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Stuff I want to know

7

Kinda a lot like LazyWeb, but I feel like asking my readers, widely ranging in their interests as I like them. I’m doing some stuff of late and would love answers to some questions I have. So what am I waiting here, here goes.

  • I’m going to paint my room’s wall (an architectural panorama of sorts I guess). What kind of paint should I use? Any preparation the wall needs?
  • I’ve been searching for a semi-acoustic guitar for a while now but can’t find any neat ones. I know Yamaha make cool stuff, but would you have any suggestions?
  • Is there no option in iTunes to prevent it from having even the tiniest gaps between songs in playback? I’d love to listen to my Arcade Fire, Faithless, Fatboy Slim, Pink Floyd and Sufjan Stevens albums without hiccups, to name just a few.
  • How do I go about ordering my film collection? I’d love to do it by title but that’s such a cliché, so how about colour-order, given name of director, publisher?
  • Is anyone aware of a good sleeping sofa kind of thing? I’m looking for a replacement to my ageing (and, it has to be said, decreasing in length) bed, and I figured a bed-couch combination would be awesome, but none have a good mattress or aren’t long enough (2.10m would be good).

Well, that’s enough diversity for today. Anyone able to answer any of these questions? It would be much appreciated.

Posted on 2005-12-12 while enjoying evening coffee.

7 comments

  1. Joen 2005-12-12 #1

    I’m going to paint my room’s wall (an architectural panorama of sorts I guess). What kind of paint should I use? Any preparation the wall needs?

    Unless it’s a beat-up wall, I’d advise you use a super-fast drying paint that doesn’t emit too many fumes. Even if the paint costs extra, make sure you get paint that’s as good on your lungs as possible. Seriously.

    Is there no option in iTunes to prevent it from having even the tiniest gaps between songs in playback? I’d love to listen to my Arcade Fire, Faithless, Fatboy Slim, Pink Floyd and Sufjan Stevens albums without hiccups, to name just a few.

    No idea, but Winamp has a crossfade function that’s pretty cool. Reminds me I gotta enable that again tomorrow.

    How do I go about ordering my film collection? I’d love to do it by title but that’s such a cliché, so how about colour-order, given name of director, publisher?

    By Director works for me.

    Is anyone aware of a good sleeping sofa kind of thing? I’m looking for a replacement to my ageing (and, it has to be said, decreasing in length) bed, and I figured a bed-couch combination would be awesome, but none have a good mattress or aren’t long enough (2.10m would be good).

    Do not underestimate having a good bed. I’d rather sacrifice the sofa-aspect to have a good bed, even if it took up ALL space in the room. Sleep is so underestimated you wouldn’t believe it.

  2. jordan 2005-12-13 #2

    With regards to iTunes and songs: you can either cross-fade the songs (under preferences > playback) or you can specify that you want to trim off certain parts of the song (get song info > options > start/stop time). I’ve used the trimming feature a few times, but generally find it works better if I just use an mp3 editor (such as mp3 Direct Cut, http://mpesch3.de1.cc/#mp3dc) and cut it down that way. That may not be something you’re interested in doing, of course.

    As for film organising, you could go with the colour idea and try to make it a smooth transition along the colour wheel. Be fun to try, at the least.

  3. Gabriel Mihalache 2005-12-13 #3

    Use crossfade playback set at 2-3 seconds. It overlaps the last 3 seconds from the current song with the first 3 seconds of the next song. Depending on the ammount of silence those tracks have, you might need to tweak the setting.

    Re: the bed. I agree. A full-sized, 2 person bed is unreplaceable. It also depends on your living arangements and bed-sharing arangements, but conform-wise, it’s the best. I switched from extendeble sofa to a proper bed a few months ago and the quality of my experience went up considerably.

  4. Rob 2005-12-13 #4

    Okay, so the bed seems to have a simple conclusion.

    Gabriel, I don’t want them to overlap. I mentioned these specific artists (I have plenty more on my shelves) because their albums are often in one big flow. No gaps between songs—Sufjan Stevens makes orchestral compositions, all that.

  5. Jeff Wheeler 2005-12-15 #5

    Then set the cross-fade to 0, silly. :)

    As for movies, I’d go with color. Go in the same order as the rainbow, of course: red, orange, yellow, green, blue.

  6. Eric Meyer 2005-12-15 #6

    Is there no option in iTunes to prevent it from having even the tiniest gaps between songs in playback?

    Basically, no. You can try a really short crossfade in an attempt to get close, but thanks to the way iTunes (formerly SoundJam) is built, the gap is impossible to eliminate. See http://playlistmag.com/help/2004/09/trubitunes/ and http://playlistmag.com/weblogs/todayatplaylist/2005/04/jointracksyou/ for more information.

    Yes, this is completely stupid.

  7. Rob 2005-12-17 #7

    Eric, thanks for that. One reason to buy an external CD player then.

    Jeff and Jordan, yeah, it will be fun at the very least. Lessee...

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(Rock out with Textile; it's what the cool people use!)