DHC-8 400 Series commuter flight from Berlin to Stockholm isn't properly sound insulated and the crushing thrum of its engines is pulverizing the boulder of my consciousness into thousands of stony pebbles. It also doesn't help that George Winston’s melancholic December was whispering through my headphones earlier (while I could still hear it). And I suppose the facts I'm tired and feeling sort of ill also don't help. But I will survive... because I'm a fighter.

I spent today at The World Telemedia Conference in Berlin, Germany. I was invited to speak on a mobile gambling panel with a few noted luminaries in the industry. We have a very compelling story as we STILL have the world’s only real-money mobile multiplayer poker game on the market 14 months after we've launched it (though we do also have several offline and play-money only "trainer" versions, too). I know there are at least a dozen play money games out there today, and some comparisons have shown how exceptional our games really are. But we certainly aren't sitting complacent, and I spoke about what we've been working on recently. It's kind of fun to have some strong cards already up our sleeves and ready to play before we have real competition in this area.

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what Party's game is like when and if it is finally released. Also, rumour has is that UB will likely be releasing something sometime. And I’ve heard some other companies are also working on mobile multiplayer poker...

The panel itself was good, but I think it's still going to be some time until the masses take their gaming mobile. I think 2008 will be the year, and it's now all about positioning and converting the early adopters. But I won't write much about strategy here.

During a break in the day, I went for a short walk to see some element of Berlin. Travelling around Europe to only see airports, hotels, meeting rooms and restaurants is comfortable, but not something that will make for good storytelling in my old age. Although, like my Dad, I could always say: "oh, it was nothing special." :)

I spent some time breathing in a park, and took a walk by a river. I wanted to visit Checkpoint Charlie, The Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag and the new Holocaust Memorial, but frustratingly didn’t have the time for it. The last time I was in Berlin – in '97 with Shawn – we also only had a few hours of spare time and spent them at The Wall.

This is a picture I took from a bridge near my hotel:

It was a gorgeous day.

Next time I'm in Berlin, I'll be sure to see more of it.

It's about people, leadership, and getting it

2006-03-30T12:14:00.000+02:00

Liam just posted to Pundit about a great collection of Steve Jobs quotes in Wired this month. One of them in particular just jumps out at me:

"Innovation has nothing to do with how many R&D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R&D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it." - Fortune, Nov. 9, 1998

I am currently making some major decisions and it's good to see that my thinking is aligned with someone whose work and accomplishments I respect.

More on me and all of this to follow...

Hong Kongery and Good Eats

2006-02-25T19:21:00.000+01:00

This post is being edited.

Drinking in Toronto in December

2005-12-29T08:26:00.000+01:00

I’m not normally much of a drinker. While I enjoy a Maker’s Mark bourbon whiskey on a cold night, a freezing pale ale on a hot night, and a nice Australian or South African shiraz or pinotage on any other night, I’m not the type of guy who thinks of getting wasted as a worthwhile activity in and of itself.

I enjoy the warmth and conversational lubrication that a few drinks usually provide, but in my adult life have generally stayed away from the filthy, slobbering, disgusting malodorous mess that accompanies over-indulgence in recreational intoxicants.

I like being in control of my body and mind. I don’t have any strong desire to relive the embarrassment of almost-forgotten days when I may have said or done something I would later regret. Missing hours, mysteriously bruised body parts, waking up in strange, fuzzy situations and being urged to make the sincerest of apologies in the most ambiguous of circumstances is … well … not always fun.

On the off-chance that I may actually choose to have more than just a few, I have a strict rule that dictates this only occurs among my best of friends, trusted people who will go to whatever lengths necessary to protect me from myself – even though I’m known as a ridiculously happy drunk – and who will forgive me in the event The Stupid Imp who lives on my left shoulder manages to weave his messages of ridiculous tempestuousness and false bravado through my nearly-impermeable thick skull and sticky membrane of reason.

Because I’ve been living away from these close friends for so long, I’ve trended towards moderation, believing the old adage better safe than sorry rings rather true.

However, I’m now back in Toronto for a few weeks’ rest and relaxation, and, as another proverb goes: all things are good in moderation, including moderation.

It’s sufficient to say that we made the appropriate exceptions.

About a dozen of us met up in my old neighbourhood at The Gypsy Co-Op on Queen Street West, where we enjoyed some apertifs and an uninspiring meal. Fortunately the shots we had to chase the bourbons to wash away the taste of the meal helped clean our palate for further consumption.

A few of my boys came out, and we were our usual high-energy selves. Jay, Noah, myself and Farf are pictured above. The Flink was also present, amid a bevvy of attractive ladies and gents, but alas we have no photos with her in it that could be published without severing either our friendship or some part of my body...

It's almost a shame that you can't see what Farf's t-shirt says...

Kim and Claire sharing their love for film...

A toast to ... well, let's just say it was one of many toasts to many things. At this point, we had passed through Squirrely's (next to the Gypsy Co-Op) and made our way to Paddy Murphy's.

Why Paddy Murphy's, you might ask? Well, Noah insisted we go there to indulge in a plethora of $2.50 shots. He thought it would be fun to alternate jagermeisters with jack daniels for an hour or so... Chasing shooters with shooters? Sure, why not...

Alas, it caught up with some of us.

And this bill is only interesting because of the shot count (posted due to popular request). It reads more like a boxing score card than a bar tab. And keep in mind that this was the third bill of the evening...

The rest of the night was quite fun, full of public displays of singing, dancing, colour and affection. Until next year!

Building VS Buying at the Summit

2005-12-06T20:37:00.000+01:00

I presented at The Poker Summit Europe in London yesterday. My topic was Building VS Buying: How to choose between a Network and Proprietary Technology and it was targeted towards all the people who are STILL in the process of launching new online poker brands - and considering doing so with their own technology.

My presentation was essentially a warning to these people. It wasn't heavy corporate propaganda or necessarily geared towards converting people to our platform. It was an educational check-list of most of the considerations that need to be taken into account before making that kind of important decision and massive investment. I even included a slide listing the 12 major online poker networks, and encouraged people to do their due diligence before agreeing that our platform was the best in the market (said tongue-in-cheek, even though it is).

I am aware of at least eight companies who are getting ready to launch new online poker products (sites and networks) in the next few months . Their products - or at least the clients I have demoed or seen demoed - range from appalling to brilliant. But their back-end systems ... oi, my aching neck ... give me empathetic stress just to think about.

I asked one of these companies what they were going to do about "trust issues" and they asked what I meant. Off the top of my head, I rolled out: "anti-fraud, anti-collusion, anti-dumping, anti-bots, anti-cheating, enforcing privacy policies, maintaining account security, monitoring phishing and pharming attempts in real-time and shutting them down, allowing and enforcing player limits and self-exclusion, fingerprinting devices, getting a stamp of approval on their RNG and keeping players' money safe."

Their response was that they are using SSL 3.0 on "state-of-the-art servers, firewalls and routers" at a top-tier facility in Curacao.

Being a professional, I kept my upper and lower jaws together and wished them the best of luck with their launch.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who actually paid any attention during the Dot Com explosion and subsequent implosion. Just because an "e-business" had compelling graphics and good promotions, success was not guaranteed. Fundamentals like trust, support and customer experience are vital!

If there are three lessons I've learned time-and-again during the last three years in the online gaming business, it's that: 1) Java really isn't write-once-run-anywhere (it's more like write-once-debug-everywhere); 2) dealing with scalability is never just a matter of plug-and-play - latency issues can kill a business; and 3) just because you have a cool URL with the word "poker" in it does not mean you're going to get rich.

- - -

On a related, but completely different note, a high point of the conference was a late-night poker game I played in at the Royal Garden Hotel. People from five of the major networks were represented at the table and the insults going back and forth were hilarious! I can't possibly include any names or quotes without being accused of libel and slander, but it's good to know that everyone in the industry is paying close attention to everyone else. Fear and respect, baby. Fear and respect.

Technogeek anticipation

2005-11-14T19:06:00.000+01:00

I have my first Stockholm-based non-work geek event this weekend: Bloggforum 3. It's supposed to be about "the end of the blog (as we know it)," but I will remain healthily skeptical about that until I learn more. I will say, however, that I'm excited about meeting some like-minded technologists in the community.

Ben Hammersley (of The Guardian) and Loïc Le Meur (of Six Apart) are both going to be there, and there will be a number of other very interesting speakers. So while it may not actually be "the end of the blog as I know it," it should, I hope, be a thought-proving experience.

Also, on an unrelated technophilic note, I'm going to be in Amsterdam later this week for the World Telemedia Expo & Conference to meet some people and research some new widget technology. While in town, I plan to spend an evening checking out the Playing FLICKR v2.0 exhibit I read about on BoingBoing a few months ago. It sounds very, very cool.

I might also go visit Rob at The Palace to see how business is going for his crew. Also, it will be a good opportunity to get the 411 on the latest techniques people are using to maximize the consumer-based revenue potential of my industry.

The technogeek inside me is shivering with excitement.

Playing the Building Again

2005-11-12T21:18:00.000+01:00

I’ve been thinking about the concept of “musical space” since I first went to David Byrne’s installation art exhibit Playing the Building at Färgfabriken two weeks ago. I didn’t write much about that experience in my original blog post, but it was something that made a very strong impression on me. The very concept of literally wiring a building for sound and letting the public play it was beyond me, a fresh idea so far out of the ordinary box that it has haunted and inspired me to think differently about many things.

I went there again today as I knew the exhibit closes tomorrow. I wanted to try some of the musical ideas that had been running through my head since I last sat down at the organ. To say the very least, the possibilities of this instrument are many and varied, and outside the scope of anything I’ve played before. How outside the scope? Well...

The organ keyboard’s keys are divided into three sections:

Winds: This section controls high-pressure hoses through which compressed air flows from the organ to a series of pipes and electrical conduits with holes drilled in them. This creates whistling sounds like those from giant 4-metre long flutes. The pitches are all microtones from non-standard scales and traditional melodies are impossible. No I-IV-V-I triad progressions...
Vibrations: This section is a set of electrical switches which activate oscillating motors mounted on various metal crossbeams around the building. The motors cause the beams to thrum ominously and deeply and range in pitch from low near-subsonics that you can feel in your kidneys to industrial jackhammer tones.
Striking: This section controls electrical pulses that trigger solenoids attached to hollow iron support beams around the building. The solenoids then cause a mechanical bell clapper to strike the beams like a ring on your left hand slapping a lamppost. As these beams were all made for the building's construction in 1889 when manufacturing standards were less consistent than today, their consistency and shape vary slightly and this similarly affects the pitch and resonance.

The organ itself is set near the middle of a large concrete and steel room that was built to be the floor of a munitions factory. That leaves you with plenty of space to walk around or sit and appreciate as others play the building. No matter where you are, the sound is several steps beyond the most sophisticated theoretical quadrasonic sound system.

The noise comes from everywhere, no matter where you are. It shakes the foundations and gnaws at various parts of your body. It makes you feel nauseous, happy, sad, disgusted and inspired. And that, I suppose, is what classifies this exhibit as art.

I sat for an hour and listened today before I approached the keyboard.

I was disgusted by the mashing of keys by people of all ages, as they played the building like they were playing a console video game and couldn’t find the right key combinations to take them to the next level. They concentrated on the most annoying, shrill, loud, cranium-splitting sounds and pawed them like automatons intent on the Earth’s destruction. It was just noise and wasted potential.

Some people had more sensitivity and creativity in their approach. While everyone first tried to figure out which keys controlled what sounds, these people were more interested in PLAYING and/or trying to make music than just making noise. It’s a tough instrument though, and after a few weeks some of the keys, wires and hoses have stopped working so the full dynamic range from my first visit was no longer intact. But people still tried, and looked around, amazed at the instrument they were inside and mastering. They were all little Philip Glasses and Arnold Schoenbergs creating asynchronous, atonal masterpieces that would cause the skull of an average listener of top-40 radio to implode.

It’s a different way of thinking about music. From both the performer’s perspective and the listener’s, being inside an instrument that resonates around you is a rare and potentially beautiful thing – particularly when the instrument is being used to create music as opposed to mere noise.

I thought a lot about the question: What is music? Just like Miriam and I used to discuss What is art?, I wondered about where that line of distinction was for me, personally. As people took turns sitting before the organ, they had the same opportunities and possibilities to create as any before or after them. But what they created was, subjectively speaking, as diverse as moldy trash and budding beauty ever get. Does it all qualify as music, and some just gets sorted into the bad music category, or can I actually make a distinction between noise and music?

I think now, after thinking earlier, that it is all music, and all music is art, and that through my own set of filters I can qualify what I audibly experience as good, bad or whatever. And I do, and I will.

I did make my way to the keyboard after a while, and enjoyed myself quite thoroughly. I used my right hand to play a rhythm on the striking beams, while trying to play a sombre counterpoint melody on the wind pipes and motorized beams. I wanted to try playing the space as well as the sounds, and tried some key pairings that were spatial in order to move perspective and depth as well as relevance and tone. It was lots of fun, fascinating to experiment with, rather soothing, and allowed me to say what I needed to say at the place and time I needed to say it.

But was what I created art, and was what I played music? Well, that’s up to you to say. But I can definitely say that David Byrne has my respect and admiration for creating this instrument and this experience, and for letting me play the building.

Excited about Ronley in London

2005-11-12T20:21:00.000+01:00

I just realized that I'm going to have the distinct pleasure of seeing the fabulous Ronley Teper perform in London on December 5. She'll be playing at 12 Bar Club on Denmark Street, and I'm going to be in town for The Poker Summit Europe. It should be fun to contrast a heavy business-oriented day with the humanistic beauty of ronley's artistry. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

If any of you three readers are interested in joining me for this, just let me know.

Nice in Nice

2005-11-10T23:36:00.000+01:00

While I definitely enjoy eating in some of Europe's nicest restaurants, a constant stream of rich foods and challenging conversations sometimes leave me in need of trees, water and fresh air. Having had a few days of success under my belt (in respect to both business and dining), I skipped out on lunch yesterday to go for a walk by the water. To say that Nice is Nice is an understated and tired cliche, but also true.

The sun was warm on my back, the air was fresh and the view pristine! I stopped to order a crepe in my brutally mangled French and elicited great laughter, but also the crepe I wanted, with fromage, tomates et champignons! So while I may not be much of a linguist, I feel confident in my communication skills.

BTW, there were no signs of riotous behaviour or civil unrest, but I did see the usual hierarchical class structures that you see throughout Europe and the rest of the world. While I can't necessarily relate - as I come from the Canadian theoretical "cultural melting pot" and have friends of many colours and faiths - I can understand the perspective of the disenfranchised and see it in many places, including Sweden.

I'll write my disseratation on racism and prejudice another time, however, as my words will need to be chosen carefully.

Autumn comes to Stockholm

2005-11-05T18:56:00.000+01:00

Stockholm is a beautiful city, as I've said here many times. While I'm not running much these days for all sorts of reasons that are silly when I really think about them, I still take time every weekend to get out and about. There's a great 3-hour walk I like taking through most of the central Stockholm neighbourhoods (Vasastan, Central Stockholm Lans, Kungsholmen, Sodermalm, Gamla Stan, Ostermalm, and then back to St. Eriksplan in Vasastan where I live). Most of the walk is by the water, where that's convenient, and here is a shot of the trees' colours changing by one of the canals:

Also, for those of you whom may forget what I look like, this is me in casual mode, wearing an old Check n Raise Poker.com hoodie:

I'm spending some time just breathing today as this week promises to be very, very busy. I'm off to France tomorrow morning for the European I-Gaming Congress and Expo in Nice, and have quite a few meetings set up. Between the business, the business, the eating and, of course, the obligatory poker, I expect to return on Thursday tiiiiiired! But tomorrow night I'm hoping to hit Monaco (it's only 20 minutes by train from Nice) and also hoping to avoid any rioting. I'll try to take some pics while I'm out and about.

Cheers.

Jeffrey

Playing the Building

2005-10-30T12:30:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I visited an extraordinary exhibit called Playing the Building at Färgfabriken in Stockholm. It was an installation art piece by David Byrne (of "Talking Heads" fame) where you could actually play the building. The infrastructure was converted into a giant musical instrument where a central organ controlled devices attached to the building's metal beams, pillars, heating pipes and water pipes.

Of course, I spent a bit of time at the organ myself and had a wonderful time.

I'm writing a piece for NOW on it today and will post a link to the story when it runs.

A Reality TV Rockstar?

2005-10-23T17:59:00.000+02:00

Walking the bright office corridors in Stockholm, intent with purpose and clothed in my standard black suit, it always surprises me to be recognized as a rockstar from reality TV. It seem so incongruous with my new life here, almost ridiculously out of context, and I can only laugh and smile, nodding. “Yes,” I say, “that was me rocking out on Swedish TV last night.”

In August 2004 I was the bassist in Spencer "Spenny" Rice’s The Spennys punk band on the reality TV show Kenny VS Spenny which was filmed in Toronto. Along with some of my best friends – Rockstar Jay Englishman and Drummer Boy Noah Egelnick – I appear in the "Who can put on the best concert" episode from season 1.

Kenny VS Spenny is a ridiculous show that’s sometimes very, very funny. It’s a heavily-scripted pseudo-Reality TV show about two incredibly competitive guys who try to out-idiot each other in a multitude of colourful, usually grotesque and always insane ways. It’s a fun show – like Jackass but without the incitement for kids to castrate themselves – that is slowly becoming a HUGE hit here in Sweden.

Three times in the last few weeks, colleagues have approached me with odd looks on their face to inquire whether it was ... possibly ... ME? ... they saw on TV here. Evidently that episode has been broadcast a few times, though I haven’t caught it yet. When I am asked, I can’t help but laugh and tell the story from a life that feels so far from where I am today.

Breakthrough Films, the production company behind KVS contacted KiTH two summers ago about purchasing an ad to promote an open call for Canadian musicians interested in participating in a new reality TV show they were filming for the CBC. I gladly took their money, and then called all my musician friends to give them the scoop. Thinking it would be fun – at least worth shits and giggles – we went out to the auditions in a gross little North York rehearsal space near Dufferin and Finch.

It was set-up like any of the Idol shows, where people would get up on stage and do their thing until they were called off. Some people had what seemed like 20 seconds, and others got as long as they wanted to strut their stuff. It was mad fun to watch, and reminded me a bit of an old-school vaudeville audition without the white cane. “Next!”

It was cool for me, as well, because many of the people who were there came out after seeing the ad on KiTH. I get warm fuzzies from stuff like that.

About a dozen guitarists showed up. It was soooo funny - in a Bill & Ted kind of way - when Jay hit the stage and pulled out all his best Eddie Van Halen moves (both musically and physically) which I'm sure he spent most of his teenage years practicing in front of the mirror. All the other musicians (and the drummers) as well as the TV crew had their jaws hanging agape in amazement as he did the standard fretboard masturbation thang which most of 'em had never seen in real life before … of course, this included all the requisite fast arpeggiated runs, pinched harmonics, whammy dives, feedback squeals and two-handed tapping ... needless to say he got the lead gig. And the rhythm guitarist they chose was practically stapled to Jay's hip for the next 3 days trying to improve his playing through osmosis.

Only four bassists came out and ... ummmm ... I got that gig by just playing a bit.

Quite a few drummers showed up, too, and Noah was - by far - the best of 'em, but they chose a young kid with a toque because they liked the visual, or some other such reason – though the kid WAS a decent player.

Once the band was selected, we (mostly Jay, with Spencer scribbling insipid lyrics) wrote a high-energy 70’s-style punk pop song called "I Just Wanna (Get Laid)" which we were supposed to perform for a panel of music industry professionals judging the contest. Stylistically, it sounds like a rough outtake from the Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The Bollocks sessions and adheres to the “Close enough for Rock and Roll” style of recording perfection.

To find out the contest's result, you'll have to view the episode.

The whole shoot took 2 days and was great fun. Playing with Jay, regardless of the situation, always is. He’s one of those underrated geniuses with the potential to be another Jeff Buckley or Leonard Cohen. In time, I am sure...

We auditioned, wrote the song, practiced it, refined it, rocked out on it, and then jammed through a number of other punk tunes in a blazing hot, unventilated Toronto warehouse under scorching lights in mid-August. The camera crew were fairly top-notch and did a great job capturing the rivers of sweat flying off my scalp as I manically bounced around the stage. And the post-production made the whole thing look and sound pretty decent.

If you get a chance to see the episode, let me know what you think. Also, you can listen to I Just Wanna (Get Laid) right here.

According to Wikipedia, a LOT of international distribution is now in place for the show. I guess that means I now get to be “that guy from TV” who seems familiar but nobody remembers until/unless I’m bouncing around on stage with a bass on. But I’m fine with that. After all, it’s sort of fun to have "Reality TV Rockstar" on my CV along with all the serious stuff.

Cheers y'all.

Jeffrey