13 posts tagged “nine inch nails”

There and back again...

Over this past New Year's Eve I sat and listened to Leo Laporte and Amber Macarthur's podcast Net @ Nite. The subject that night was of course New Year's Resolutions and what resolutions the callers to the program had in mind for year 2007. A common resolution that came up again and again was a commitment by various individuals to learn a programming language.

Quite honestly this struck me like a bolt of lightning  because I had been telling myself for years that I would eventually sit down and learn one of the newer languages but for one reason or another I just kept putting it off. Well, I'm putting if off no more!

 

So, in the first two weeks of January I began exploring what languages were available, which ones were used for what purpose, and how easy it would be if for a new student to pick them up. By mid-January, I had settled on the Python Programming Language. I spent a couple weeks learning intensely from various tutorials online as well as discovering the Python411 podcast. In the first week of February I purchased my first two Python books: Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner, second edition by Michael Dawson and Python for Dummies by Stef and Aahz Maruch.

Python, for those who aren't familiar with it, is an interpretative object oriented high level programming language that is similar to PHP, Java, Ruby and Perl.

The founder of the language, Guido Van Rossum, named the language after Monty Python, the British comedy troupe, whom he was quite fond of. It is open source, which appeals to me, and they seem to have a very friendly community, which I also dig.

NINcryption

While learning the Python language it has become clear to me that I really only learn things of this nature by creating my own programs. I find that these self created programs, silly as they may be often force me to seek out new solutions to programming problems, which in turn enriches and furthers my knowledge base, which brings me to my current programming project, NINcryption.

NINcryption is program that will allow fans and roleplayers of NIN's "Year Zero"  album to immerse themselves a bit more into the Art is Resistance role-playing movement . It gives them the ability to encrypt messages into a binary code I've devised that is comprised entirely of the letters "n" and "i". The program also allows you to decrypt other messages from fellow members. It is a fun way to send messages back and forth, even on public webpages, without making every message entirely public. It is not intended of course to be secure by any means, since it is only a role-playing tool.

Right now the program is in alpha. I've got the encryption, the decryption, saving and loading of files worked out. Additional features that I have planned and that are in various stages of development include GUI implementation, Python language/NINcryption packaging as either an .exe file or a .zip file, error exceptions, and Macintosh compatibility that still need ironing out. I'd like to keep it open source and under the GPL so that anyone who would like to have fun with it can.

Besides I haven't obtained approval from Reznor or his cohorts, so I want to stay out of trouble there as well. I'm hoping to get closer to beta release by the time the "Year Zero" album is released to the masses on April 17th. I fully intend to host the finished file on my server, as well as posting links to it in The Spiral (the official NIN fan club), and also a link on Sourceforge.

I understand that by just about every standard this is a very simple program. I don't expect it to necessarily excite many of my fellow programmers out there. I only offer in my defense that what I love about the project is the potentiality that I might be able to enrich the Alternate Reality Game that has arisen from the Year Zero material. Doing so would fill my need for creating art that has both form and function. If you have suggestions, links or information that could help me with this project, I would appreciate it.

At the risk of being flamed, I am also interested in what you think about this project. Worthwhile fun, or complete waste of time?

	Because you've downloaded music by Nine Inch Nails from iTunes in the past, we thought you'd like to know about their new album, Year Zero. Check It Out Coded messages embedded on T-shirts lead fans to websites that unveil government conspiracies. USB drives containing unreleased Nine Inch Nails tracks and videos found in public bathrooms are promptly circulated on the Internet. The latest NIN release, Year Zero, is proving to be a full-blown multimedia extravaganza. Described by frontman Trent Reznor as "a soundtrack to a movie that doesn't exist," Year Zero is a concept album based in the year 2022, where the world is nearing destruction and you're a participant. With rumors of an actual movie to come and an upcoming sequel album, the adventure has only just begun. Pre-order Year Zero and the track "Survivalism" will download today, plus you'll also get a remix of "Survivalism" when the album is released on April 17. Check It Out		More to Explore With Teeth The Downward Spiral Live: And All That Could Have Been Broken The Fragile Further Down the Spiral Music Videos
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This email was in my inbox this morning. When I read it my eyeballs just about popped loose from my head and rolled across the floor. I had heard that there have been discussions about a possible Year Zero film being made, but an upcoming sequel album? Now that is news to me. Year One: a follow up to the Year Zero album? Frank Miller, eat your heart out! I can feel goosebumps creeping over me just thinking about it. Goosebumps, I tell you! 

This video was released as high and low resolution Quicktime movies on USB keys given away at London, England March 7th, 2007 show. I think it is very poignant how, when and where Trent is releasing various elements of this album.

For example, the song "My Violent Heart" was released on February 14th, Valentine's Day.  A pretty obvious connection right? 

The website: Art is Resistance was revealed on a red flyer on the day that NIN was performing in Paris, France on February 22nd, 2007. Red of course is the color of revolution. The site of Paris, France is symbolic because of the French Revolution as well as the famous French resistance movement that was largely founded by citizens from the communist, liberal, Roman Catholic conservatives and anarchist factions. The date is significant because on June 22nd of 1941 the various communist resistance groups joined forces, resulting in a large, unified, focused and  more potent force. It was a turning point in the struggle to reclaim Paris.

How about the release of this video? It was released March 7th, in London, which of course was the city who suffered coordinated bombs by anarchists that destroyed sections of their public transportation system known affectionately as "The Tube" on July 7th, 2005.

Simply put, we are witnessing a masterpiece of art that has meaning on all levels whether they be written, sound, video, internet, phone or live.

It is a video about invasion of privacy by the government, but furthermore it shows a world in which neighbors don't bother to assist their neighbors, nor do they notice when the government kills or kidnaps their neighbors for the sake of "protecting national security".  This of course is a direct reference to our own Patriot Act here in the United States, which allows the government with the approval of a "secret court" to spy on citizens in America, to track them, to break into their dwellings when they are or are not at home, and if investigators deem it necessary to apprehend the subject or subjects without probable cause.  Questions by an attorney may be deflected if the answers are deemed to be a risk to national security. And of course law enforcement is given fair leeway when determining what and what is not a risk to national security. There is no direct public oversight for such acts. There is no grand jury, and a suspected terrorist may be held in Guantanomo Bay for an indeterminate length of time.

I think that anyone who has fooled themselves into believing that this is merely a paranoid retelling of George Orwell's 1984 is missing the point. These things are happening now and they are happening right beneath our noses. And unfortunately just like the neighbors in the video, we continue to look the other way and go about our business, always seeking the path of least resistance. Its time to stop allowing our fellow citizens and liberties to be harmed.

Violence is futile.

Art is resistance.

p.s.  a silly note: Was it just me or does Trent's scarf/collar look alot like a carburator that was cut in half?

Hollywood in Memoriam

Art is resistance.

BONUS: I happen to live where it rains a lot.
Fact: if you use hairspray like spraypaint, the design is invisible until it rains, at
which point it fades into existence, fading out again when the concrete dries. Not
that I’ve ever done it....

I'd forgotten to mention that I've written and posted my music video script treatment of Nine Inch Nails song "Beside You in Time" which appeared on his 2005 album "With Teeth".  A previous script treatment of Seabound's "Watching Over You (Haujobb) mix" ended up being more popular than I had expected and there had been a request for additional scripts. So enjoy.
 

For maximum enjoyment,  I highly recommend that you play the song in your headphones at the time of reading. I've included a timecode in the script so that you can feel the rhythm, tone, and pace of the video as you read the script and listen to the song.

There is not a chance in hell that it will ever be produced of course, but I thought you might enjoy seeing all the might have beens and the could have beens.

::grin::

After reading it, feel free to share any comments.

found in water closet number one
 razzmatazz, barcelona, spain:

I posted awhile back that Trent had released recently "My Violent Heart". Beginning this past Friday, he also released the third track from his forthcoming album, "Survivalism". It was the song that could be heard briefly in the phone message I posted a few days back.

So without further ado, enjoy:

As I mentioned before, NIN is releasing their new album Year Zero

in April, but that isn't entirely the whole truth.

Recently, as NIN makes their way through Europe a variety of exciting and bizarre clues from USB keys found in men's bathroom stalls to Tour shirts with subliminal codes that lead to phone messages, has made this is one of the most interactive and intriguing NIN experiences to date.

An astute fan noticed that if you write down the unusually off-colored numbers on the back of the 2007 European NIN tour shirt you came up with the phone number: +1-310-295-1040.  A call to the phone number results in a bizarre message that is interlaced with bits of a new NIN song. I recorded a copy and posted it below.

The following song Nine Inch Nails song "My Violent Heart" was released by leaving USB keys in locations such as men's bathrooms at venues on their European tour. This copy was found in the Lisbon, Portugal bathroom.

A NIN related wiki has spawned to cover all of these unusual events.

While promoting his fifth album, "With Teeth", Trent Reznor vowed to fans

that he would not take the usual five to six years to put out his next masterpiece. It seems, that sobriety has made Trent more productive than ever, for even while touring non-stop, he has finished recording his next album.  Alan Moulder, his producer and collaborator on "The Fragile", is putting the final mixing touches on his new album "Year Zero", preparing it for the mastering stage. They are shooting for an April 2007 release date. He has already warned that many of us will probably hate it as he is creatively going in a new direction. He has also vowed that it is NOT a hip hop record, which comes as a relief to more than a few of his fans around the world. We have also be informed via his blog that these 15 new tracks are not leftover tracks from sessions while recording "With Teeth".

This comes on the heels of his announcement over the past months of a new European/Japanese tour to begin in February and end in May, as well as a new video performance disc, "Beside You in Time",

to be released in the DVD, HDDVD and Blu Ray formats with no accompanying CD release as he did with his previous DVD performance release "And All That Could Have Been".  It is scheduled to be released on February 27th of this year. Has there ever been a better time to get an HD television? Prices are dropping like mad and finally we are beginning to get some compelling content that makes the whole thing worthwhile. Now if could just the standards problem worked out, life would be peachy.

Get the trailer and visit the official site here.

I only hope he gets it right this time and puts either the whole thing on one disc, or the performance on one disc and the special features on the other. The breaking up of the performance between two discs last time was really annoying.

I also have it on a tip that he is still navigating the legal permissions nightmare to get his 1997 video performance release "Closure" legalized and formatted with additional content to be released in a DVD format. Here is crossing fingers in that regard.

It also appears that he will be hitting the road this fall for a new U.S. tour as well. In short it appears that Year 2007 will be the year of NIN.