Matthew Gaffen: Dead Cat

Coming very soon...

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:36:00 +0000

Coldplay stole my idea!

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 19:56:00 +0000

Funny how my last post was about copyright and fair use

Quite a lot of correlation, right?

I'm going to blow off some steam for a bit, then I might bost something new and exciting.

-Matt

Fair Use

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:31:00 +0000

It's been quite some time, and there are some more substantial updates coming up soon but I thought that this was quite appropriate to put up, especially considering recent developments concerning the censorship of the internet.

Protect IP will obviously cause a lot of trouble for people who use fair use to make content.

More stuff coming very soon.

Motion Tracking

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:30:00 +0000

My, it's been quite some time!

I've been incredibly busy, but there should be some cool stuff up here soon.

Speaking of cool, I learned the basic principles of motion tracking today. Loads of fun, and might be pretty useful in future film making. However, at the moment I am stuck using the captured data in aftereffects, and if I want to make the lighting more realistic I need to take it into a 3D animation suite. I guess it's not totally neccessary, but it's something I'd like to be able to do.

Hopefully some more Hearse Pileup news too.

Nice infographic depicting yet another way our right to free speech is being diluted

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:22:00 +0000

New Hearse Pileup gig

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 10:15:00 +0000

HEARSE PILEUP PLAY THE MACBETH 16/11/11:

Hearse Pileup are Playing the Macbeth in Shoreditch , it's a great venue - come down and support us!

There will be more stuff on here soon - I've been super crazy busy recently. Stupidly so actually - I hardly get to sleep these days.

VERY exciting project coming up - a short documentary, looking forward to it.

Please come down to the gig if you can make it, we really need some people behind us!

Teaser for Upcoming Video of Alma Upholstering Cleo B's Retro Fiat 500

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 19:21:00 +0000

Recently The company I work for (Spritz Creative) put two of their previous clients in contact with each other, namely upcoming fashion footware designer Cleo B and leather experts Alma, as Cleo wanted to refurbish the interior of her Fiat 500 with leather. They have also decided to shoot a short promotional video for Alma documenting the job, which I will be shooting.

To do this we have acquired the following equipment:

A Canon 5D
A zoom lens (Borrowed from Vixx)
A remote shutter release(Also Borrowed)
A £20 home made shoulder mount (courtesy of instructables)
A tripod
A memory Card

The shoulder mount works surprisingly well for a bunch of PVC pipe, and has now been clad in leather courtesy of Alma - making it the most expensive looking £20 shoulder rig I've ever seen.

I also uploaded the most recent build of the Magic Lantern firmware to help make the DSLR work more suitably as a film camera. I highly recommend you check it out if you shoot dslr video and use a compatible camera.

Shooting time lapse for the first time has been incredibly fun! I'm very excited about the final edit.

Call back soon for the final product, the leather for Cleo's car was ordered today!

The music for the video is John Beltran's remix of 'Minor Swing' by Django Reindhart

In other news, the EP is almost mastered now, and I will also soon be shooting a short documentary about the studio we recorded at (Dropout Studios, Camberwell). And we're gonna be recording a new song!

Fold It - Gaming for Science!

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 22:19:00 +0000

This game is incredible. It allows individuals such as you and me to make significant contributions to the scientific community through gaming. I insist you play it!

It's also very addictive. I found it through @avantgame - she made the 'gaming for a better world' TED talk

It's already having significant effects - the game challenges people to map proteins - which helps scientists figure out how they work. For example, recently - thanks to the effort of gamers - the structure of retroviral protease was mapped. this is a key enzyme to the way the HIV virus multiplies, something that scientists have been working on for a decade. This research could really help in the fight against HIV.

You can read more on this at http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20108365-247/foldit-game-leads-to-aids-research-breakthrough/

Non-Gender Specific Bukowski

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:10:00 +0000

It seems that my post a few days ago containing a certain Charles Bukowski poem was received with a modicum of criticism from people with feminist inclinations, citing the fact that it might be offensively sexist.

Whilst I agree, you can read that into the poem, and yes, Bukowski was almost certainly 'rubbed raw by experience' himself, I think the sentiment is perfectly valid, and affects both sexes. If you have brutally gone from partner to partner for the whole of you life, I wouldn't be surprised if you were attracted to innocence.

Therefore, I suggest an alternative reading of the same poem;

"I like people who haven’t lived with too many other people.
I don’t expect virginity but I simply prefer people
who haven’t been rubbed raw by experience.

there is a quality about people who choose
people sparingly;
it appears in their walk
in their eyes
in their laughter and in their
gentle hearts.

people who have had too many other people
seem to choose the next one
out of revenge rather than with
feeling.

when you play the field selfishly everything
works against you:
one can’t insist on love or
demand affection.
you’re finally left with whatever
you have been willing to give
which often is:
nothing.

some people are delicate things
some people are delicious and
wondrous.

if you want to piss on the sun
go ahead
but please leave them
alone."

Personally, I think the sentiment still holds true, and no matter what Bukowski's original intent was, I don't really see it as a sexist poem.

Dig On For Victory

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:58:00 +0000

I went to the coast this weekend and bought this book. The man on the front is my role model.

Following up my rather negative and apocalyptic post 'Increased Chances', I've decided to try and make some positive action myself. Thinking about things whilst at dover castle, specifically the secret war time tunnels made me consider the fact that the attitude during the war of 'make do and mend' and 'dig for victory' are still more than relevant now. Although we're no longer facing lack of supply due to trade routes being cut off, we are experiencing increasingly dwindling resources, and this is being hidden from us to some extent by large corporates because they depend on our dependency on them. As a result of that I have now started preparing my garden for the cultivation of vegetables, and should you feel compelled to join me I heartily encourage you to! I'd also like to encourage any sort of dialogue about gardening too, so please chip in if you'd like advice, or conversely have some advice for me!

I wasn't really planning on making this post until after I'd finished work for the day so I don't have any images of work in progress. But here's the result of a few hours work on my day off - a large hole, about a foot deep, by two wide by four long.

Why is there a large hole in the end of my garden? I'm guessing that this is a question that both my housemates and the reader might be wondering.

I'm doing what is known as 'double digging', illustrated by the diagram below:

This is going to take a very long time, I have to dig up the entire garden, but considering it's been neglected for a very long time and not been used for vegetables, I think it's worth it. It also has a very high clay content, so over the next few days I'm going to buy some garden lime to help break it up a little.

My housemates have the allotment covered up with a tarp for now - to prevent weeds from growing, and killing off the ones that are there at the moment.

Another thing I've found from my new book is that it can really make a difference how clean you keep your tools. The garden tools in my house had routinely left with mud on them in the shed and have developed a smattering of rust. Fortunately I've found a pretty good recipe for removing this. It's just vinegar, baking soda, and a piece of tinfoil scrunched up with the shiny side facing out. Mix the vinegar and the soda, dip the foil into the mixture, and give your garden tools a scrub.

It works surprisingly well, and although they're not rust free yet, they look significantly better!

I'm going too keep at it with this garden, hopefully this series of posts will help spur me on.

Shirobon/Chiptune/8-bit

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:26:00 +0000

I encountered this song when one of those unsolicited e-mail newsletters I'd been signed up to sent me an update exclusively about chiptune artists. I can't goddamn get it out of my head!

Shirobon, apparently he's pretty good.

Good music video too.

Whilst on the subject of chiptunes, check out the soundtrack to Tower of Heaven (and goddamn play it too!)

And likewise for VVVVVV

Tom Waits reads Bukowski

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 09:36:00 +0000

Those who read this blog with any sort of regularity can probably tell I enjoy both Tom Waits and Charles Bukowski. So obviously I love this these two.

(Please excuse the Comic Sans, not my video)

New Hearse Pileup gig has been booked too, more news soon.

Charles Bukowski: A Poem For Swingers, A Poem for the Playgirls of the Universe

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 12:07:00 +0000

Vixx posted this on her blog. I really like it, I love the engrained honesty in Bukowski's work:

"I like women who haven’t lived with too many men.
I don’t expect virginity but I simply prefer women
who haven’t been rubbed raw by experience.

there is a quality about women who choose
men sparingly;
it appears in their walk
in their eyes
in their laughter and in their
gentle hearts.

women who have had too many men
seem to choose the next one
out of revenge rather than with
feeling.

when you play the field selfishly everything
works against you:
one can’t insist on love or
demand affection.
you’re finally left with whatever
you have been willing to give
which often is:
nothing.

some women are delicate things
some women are delicious and
wondrous.

if you want to piss on the sun
go ahead
but please leave them
alone."

Hearse Pileup: Pretty Shiny Things Demo

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:52:00 +0000

Pretty Shiny Things (demo) by Hearse Pileup

Here's the Demo of what will probably be our first single, more coming soon.

M

Increased Chances

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 09:51:00 +0000

This isn't going to be very positive I'm afraid. It seems appropriate that I smell of smoke after passing Brixton Station this morning (Footlocker was on fire again).

I don't usually write about my dreams; talking about them is inherently boring. However I can't help feeling like I took something away from last night.

I dreamt that, upon returning home, everyone was outside their houses were on the street, performing rituals, praying, saying goodbye to one another. After which they would slit their own throats. Anarchy reigned and bodies filled the gutters.

I looked out of my window into a turbulent, cloudy sky, remembering a reports that in the coming evening a meteorite would almost certainly hit earth, and with it bring the downfall of humanity. Blood and bodies are illuminated as a pillar of fire raches out of the sky and strikes the ground miles away, it makes an almighty sound. I run to cower in the basement. The last thing I remember is wishing I was with my loved ones.

After waking I couldn't help thinking that, although I don't believe a meteorite will impact the Earth any time soon, that humanity loves ignoring a problem until it looks like we're all going to die. Maybe I'm in a bad mood this morning, but I can't say with 100% faith that I believe that statement will be proved wrong. A society of Capitalism and greed requires constant expansion for continued existence. Given a planet with limited, not to mention dwindling, resources this is not a very tenable position.

I know that many, many people have said this before me, I know that by saying this no-one is going to stick their head up and say 'Oh my god, he's right! I can't believe I've been so blind!' It's not going to change anything.

But I thought it was worth saying.

Good morning.

Peter Oborne: The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 09:15:00 +0000

A friend (Toni Roberts) Posted this article on facebook. I found it so incredibly well observed that I thought it needed to be republished in its entirety:

David Cameron, Ed Miliband and the entire British political class came together yesterday to denounce the rioters. They were of course right to say that the actions of these looters, arsonists and muggers were abhorrent and criminal, and that the police should be given more support.

But there was also something very phony and hypocritical about all the shock and outrage expressed in parliament. MPs spoke about the week’s dreadful events as if they were nothing to do with them.

I cannot accept that this is the case. Indeed, I believe that the criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from the moral disintegration in the highest ranks of modern British society. The last two decades have seen a terrifying decline in standards among the British governing elite. It has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat. An almost universal culture of selfishness and greed has grown up.

It is not just the feral youth of Tottenham who have forgotten they have duties as well as rights. So have the feral rich of Chelsea and Kensington. A few years ago, my wife and I went to a dinner party in a large house in west London. A security guard prowled along the street outside, and there was much talk of the “north-south divide”, which I took literally for a while until I realised that my hosts were facetiously referring to the difference between those who lived north and south of Kensington High Street.

Most of the people in this very expensive street were every bit as deracinated and cut off from the rest of Britain as the young, unemployed men and women who have caused such terrible damage over the last few days. For them, the repellent Financial Times magazine How to Spend It is a bible. I’d guess that few of them bother to pay British tax if they can avoid it, and that fewer still feel the sense of obligation to society that only a few decades ago came naturally to the wealthy and better off.

Yet we celebrate people who live empty lives like this. A few weeks ago, I noticed an item in a newspaper saying that the business tycoon Sir Richard Branson was thinking of moving his headquarters to Switzerland. This move was represented as a potential blow to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, because it meant less tax revenue.

I couldn’t help thinking that in a sane and decent world such a move would be a blow to Sir Richard, not the Chancellor. People would note that a prominent and wealthy businessman was avoiding British tax and think less of him. Instead, he has a knighthood and is widely feted. The same is true of the brilliant retailer Sir Philip Green. Sir Philip’s businesses could never survive but for Britain’s famous social and political stability, our transport system to shift his goods and our schools to educate his workers.

Yet Sir Philip, who a few years ago sent an extraordinary £1 billion dividend offshore, seems to have little intention of paying for much of this. Why does nobody get angry or hold him culpable? I know that he employs expensive tax lawyers and that everything he does is legal, but he surely faces ethical and moral questions just as much as does a young thug who breaks into one of Sir Philip’s shops and steals from it?

Our politicians – standing sanctimoniously on their hind legs in the Commons yesterday – are just as bad. They have shown themselves prepared to ignore common decency and, in some cases, to break the law. David Cameron is happy to have some of the worst offenders in his Cabinet. Take the example of Francis Maude, who is charged with tackling public sector waste – which trade unions say is a euphemism for waging war on low‑paid workers. Yet Mr Maude made tens of thousands of pounds by breaching the spirit, though not the law, surrounding MPs’ allowances.

A great deal has been made over the past few days of the greed of the rioters for consumer goods, not least by Rotherham MP Denis MacShane who accurately remarked, “What the looters wanted was for a few minutes to enter the world of Sloane Street consumption.” This from a man who notoriously claimed £5,900 for eight laptops. Of course, as an MP he obtained these laptops legally through his expenses.

Yesterday, the veteran Labour MP Gerald Kaufman asked the Prime Minister to consider how these rioters can be “reclaimed” by society. Yes, this is indeed the same Gerald Kaufman who submitted a claim for three months’ expenses totalling £14,301.60, which included £8,865 for a Bang & Olufsen television.

Or take the Salford MP Hazel Blears, who has been loudly calling for draconian action against the looters. I find it very hard to make any kind of ethical distinction between Blears’s expense cheating and tax avoidance, and the straight robbery carried out by the looters.

The Prime Minister showed no sign that he understood that something stank about yesterday’s Commons debate. He spoke of morality, but only as something which applies to the very poor: “We will restore a stronger sense of morality and responsibility – in every town, in every street and in every estate.” He appeared not to grasp that this should apply to the rich and powerful as well.

The tragic truth is that Mr Cameron is himself guilty of failing this test. It is scarcely six weeks since he jauntily turned up at the News International summer party, even though the media group was at the time subject to not one but two police investigations. Even more notoriously, he awarded a senior Downing Street job to the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, even though he knew at the time that Coulson had resigned after criminal acts were committed under his editorship. The Prime Minister excused his wretched judgment by proclaiming that “everybody deserves a second chance”. It was very telling yesterday that he did not talk of second chances as he pledged exemplary punishment for the rioters and looters.

These double standards from Downing Street are symptomatic of widespread double standards at the very top of our society. It should be stressed that most people (including, I know, Telegraph readers) continue to believe in honesty, decency, hard work, and putting back into society at least as much as they take out.

But there are those who do not. Certainly, the so-called feral youth seem oblivious to decency and morality. But so are the venal rich and powerful – too many of our bankers, footballers, wealthy businessmen and politicians.

Of course, most of them are smart and wealthy enough to make sure that they obey the law. That cannot be said of the sad young men and women, without hope or aspiration, who have caused such mayhem and chaos over the past few days. But the rioters have this defence: they are just following the example set by senior and respected figures in society. Let’s bear in mind that many of the youths in our inner cities have never been trained in decent values. All they have ever known is barbarism. Our politicians and bankers, in sharp contrast, tend to have been to good schools and universities and to have been given every opportunity in life.

Something has gone horribly wrong in Britain. If we are ever to confront the problems which have been exposed in the past week, it is essential to bear in mind that they do not only exist in inner-city housing estates.

The culture of greed and impunity we are witnessing on our TV screens stretches right up into corporate boardrooms and the Cabinet. It embraces the police and large parts of our media. It is not just its damaged youth, but Britain itself that needs a moral reformation.

Hearse Pileup Logo

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 13:37:00 +0000

We finished mixing the Hearse Pileup EP last night, we only have to master it now and then everyone can hear it!

Lovely Visualisation of the Fibonacci Sequence in Nature

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 09:13:00 +0000

Thanks to Sam Gaus for sharing, lovely.

Hearse Pileup demo out soon!

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 08:45:00 +0000

Hearse Pileup has been in the recording studio recently, here's a taster of what went on.

Thank so much to the guys at Dropout Studio for being awesome, and Daniel Cross of the cellar door sound for helping organise and produce the music, it wouldn't have been the same without you!

Last but not least thanks to Vixx for shooting and editing the video, much appreciated!

The next gig is on the 15th of july, check it out on either Facebook or at hearsepileup.de/ad.

More stuff coming soon!

New piece of work: Green Lane Masjid

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:14:00 +0000

I recently started working for a small design firm in Whitechapel called Spritz Creative This is one of my first pieces of work for them.

Much more exciting stuff coming very soon - Hearse Pileup have been in the Recording studio, expect to hear something soon!

M

IT'S...

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 09:56:00 +0000

Gotta Get down.

Look out for the guy carrying the massive QR code, hilarious.

More Hearse Pileup news and an animation. Hopefully Sukey developments on their way too.

-M

Sukey emerges from the thames

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:54:00 +0000

A slide taken from our PechaKucha talk

Even more soon :)

Interview for VisionOn.tv for Sukey

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:53:00 +0000

Here's a great little interview Sam and I gave at @opentechuk for visiontv.com a few weeks ago, I think we did a pretty good job!

I've been really busy recently, but expect some more updates soon. I'm working on some exciting projects right now!

Happy Rapture Day!

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Sat, 21 May 2011 21:57:00 +0000

Well I'm still here, which means either the rapture didn't happen, or we're all going to hell...

There's been some pretty cool stuff going on, I won the bloggie competition!

The judge was Ian Nathan, Editor of Empire Magazine, who I met on Friday. It was a really lovely day and I also met the person who wrote my brief and also won a cash prize - she's six months pregnant and I'm really happy for her!

Here's what Ian had to say about the film:

“It was impossible not to be persuaded by the sly humour, easy visuals, and note of poignancy in Matt’s feature. Dare I say, there is a touch of David Lynch in his natural strangeness — this tired figure (well performed) trapped in the monotony of life who finds release dressed as a yolk-yellow chick (a homage to Tweetie Pie?) and dancing like a madman amongst the grey clutter of Trafalgar Square. A song to the lunatic in us all.”

I was really touched - especially about the Lynch thing! It was amazing to be compared to David Lynch even in the slightet passing manner!

Hearse Pileup is also doing well - we've got another gig coming up tomorrow, £2 admission, and we're also looking at doing some recording soon!

Finally, we gave a talk today at OpenTech, a conference held at ULU, on behalf of Sukey today, here's a recording of the Ustream:

That's all for now, have a great rapture!

Like A Boss

noreply@blogger.com (DeadCat) — Sat, 07 May 2011 16:17:00 +0000

LEVEL UP!