James Friesen: Home

I was a bit bored this afternoon and, in between chores and such, I tinkered around on my chess board. You may have heard of people playing custom chess games with starting positions different than the official setup. Well, I got the idea to try to make a custom starting position setup that would be an instant stalemate...with no piece able to move.

After many failed attempts, I was beginning to think it was impossible. The hardest thing was achieving symmetry. I could lock up the front pawn line in a zig-zag fashion, then get one side's pieces locked up behind the pawns, but then the symmetry was off and I couldn't get the other side to fit together.

Suddenly, I had two insights that allowed me, after some more trial and error, to achieve a perfect symmetry. I won't tell you any more, in case you want to try it out for yourself.

My setup follows all of the rules: no pawns on the first (back) rows, bishops of the same color occupy oppositely colored squares, and all of the pieces follow the usual movement/capture rules.

Give it a go, and when you finish, or you get totally frustrated and sweep the pieces off the table, take a look at my setup in the photo section.

I'd love to see anything you come up with. Also, if you see a problem with my setup, please let me know.

I have a new electronic piano. I've had the last one for a number of years and the speakers are deteriorating, causing distortion, so I was in the music store the other day and saw the cheapest portable electronic "Grand" piano I have ever seen, so I bought it! It is simple and lightweight, with just a few standard voice selections. I mostly want the piano sound for casual play. If I want more exotic sounds, I play on my synthesizer gear.

At any rate, I recorded a live show on Qik with the new piano. Go to my video page to watch it. Since these Qik videos are streamed live, using my iPhone, the quality is not great. I am looking for a decent microphone to plug into my iPhone for these sessions.

Once I get to playing decently on this new instrument, I'll think about recording good quality versions of my piano pieces to post here.

Take Care,

Jim

As I mentioned in my last entry, I have cancelled all of my Google subscriptions, including YouTube, until such time that Google has shown that they can be trusted in their handling of personal information. I will still use Google Search and Maps, but I have decided to use other services for sharing video and other content. With that in mind, I looked around and decided to try out Qik.

Qik is an online video streaming site. After exploring what they had to offer, I Qik-ly realized that I would be able to record Live video of myself playing music, using my iPhone, and stream it directly to my website!

I have already tested the service, and it seems to work fine. There can be some lag and occasional jitter, for which I apologize in advance. If that happenes, you will still be able to watch it again after the fact, just like any non-live video.

It may take me some time to settle down to a routine, but my intention is to stream a live performance (if you can call it a performance!) every weekend, probably on a Saturday or Sunday morning. I will start out with some of my piano compositions, just to see how the sessions go. Later on I will introduce my Alesis Micron synhesizer setup and play some Live electronic music. I hope you enjoy what I have to share, whether LIVE or Archived. I welcome your comments here or at my Qik page: http://qik.com/jamesfriesen

Thank You