The Ruckus Room

A new (old) VCR that I bought on eBay arrived a few days ago, and I've put it into action along with the one I already had that is still functioning properly. Two others have mostly crapped out. I'm going through VCRs! These old machines seem to have a very limited lifespan when put to work in the sweatshop of the VHS dubbing project here chez Random. Luckily they are (usually) cheap. I got the last one for $25 + $20 shipping. I'm down to the last four boxes of tapes, or less than 100 to go. Yeah, that seems like lot, but it's a mere fraction of what I started with. The late 80's through early 2000s were a very prolific time for me and videotape!

I believe I mentioned that I've been binge-watching the White Centipede Noise podcasts. Well, in order to access more complete content and the WCN Discord server and other goodies, I joined the WCN Patreon, committed for a year. That's over a hundred bucks, so I guess I'm serious! Exposure to so many Noise creators and aficianados is reawakening the multimedia artist in me, it feels like. I want to paint and make collages and zines and videos and CDs and cassettes and get involved with the mail art scene, such as it is in 2026. Sadly, the number of people with CD and cassette players has dwindled to a scant percent of the general population. But on the other hand, people who are really into DIY art and music tend to own them. Noise people actually tend to favor cassettes as their preferred format. There is a strong analog and fierce anti-AI sentiment among the members of that subculture. And I'm mostly down with that. Although, I must admit, I love working with Ableton Live on my MacBook to make music and sound art. But AI can just fuck off in general. I've spent enough time with chatbots to know it's as much a cancer as a boon. It's especially a cancer in the creative realms. Perhaps more of a boon in specific tech areas, but I definitely hate having to deal with AI in business communications. I digress.

The major fruit of the VHS dubbing project is that I'm freeing up lots of room in The Bunker, which is what we call the "bonus room" off the garage. The previous owners of this house used it for storage, and kindly left several metal racks in there. The owner before that, the one who did a major remodel of the entire house, used it for making pottery: there's a 220-volt outlet where she powered her electric kiln. Storage is still a major use for us. We have a couple shelves for pantry items, and there are still lots of shelves occupied by stuff I moved over from the old Chamber of Randomness, that I still need to sort through. But dubbing and tossing the VHS tapes has freed up so much room already! I've got space for a small project table up against one wall, and soon there'll be room for even more space to make art, etc.

Speaking of room names, e.g. The Bunker, I've been calling the large downstairs room the "Family Room"—for no particular reason except that when we watch TV, it's in there. But recently Mrs. Random made known her distaste for that label. Family rooms are for families with kids, I guess, and when I looked up the actual definition, FRs are referred to as central hubs where a family can relax, watch TV, play games, listen to music, where tidiness is not a priority, and where close proximity to the kitchen is key. Our room downstairs is far from the kitchen, and it's not a central hub. It's actually a place where I make a lot of noise on a regular basis. My bands play in there; our records and most of our CDs are there, along with a hi-fi with big speakers. For a party last fall we had dancing there. So I did some research, and I've decided I'm henceforth going to call it the RUCKUS ROOM. Okay? Okay!