The bathroom is nearly completed. We're very happy with how the wallpaper turned out (Cali did freak out a little since some pieces aren't in perfect alignment), but the colors work beautifully and the chair rail really makes for an elegant room. With some baseboard, crown molding, and bath fixtures we'll call it a day.

The third floor (our bedroom) is actually starting to look like a living space. It's really nice to get an idea of what it will all look like when it's finished. It had become quite the dumping zone for a while and it was hard to imagine it would ever transform into a master suite. Rob finished up the closet(s) and sanded and sealed the floors. We decided on a natural finish instead of staining the floors. Partly so we could skip a step and partly so we could have a little piece of history in our bedroom. The floors are original and look like they might have over 100 years ago. We have to stay off the floor for 24 hours so no work tomorrow on the third floor. We'll have to accomplish a serious feat of painting upstairs later this week.

We plan on late evenings at the house all week in order to do some last minute finishing touches and of course a ton of cleaning. The tentative plan is move in on Saturday. Quinn recruited some hearty basketball players to help with the heavy lifting (don't worry guys, free pizza). We should be able to unload the pod quickly and then get situated Saturday afternoon (and we'll probably be unpacking boxes for a week or two).

Just some updates on the Quinn and Cali front:

Quinn loves his job. It's been fun to teach business amidst all this Wall Street craziness. He's been working like a horse on the house, and he will welcome a little relaxation once we move in. That is before basketball season begins. It is just around the corner so he'll be adding that to his list which right now includes two graduate courses for his M.S. Classroom Technology.  On top of all of his responsibilities, Quinn continues to cook a gourmet dinner each evening make his wife a priority.

Cali, on the other hand, quit her job and vows to never change a diaper again. Big Momma and Becki - resident diaper changers in years to come? She will be attending Yoga Teacher Training in the Spring, but has to find something in the interim. Any ideas? Something that combines her reading, writing, research, and analysis skills with her creativity? She's getting a little frazzled, naturally, but we know that God is faithful and He will provide something wonderful! 

Otherwise, we are healthy and happy and we are SO VERY EXCITED to be moving in this weekend. Make sure you all mark your calendars for November 22. We'll be having an open house and we want all of our friends and family to join us and see the amazing transformation of our home!

Check out some of the costumes you will be able to buy in the new Costume Shop!

Looks great ^^^

Until next time.. Game on!

-GameZo

To view the rest of the photos visit http://flickr.com/photos/worlddrknss/sets/72157606601086197/

That simple 3 letter word has played a really big part in my life here lately.  And to be honest it always has.  I think that every time we go through something we ask “why?” The answer may not be obvious at first but sometimes it finally reveals itself; while at other times, it takes us deeper into a dark tunnel to hide its true purpose.    To think the mystery that is hidden behind just three letters. 

I really do not want to revisit all I my past posts but here is a quick recap of the times I have asked that targeted question: 

Alone…single…Pride…Test and fail times three equals test for the fourth and final time.  No money while waiting.  Job or no Job….bad economy, so I hope I get to keep job.  Major stress…bills due….missing important events in life and becoming bitter.  Realizing there is a problem….and scream.

Ha!  I can not believe that I just recapped everything that fast. 

So yes I feel like I have tried to find the purpose of many of my situations.  I pray over and over, “God, please show me your plan, show me your purpose.”  AND then WHAM!  Tonight things finally started to piece together.  I have been reading in John for the past few weeks and I love it when someone teaches on what I have been reading.

Well the other night I was reading John 15, where it talks about Jesus and the Vine.  And to be honest I did not give the meaning of these verses enough credit.  I was just reading and saying, “Yes I am a Christ follower, I know I have to produce fruit, yes, Jesus is the true vine………and so on.”  But my problem was that I did not read deep enough into what the Lord wanted me to learn.  So He had to find another way to get it across.  And so tonight I learned:

John 15:2 says “…he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” 

He Prunes?  Why?

To Pruneà  to cut or lop superfluous or undesired twigs, branches, or roots from; trimd

And then it clicked.  God is pruning me.  He is taking away the undesired things about me.  He is trimming away all that I do not need so I can bear more fruit for him.  I love how my friend put it.

We are part of the VINE (Jesus)---the BRANCHES (us) need PRUNING---pruning causes PAIN—but later produces more FRUIT—(John 15:16)—SO that the Father will give you whatever you ask for.

Meaning that we have to go through things, we have to be pruned; things have to be trimmed out of our lives because bearing more fruit for the Father is what is most important. And as we do what the father wants because he has chosen us (vs. 16) he then will give us what we ask for.

As I am being pruned I am being prepared.  Wow!  Isn’t that amazing?  I know that having things cut away may hurt.  I may even ask why as I go through these things….but to now know the answer is what feels my heart!  To know that I am being prepared to do the Father’s work. 

John 15

The Vine and the Branches

 1-3 "I am the Real Vine and my Father is the Farmer. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn't bear grapes. And every branch that is grape-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You are already pruned back by the message I have spoken.

 4"Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me.

 5-8"I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you're joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can't produce a thing. Anyone who separates from me is deadwood, gathered up and thrown on the bonfire. But if you make yourselves at home with me and my words are at home in you, you can be sure that whatever you ask will be listened to and acted upon. This is how my Father shows who he is—when you produce grapes, when you mature as my disciples.

 9-10"I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love.

 11-15"I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.

 16"You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you.

 17"But remember the root command: Love one another.

Checking for empty fields:

u can require the user to enter info in a field and check when the user didn't and let him back to re-fill that field using:

empty($_POST['field_name']);

this function returns true if the field is empty,,, false otherwise !

Checking for specific format:

u can check using some built in functions like if u expect string, u can check using is_string and so on... for a table of these functions c this previous post Changing the order of statement execution

Using regular expressions to check user input:

u can aslo compare the info to a pattern to c if it matches if u care a lot about the information pattern using ereg function ... for more in this ,,, check this previous post: pattern matching with regular expressions

Cleaning information:

• strip_tags: this function removes all tags from the text, u can keep some tags:

$variable_name = strip_tags($_POST)['field_name'],"<tag u allow> <tag u allow>");

• htmlspecialchars: this function changes some special characters to HTML into HTML format that allow 'em to display without any special meaning

Examples: < become &alt;

? become &gt;

and & become &amp;

$variable_name= htmlspecialchars($_POST)['field_name']);

• trim: remove extra spaces at the beginning and the end of the field info, bcz it's familiar that user enter spaces by mistake.

$variable_name= trim($_POST)['field_name']);

Example:

in this example, i will use the same forms in the previous post but i will check for three fields (first name, second name and last name) not to keep blank ,,, if so ... the user will be asked to re-fill 'em .... if they r not blank , then it will output the same information in that example....

Building the forms code:

<br><center><h2> Customer information </h2></center>
<br><br>

<center>
<table border="0">
<form action="customer_info.php" method="POST">
<tr> <td> First name:</td> <td> <input type="text" name="first_name"></td></tr>
<tr> <td>Second name: </td> <td> <input type="text" name="second_name"> </td></tr>
<tr><td>Last name: </td> <td> <input type="text" name="last_name"></td> </tr>
<tr><td> Street Address:</td><td> <input type="text" name="st_address"></td> </tr>
<tr><td> City:</td><td>
<select name="city"
<option> Amman </option>
<option> Aqaba </option>
<option> Irbd </option>
<option> Zarqa </option>
</td> </tr>
<tr><td>Sex: </td><td>
<input type ="radio" name="Radio1" value= "M" > Male
<input type ="radio" name="Radio1" value= "F"> Female
</td></tr>
<tr><td>Your Operating system: </td><td>
<input type= "checkbox" name="os0" value="W"> Windows
<input type= "checkbox" name="os1" value="L"> Linux
<input type= "checkbox" name="os2" value="M"> Mac
</td></tr>
</table><br>

<input type="submit" value="submit name">
</form>

the customer info code:

<?php

function set_sex(){
if ($_POST[Radio1]=="M") {
$sex= "Male";
}
else
{
$sex= "Female";}
}

function print_info()
{

echo "Welcome ",$_POST['first_name'],"!<br>";
echo "Your second name is: ",$_POST['second_name'];
echo "<br>Your last name is: ",$_POST['last_name'];
echo "<br>";
echo "you are ", $sex;
echo " living in: ", $_POST[city];
echo "  in the ", $_POST[st_address]," Street";
echo "<br>and your operating systems are: <br>";

if (isset($_POST['os0'])) {
echo "Windows<br>";
}

if (isset($_POST['os1'])) {
echo "Linux<br>";
}

if (isset($_POST['os2'])) {
echo "Mac<br>";
}
return;
}

function blank_check(){
if (empty($_POST['first_name']))
{
echo "You didn't enter your first name! <br>";
$blank_check_var = TRUE;
}

if (empty($_POST['second_name']))
{
echo "You didn't enter your second name! <br>";
$blank_check_var = TRUE;
}

if (empty($_POST['last_name']))
{
echo "You didn't enter your last name! <br>";
$blank_check_var = TRUE;
}

return $blank_check_var;

}

//main
set_sex();
$check_var= blank_check();
if (!$check_var){
print_info();
}

?>

The output after leaving the first name blank is:

You didn't enter your first name!

The output after leaving the first and second name blank is:

You didn't enter your first name!
You didn't enter your second name!

The output after leaving the first, second and last name blank is:

You didn't enter your first name!
You didn't enter your second name!
You didn't enter your last name!

I'd heard time and again about brides bringing their sheets of paper to their local (national chain) print/copy/ship store and having the friendly workers trim it down to their exact specifications, all for $7 or less. Excellent.

Well, I hauled my package of Crane sheets in to said copy/print/ship store, and discovered that their trimmers don't go beyond 20 inches! The guy working kindly offered to let me trim them myself -- by hand, on the giant hand trimmer. Sigh.

That's about 110 5x7 and over 300 3.5 x 4.75. Ack!

I know I could trim down the first cut or 2 until they fit, but then I worry that my handiwork will be... inaccurate and will destroy then entire stash.

Sigh.

Looks like I'll be dedicating 3 hours to the paper-trimming process.

Here are my projects (so far!) with the Autumn Afternoon Kit:

Say Cheese

Time Together

Altered Tags

Exterior caulking is a pliable material designed to span small gaps between joints around the outside of your house. Some common places to find these joints are where siding meets a corner trim board, and around doors and windows. Weather, sun, and temperature can cause your caulking to degrade, crack, shrink, and generally fail over time. This can lead to moisture seeping in and the inevitable wood rot damage to follow.

What to do? This is something a handy homeowner or Do-It-Yourselfer can do at least once per year. Simply visually check around the outside of your entire home. If you find degraded caulking, remove any loose caulking and reapply. I like to use white paintable exterior caulking. After the caulking dries you can paint right over with your matching paint color. While you have the paint can out, any areas of bare wood in need of touch-up can be painted at the same time. If home improvement is not your thing, hire someone to do it for you.

I have heard this one before…My home is newer and has cement board siding. I don’t need to worry about this right? Homes that have cement board (hardi plank or hardi siding are other names for similar item) also have many areas that are wood and need sealing. Some common areas typically constructed of wood include: corner boards, facsia boards (this is the board where your gutter attaches), soffit (this is the area underneath your roof over hang or eave) and around doors and windows.

If you find areas that are rotten, don’t wait to take care of it. It won’t get better and in fact, will only gets worse over time. Also, rotting wood can be an invitation to some wood destroying insects like termites and carpenter ants. So hire someone to take care of this for you before the problem gets bigger and more costly.

As a contractor, I see wood rot damage over and over in homes that leads to costly repairs that could potentially be avoided through routine home maintenance. Your house is likely your largest investment. Don’t wait until you have a big problem on your hands. Act while it is still small. And remember a little bit of annual home maintenance goes a long way.
Find more helpful tips at HouseFixer.Info

Description

If you use a form on your site then you'll know that user input can often have white space before or after the text as the person filling in the form field sometimes accidentally adds spaces. This handy function will remove the whitespace from the beginning or end of the string.

The code

<?php

// The original text string with whitespace at the end

$textString = "This is some text with a space after it ";

// Remove the whitespace

$trimmedTextString = trim($textString);

// Display the new text string

echo $trimmedTextString;

?>

Hello everyone! Here's our vendors so far. We had such a great response for next years event. See what you have to look forward to? thanks...

Thankfully, my hair was long. So I'm not actually bald. Or even short-haired. It's kind of shoulder-length.

I actually quite like it, but I do like to be outraged.

Feel like I’m missing something, or have a service to add to the list? Leave a comment, Tweet, or Email me.

The list will be ordered in ascending order, from the lowest to highest count, and will be presented in this format:

(Service name)
(Snarky commentary, whenever appropriate)
(Shortened URL format)
(Character Count)

Here we go.

tr.im
The Serious Contender
http://tr.im/XX
15
(Admittedly, not going to stay this way for very long)

is.gd
The Tried-And-True
http://is.gd/XXXX
17

Shrinkify
http://s7y.us/XXX
17

HURL
http://hurl.ws/XXX
18

Jmp2.net
http://jmp2.net/XX
18

2BIG
http://2big.at/XXX
18

twurl
The Fine Local Product
http://twurl.cc/XXX
19

Metamark
http://xrl.us/XXXXX
19

Tiny.pl
http://tiny.pl/XXXX
19

The Make-Up-Your-Own-Keyword
bit.ly
http://bit.ly/XXXXXX
20

POPrl
http://poprl.com/XXX
20

QurlyQ
http://qurlyq.com/XX
20

PiURL
http://piurl.com/XXX
20

Tnij.org
http://tnij.org/XXXX
20

FON Get Simple
http://fon.gs/XXXXXX
20

Bloat.me
http://bloat.me/XXXX
20

abbrr
http://abbrr.com/XXXX
21

Knol Me
http://knol.me/XXXXXX
21

Snipurl / Snurl / Snipr
http://snurl.com/XXXXX
22

The Twitter-Tracker Tweetburner
http://twurl.nl/XXXXXX
22

moourl
http://moourl.com/XXXXX
23

RubyURL
http://rubyurl.com/XXXX
23

Urlenco.de
http://urlenco.de/XXXXX
23

TinyURL
The Granddaddy
http://tinyurl.com/XXXXXX
25

dwarfurl
http://dwarfurl.com/XXXXXX
26

The Charleville was very good to us and didn't charge us for being late. We also had to get her to show us how the reverse worked in the car, which even she couldn't find so we had to call the rental company. Signs in Ireland and in Dublin can be nonexistent, or on buildings, and covered by trees. Not to mention no streets are parallel. This city wasn't planned, it grew. Many intersections have five or six streets off of them too.

Randi drove and I navigated and it was a big big mess. Finally we got directions out of Dublin to go north but they gave us the N1 when we needed the N2. We tried to get over but they have all of these semie routes (R123, R153, etc.) and somehow not on one of the three maps we had was there any R132. The ones that showed on the map petered out into townships and at one point we asked a woman at a petrol stn. where to go and she said turn left at the garda stn. (police) and right at the cemetery. Maybe they moved it because all we saw was a subdivision with children playing so maybe they were zombies. Eventually, four hours later we made it to Newgrange, 45 minutes too late.

We drove into Slane, a cute little town with a castle and asked if there were any B&Bs and it turns out there was a wedding in town so that there were no openings. But we got a place just 2 km from Newgrange and Roughgrange farm with a lovely woman, Irene, and her husband. Clean, cheapish, and friendly. We went into Donore that night for dinner at Daly's a pub and a restaurant.

Next day, Saturday, we went to Newgrange and Knowth (neolithich passage graves), then on to the Hill of Tara (soggy soggy weather), then on to Trim Castle and St. Peter and Paul's Cathedral in Trim. We drove into Kells but were too late and would have had to wait till 2 pm today. So we drove back to Slane and had a drink at the Village Inn Bar (disappointment is that there is only one type of cider so far in Ireland--Bulmers) then across to the Old Post Office Restaurant and B&B, one of only 2 places in Slane that serves food. It was pretty good but food is not cheap here. (Meals can be about 20€ average though you can get pub meals for cheaper.) We also had a good, not cheap meal in Dublin at Fitzers; very yummy and good for celiacs which my sister is.

I should say that I took over driving on Saturday and we're both much happier. My sister tended to scream and freeze if she saw a car coming at her. The Garda swerved into our lane to get around traffic and the streets are very narrow and windy and the speed limits relatively fast. Except for getting down that center line thing and not going too far left, I'm doing okay. The care we have is crap and very hard to shift into the correct 1st or 2nd gear. And we couldn't find a way to open the gas tank today, nor the gas jockey. Turns out you just push the lid.

This morning we did Monasterboice and Mellifont Abbey before heading north.

Time's nearly out but we're hoping to see the Crown saloon here and go off towards Giants Causeway tonight. Whoo and we made it into Belfast without a map of the city.

I had been planning for a long time to make them into pillows, but I had just never managed to find the time.  When I pulled out my sewing machine to hem pants for my eldest, I remembered those embroidered panels and how they made me feel comforted.  I decided it was time to make good use of them.  I made pillows using materials I had on hand including old zippers, fabric, thread, lace and trim.  I had pillow forms I had bought to make pillows a long time ago.

The two pieces of embroidery I used to make the red and black pillows above was actually from one panel. The embroidery was done a black satin fabric. The sections between the embroidery was torn and had holes, so I cut the pieces apart. The embroidery was not perfect and the piece with the house still has a small hole in it. Everyone seems to read the Home Sweet Home pillow wrong the first time.  It says "The Dearest Spot on Earth to Me Is Home Sweet Home".  I loved the embroidery when I bought the piece. 

I've been planning to make the two vintage crewel panels above into pillows for so long, I can't remember where or when I found them.  They are a little newer vintage than the black panels.  I loved the big floral and the bunny and bird. The embroidery calls out vintage.  I love the colors!  I never knew they made so many pinks and greens.   The pieces are just perfect for pillows.

Normally I would have made the pillows with a plain trim just because it seems like it would fit the style back then and the current style now.  I had a bit of lace that matched, so I decided why not?  The pillows are for me, not for anyone else.  Why worry about what anyone else might think?

I don't know about you, but it seems like I'm constantly doing something for someone else.  I guess it's the hazard of growing up and having a family.  Yesterday, I was feeling a little low.  I thought I needed a little comfort.  My pillow project definitely brought me out of the doldrums.

Pillows are like teddy bears for big people.  Having a bad day?  Hug a Pillow!

When Faith, my second child, was born, we forgot about planting a tree (or didn't get around to it) until she was about 5-6 months old. Kirk and I went out to my parents' woods, dug up a 4-foot-tall maple and planted it further back in our side yard. It struggled to make it since we had uprooted it, but with some nurturing, it has taken off.

My third son, Ford, just got his tree this summer, when he was 1 1/2 years old. I was at mom and dad's one Sunday and noticed a couple maples were growing up in her flower bed. I pulled them and put them in pots at my house. After about a month, I took the best looking one and planted in our front yard. Then, since I realized we hadn't planted a tree for Ford yet, I dedicated that one to him. It's about 6 inches tall.

Today, Faith helped me "give her tree a haircut." Some of the branches were sticking out in an odd shape and I wanted to trim it and make it look better. I'd learned after we'd let my oldest son's tree grow without any pruning. Now, it's too tall for us to reach, the branches are reaching way up in an odd shape, so we've pretty much decided to let it grow however it wants to.

So I wonder what kind of connections you can make between the way we treat our children and their trees?

For my oldest son, we went out, spent big money, took care of the tree, but never spent time shaping it. It's kind of growing unruly. For my second, it took us a little while, but we spent a lot of time and effort, selected a tree and nurtured it so it could flourish. After learning from the first tree, we've spent more time shaping and watering this one. For my third, it took a year and a half before we realized we hadn't planted one. When we finally did, it was a tiny tree that I just happened to find. To make up for the unfairness in size, we planted it in the most prominent place in the front yard. It is still so short we haven't had to trim it yet.

Martin “Blackdown” Clarke é produtor, colunista do site Pitchfork Media e owner de um dos blogs de ponta dentro do dubstep. Dusk é Dan Frampton, jovem produtor. Juntos, formam o duo Dusk + Blackdown, que vêm lançando singles de forma esporádica desde 2005. Margins Music é o primeiro álbum da dupla. (BO)

* # *

É possível fazer política através da música? Ou a música, como expressão da cultura, é política por natureza? E hoje, será que ainda se acredita que um solo de guitarra pode mudar o mundo? Ou esta forma caricatural vem sendo substituída por uma micropolítica da criacão e da comunicação? E mesmo essa revolução silenciosa, na esteira da evolução digital, como se desvinculará das dinâmicas nefastas do capital?

Não é raro hoje (como eu acredito que nunca foi) flagrarmos verdadeiras “aberrações” psicológicas criando as sínteses culturais mais inusitadas: são etnológos que se interessam por eletro-acústica, engenheiros civis peritos em tiro ao alvo, dançarinos que, desempregados, se tornam DJ’s… todos produzindo, embora nem sempre aplicando ao seu trabalho somente as técnicas e teorias concernentes a ele, muitas vezes esquematizando-o a partir de outras formas e linguagens. Há também a apropriação e sobreposição de uma disciplina sobre a técnica, e vice-versa, ambas trocando não somente suas informações específicas, como também certos esquemas de pensamento como, por exemplo, quando se utilizam métodos da matemática para criar música, ou quando alguns americanos recriam as técnicas de djing dos jamaicanos, imprimindo-lhes outra dinâmica. Podemos considerar ainda a mistura de diversos contextos nacionais, reforçados pelo convívio social e pela imigração, mas insuficientes como representação, visto que num mesmo contexto nacional se observam muitas tendências e modalidades. Ou ainda o modo como certos compositores eruditos se apropriam de técnicas do universo popular e vice-versa... Em todos esses exemplos, há um elemento estranho, que certamente se intensifica a cada dia com o aperfeiçoamento e barateamento dos aparelhos digitais e, sobretudo, com o acesso ilimitado à informação que a internet propicia. Este estranhamento está relacionado com as afinidades entre estruturas de saber e de poder que se cristalizaram na camisa de força do estado-nacão. Sempre rezou o “bom senso” a regra recém-popularizada “cada um no seu quadrado”. E quem há de negar que a unidade do saber garante a unidade do poder? Se cada um se mantém adequado à sua função, quem poderia descuidar da agenda, quem negaria o poder? Mas isso não ocorre, pois os territórios estão se volatilizando, o que não quer dizer absolutamente que haverá terra para todos. De forma que a guerra está ai, e tem a forma da ordem moderna: é preciso constituir elos cada vez mais prolíficos, alianças que intensifiquem a horizontalização do saber e o conseqüente estímulo à tolerância. O etnocentrismo e a reproducão mecânica do capital andam de mãos dadas e se baseiam no estranhamento. É possível que, nesse contexto, política e música andem de mãos dadas, mas obviamente dentro de limitações muito específicas.

A foto da capa de Margins Music me chamou atenção porque são claras as intenções críticas e políticas do álbum: as calçadas de Londres, as diversas frutas e legumes que estão ali, dispostas e misturadas… Blackdown vêm há tempos, através de seu blog, insistindo na tecla de uma música londrina total, isto é, que representasse a heterogeneidade étnica de Londres. A mistura musical e cultural não atinge o parlamento, mas ao menos evidencia os refluxos coloniais e sua influência estranhamente benéfica, embora nem sempre oficializada, nem sempre disseminada pela imprensa. Ou melhor, muitas vezes oficializada, mas não efetivamente praticada. Semelhante a um sociólogo do terceiro mundo, Clarke afirma, a respeito do contexto social londrino que “nada ilustra o abismo entre os que crescem em condições desprivilegiadas e aqueles poucos habilitados para alterar as coisas, daí o tosco, ofensivo modo com que a imprensa mainstream se apropria de algumas frases feitas e as utiliza para derrubar as pessoas”. Neste contexto a informação, a mídia, representa um elemento fundamental no acirramento das relações políticas e culturais, e detém assim um papel político importante. Tão importante quanto o papel que a música pode e deve desempenhar, e não só ela: quanto mais se misturam as informações, quanto mais projetamos um saber sobre o outro, diversificando a comunicação e produção da “verdade”, mais condições se criam para relativizar o discurso liberal e racista veiculado pela imprensa institucional.

Martin Clarke é jornalista e trata desses assuntos em seu blog, além de tecer considerações acerca do caráter revolucionário do dubstep. Com seu parceiro Dusk, criou um álbum cujo caráter político reside na incorporação de certas tendências que haviam sido recalcadas pelo jungle em favor não sei bem do quê. Me refiro à presença do raggamuffin e da música oriental, particularmente do bangra, que aos poucos foi sendo inexplicavelmente substituída pelo peso rock’n’roll de projetos reacionários, como o Pendullum. Assim como na música de Shackleton, em que preponderam os ritmos e timbres orgânicos e multitonais dos ragas indianos, Margins Music traz esses elementos como parte própria dinâmica do álbum. A começar pela incrível presença de Farrah, uma cantora descoberta por Clarke através de seu blog, que desenha belíssimas escalas indianas sobre as batidas alucinadas da dupla. Muitas são as faixas em que o bangra, as cítaras e tablas dos ragas são sintetizados à malícia soturna do dubstep, além, claro, da presença grime de Durrty Goodz e Trim, respectivamente nas faixas “Concrete streets” e “The Bits”. Note-se também o talento de D&B no desenvolvimento das texturas, como por exemplo na balbúrdia sonora de “Rolling Raj Deep”, na inominável “Kuri Pataka” e nas ambiências de “Darker than East”. Aliás, uma das formas utilizadas pela dupla para reportar à micropolítica das ruas, é a manipulação criativa das ambiências sonoras, através de keysounds de estações de rádio e da chuva, como eles já haviam realizado em “Drenched”, de 2005. Ressalto também a dobradinha final, formada pela desafiadora (e shackletoniana) “The Drumz of Nagano” e pelo techno safado, porém bacana, “Focus”. Margins music: a “música da calçada”, mas também da "margem", das lojas, feiras, vielas, das relações interpessoais, etc.. Uma miríade sonora apta a evocar uma humanidade suprema, senhora e apreciadora de suas diferenças. Eu disse: simplesmente “evoca”…

Será que a boa intenção basta para sustentar todo o discurso ideológico que subjaz às propostas musicais feitas pela dupla? Será que a pujança criativa da síntese é capaz de estimular uma dinâmica social sintética? Como expressão de uma perspectiva, Margins Music é um dos discos de dubstep mais originais até agora, mas sua limitação está aí: ao exprimir seu conteúdo como uma perspectiva e abrir o diálogo pelo canal do prazer, o disco reflete a tendência a que me referi no início, de estabelecer outras forma de “sentir” o caráter político que inunda a vida urbana. O método é o cruzamento horizontal entre diferentes técnicas, saberes, etnias… Embora não intervenha diretamente na política institucional, a música e, especificamente, Margins Music, têm o poder de despertar esse sentimento, político até a medula. (Bernardo Oliveira)

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Um álbum como Margins Music cria expectativa. Martin Clarke, o Blackdown, é das vozes mais respeitadas da "cena" dubstep. Isso foi conseguido pela produção de alguns disquinhos lançados com seu parceiro Dusk e também por seu trabalho jornalístico e crítico como colaborador do site Pitchfork Media e em seu blog, que não apenas informa sobre os lançamentos mais quentes como pensa sobre as possibilidades do meio e o resultado do esforço dos artistas. Apesar de não poder dizer que Martin tem uma agenda do que deve possuir uma produção bem sucedida, é evidente que ele sabe o que quer. Aliás, ele é dos que melhor analisou aquilo que Simon Reynolds chamou de ‘zone of fruitless intensification', com a frenética busca de alguns produtores pelo baixo mais pesado, pela batida mais acelerada (chegando a 145BPMs), esquecendo que, em primeiro lugar, fez o interesse pela música por eles produzida. Assim,como o crítico pode ter um padrão alto de exigência com o que ouve, a cobrança por uma aventura sua na outra margem do rio é cercada de suspense. Os EPs lançados nos últimos anos já davam pistas das preferências adotadas por ele e por Dan Frampton, mas ainda faltava algo mais substancioso. Eis que temos nas mãos Margins Music, tanto uma resposta a estas expectativas quanto uma tentativa de apontar caminhos. Verdade seja dita que tais caminhos são verdadeiros para a trajetória da dupla, não servindo como regra necessária, e mesmo ele exalta em muitas oportunidades o trabalho dos produtores que trabalham por trajetórias opostas. "Of those making dark beats in London, the only single factor that united everyone was their London surroundings" são palavras de Clarke.

Tratando do disco, o título explicita e o conteúdo não trai: estamos diante de música periférica, coisa que o dubstep nunca deixou de ser, mesmo com o micro sucesso do Burial e os flertes com o techno. E as fontes da dupla também são marginais. O disco parece nos convidar para um passeio pelos arredores de Londres com sua extensa comunidade negra (americana, caribenha), hindu, oriental, etc; tudo evolvido pelos tais dark beats que nunca se repetem e sempre são contundentes. Aqui poderíamos apontar a riqueza e os problemas do disco: tanta diversidade proporciona um colorido raro no dubstep (superior ao conseguido por luminares como Pinch e The Bug em discos recentes), mas também perde o foco em outros momentos. Seria como se em um tour londrino passássemos por tantos lugares em um meio-dia que terminamos a jornada exaustos e com as lembranças borradas. O efeito de tal dispersão não é maior porque, apesar  da polifonia incessante, a produção é sempre cristalina - o que poderia justificar a pequena derrapada, como retirar elementos quando nenhum deles é essencialmente ruim. A ansiedade em dizer tudo logo de saída pode deixar surdo quem se dispôs a ouvir.

O disco começa com "Darker Than East" produzida a partir de uma entrevista com a "gangue" da Roll Deep para um programa de rádio pirata que dá o tom do álbum e diz muito sobre o lugar de onde Martin Clarke veio. É o cartão de visitas que abre o disco com uma das melhores produções do ano e cria toda a tensão que dominará o álbum apesar de suas inúmeras mutações. "Darker Than East" é intensa por conseguir transmitir a energia de diversas pessoas com desejo de construir algo que seja condizente com aquilo que as cerca. E a produção dá conta de tal ímpeto ao reunir tantos elementos díspares de forma coesa e multiforme, como se quisessem dizer, "não há uma única coisa a dizer, há polifonia..." Em uma entrevista Clarke afirma: "I just wanted to find a way of getting a lot of the sound of London into tracks, blurring the line between journalism, music production, and documenting our surroundings".

Dusk + Blackdown visitam diversas áreas de Londres e do vocabulário do dubstep e do grime, sem deixar de lado menções ao 2step e ao UK garage. Nas faixas 2 e 3, aparece a influência hindu, mas nunca deixamos Londres e a batida - a percussão é sempre agressiva e cortante. Nesses momentos e em vários outros no decorrer do álbum a dupla mostra uma forma própria de dialogar com formas musicais marginais como artistas como M.I.A. e o DJ/Rupture já vêm fazendo. Apenas valendo ressaltar que o uso disso em Margins Music é menos politicamente orientado que na obra destes dois artistas, aproximando-se do que um Shackleton fez em sua parte do Soundboy Punishments. Alinhando-se àquilo que o Massive Attack fazia lá no início dos anos 90, poderíamos até arriscar dizer que Londres finalmente encontrou legítimos herdeiros para a trupe da Wild Bunch, um reflexo preciso da geografia, em sua acepção ampla e uma grande habilidade em servir-se de influências diversas com perícia técnica e virtuosismo.

O fato é que temos vários discos em um, não havendo nem propriamente uma divisão nem unidade. Margins Music pode não ter o impacto do primeiro disco do Burial, mas faixas tão extraordinárias como "Darker Than East" e "Dis/East" apenas criam expectativas pelo que a dupla ainda poderá produzir (o fato de ambas as faixas terem sido produzidas por Blackdown é a prova de que o amadurecimento da dupla tende a render bons frutos).

Talvez a única faixa que realmente não agrade seja "The Bits" e menos pela produção que pelos tediosos vocais de Trim. A verdade é que as faixas onde o grime predomina não se sustentam diante do restante do álbum, não havendo nada aqui que ombreie a produção de um Wiley ou El-B, para citar uma influência forte muito citada por Clarke. O fato dos Mc's não estarem no mesmo nível da produção pesa, em especial quando postas ao lado de faixas instrumentais com tanta pujança. Isso para não os comparar com os maravilhosos vocais de Farrah. Outra faixa que talvez não esteja no mesmo nível das demais é a final "The Focus" que foge um pouco do tom do disco com sua produção para pista e seu slogan bem maio de 68: "the resistence is very real". Apenas aqui a música não alcança a meta de Clarke: "I'm not really interested in headspace music-floaty, hippie stuff". "On the other hand, when stuff is straight physical music it also tends to bore me. It needs to be both."

Margins Music é música urbana com inegável identificação geográfica com o local onde foi produzido, mas em inevitável comparação com o Burial, a obra de Dusk + Blackdown consiste de música muito mais 'externa', aberta a ruídos das ruas, polifônica e com mais senso de comunidade, enquanto Burial é resultado de ruminações muito mais internas e sentimentais, apesar da grande ressonância do ambiente londrino. Enfim, 2008 vai se marcando como o ano em que o dubstep se consolidou menos como gênero que como forma de produção volátil e vibrante e Margins Music é um de seus melhores exemplos. (Marcus Martins)

P.S.: As declarações de Martin Clarke foram retiradas de uma resenha publicada na revista XLR8R.

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