Battlesnake invisible in Google

(The following probably won't be that interesting to anyone who isn't in a band or doesn't care where their page shows up in Google)

So, I'm used to my band Battlesnake not showing up on the first page of Google searches for "battlesnake". But today I decided to see just how many pages away we were from the front page. I gave up after about page six or seven. We basically weren't there at all.

Part of this might be our fault: we've changed URL a few times. First we were http://www.myspace.com/battlesnakeaustralia, then Gus changed it to http://www.myspace.com/battlesnakemusic. This led to some confusion. Once we'd sorted that out, I followed the Imp Of The Perverse and changed it again, to http://www.myspace.com/battlesnake. I figured whatever confusion it caused in the short term, long term it was better to have something easy to remember.

But anyway: not showing up in Google is a bit like not really existing. I use Google to find pretty much everything. If I could Google my keys when I misplaced them I would. It's become an extension of my nervous system.

What to do? I understand why we're not near the top, but I don't understand why we're not there at all. The new URL is all over the place by now. The problem with things as they stand is that someone needs to know our URL to find us. Without that, we're invisible. But speaking personally, I probably Google a new band name once a week at least, some name I've heard on the radio and want to check out. If someone tries to do that for us, they find nothing.

What gives?

In which I renounce lowercase

Ok: I haven't written here for a while. I like writing but it was distracting me from making music, and I wanted to focus on making music again. I feel ready to try writing more and seeing if I can keep the two in balance a bit better this time.

A couple of things will change, though.

First, I want to use this space to write longer pieces with a bit more thought in them. This doesn't mean every post will be long, but that I'll use this space to develop longer arguments. That's the dream, anyway.

Second, I hereby renounce the use of all-lower-case. It's a habit I got into. The problem with said habit is it makes you look eight years old. Some people can manage to make intelligent arguments in all-lower-case and have their intelligence be apparent despite it. (Darrin Verhagen is the first person who springs to mind here.)

I have a feeling I am not one of these people. There's no real problem with that, except that I'm interested in moving debate forward on a few topics, and it's easier to do that when one is taken seriously. And it's easier to take someone seriously when they don't present themselves like an eight-year old.

gothic death

A band I started in year 12 high school.

sound candy: you can strap it to your dog!

via ../mediateletipos)))

so much awesome, so little time

link (via poor mojo newswire, a great great blog i just discovered last week)

zoetrope turntable. or turntable zoetrope?

have a look at this bunch of zoetrope-style animations atop a turntable. you can hear the builder explaining it in the background, seems like it relies on the shutter speed being just right.

it's very lovely.



found via binary load lifter

i've been looking for this for fifteen years

back in the very early 90s someone gave me a card with this picture on it. i loved it and stuck it on my wall. somehow or other i lost it, and have tried many times since then to track down a copy.

anyway: today: great success!

the image is called fantasy castle with men on zebras. the artist is squire vickers. he doesn't have a wikipedia page yet: maybe i'll start one. he is mentioned in the article new york city subway tiles, though: he did a lot of mosaics in the new york subway system.

i found the image in an article called an imagined metropolis, by eli spindel. i haven't read the article yet but i will. i am very very pleased.