Thursday, April 29, 2010

One review, one Who Knew?

REVIEW
actually, just an impression
I was driving down the road last week, grooving on music, the scenery, and my first round with Parfumerie Generale's Papyrus de Cyane.  And while there's more going on in this one then I am about to suggest, I have to admit I got fixated on a particular idea hiding in one of my scent impressions.  I had to drive a few miles to put my finger on it...it reminded me of...AH!

Impregnate one

with a weaving of

(galbanum).


Ever played with a new pinky ball?  It's got a smell somewhere between rubber and leather.  I totally imagined a pinky ball with many, many veins of galbanum at the surface and underneath.

Cool.

****

WHO KNEW?
About a year ago, one of my side and small addictions was a game on The Evil Empire Social Network called "ChainRxn."  Colorful little bubbles slowly bouncing around in a box.  If one hits a second, you get 2x points, if ball two hits a third, 3x, if the third hits a fourth, 4x, etc.  Sure, I tried to top my high score.  Numerous times.  But what really drew me in was the pleasant semi-chime sound each colored circle made, different tones which I recall as corresponding to color (but might not have).  The more "connections" were happening at once, the more tones at once.

Imagine my surprise when I finally tried out an iPod app I downloaded a few months ago, called "Bloom."  What I knew was it was going to display some sort of color show on the screen.  I thought it would be correlated to music I was playing.  Not.

The app creates its own sound, whether per its choosing, or your direction.  Guess how you "select" the tones?  Through a menu palette which has choices that include "neroli," "labdanum," "orris," "benzoin," and "tolu."  Whaaaa???  I go back to the beginning.  Look at the credits.  Surprise! and yet, it makes perfect sense:  Brian Eno is one of the co-creators.  Brian Eno, of popular music fame (his own and as an engineer), interesting thinker, and longtime fan of fragrance and perfume.

Sheesh.  Right under my nose, and I didn't know.

And there it sits, as I write this, soothing me.  Silly thing.  (Listens...) I'm back.  Oh, yeah, right; I liked ChainRxn for the same reason in the end.  I liked the show, the pictures + sound, in a kind of not-complicated way.

I'm in orris mode at the moment, should you be wondering.

Have a great weekend.

images both lifted from the interwebs; gazoodles of the same Pinky Ball image on various websites; the galbanum plant is from Sophy.

10 comments:

Ines said...

Interesting application. :)
Have a great weekend too!

Rose said...

ah happy weekend- the app sounds cool- I am still in the land of not having an i phone- and yes i have smelled plastic balls and it's a good strange smell!

ScentScelf said...

Ines...doesn't take many visits to see the warped path of my musings, eh? :)

ScentScelf said...

Rose...mind you, no iPhone, just the iPod. iKnow, not quite as iHip. ;) Okay, if you like that smell, have you smelled the inside of new Keds (sneakers)? Do you have Keds over there? *That* smell often comes to my mind when I wear Bulgari Black.

Mals86 said...

New bicycle tire! Fresh new Keds! Such a happy smell.

I don't have an iPod, just a generic mP3 player. Guess that cool app won't work for me...

...OH OH OH! Forgot! Bookworm won an iPod a couple of years ago in a "Women in Engineering" symposium at Va Tech. So SHE's got one. (rubs hands together and cackles) She's got a birthday coming up soon, too. Must investigate cool app for Bookworm's iPod!

ScentScelf said...

Mals,

Oh, yeah...bicycle tire! Makes me want to put on the Keds, go for a ride, and play some handball. :)

There are so many groovy apps out there. And so much time you can waste on electronics...but I loves my music, and my Epicurus, and my NYT online (and the crossword puzzles), and being able to check mail etc. when I've got down time in a rehearsal. Etc. So, yes, hijack, I mean, investigate Bookworm's device. Have fun. And enjoy making your choices for her birthday!

Musette said...

when I read this I immediately thought of the Star Trek Next Gen episode where Riker brings back a game from some resort - turns out it's highly addictive and only Data can saaaave the Enterprise, with some sort of beam that breaks the addictive connection...

ScentScelf said...

You didn't hear it from me, but I think I could use that beam, Musette. Could have used it back in the day, too, when Tetris delayed the completion of many a paper...

Vanessa said...

What a cool app!

I had my first sniff of Papyrus de Cyane the other day but I had no Pinky ball point of reference at the time... : - )

ScentScelf said...

You know, FS, given your "subtitute smell" experience the other day, maybe I should give warnings up front when I babble about these things. After all, my pinky ball could be your...meringue?

That app. It is cool...it's like...ambient music with pictures. (Duh. Of course it is. Eno = ambient. Maybe my warnings should be more about how my brain sometimes is slow to process/produce...)