tweaker

A class of human that we have far too many of in Portland.
A tweaker, in the simple sense of the word could be defined as a person who is "sketching", or is far too hopped up on drugs. Classicly this is reserved for meth-heads, but I will call any base-head, crack-head or tar-baby.

Also what gnomes are known by. Since they are known across the D&D universe as the people who can fix or improve anything. You could compare them to Tim Taylor on Home Improvement, except for the fact that most of their stuff actually works.

Artist name for Chris Vrenna, former drummer and beats programmer for Nine Inch Nails. He's also well known for his studio production work, having worked with such luminaries as David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins, Hole, Rob Zombie, and U2. Vrenna left Nine Inch Nails when he felt that he wasn't getting enough respect from Trent Reznor for his contributions...the final straw was an interview that Reznor did where he declared that Vrenna was no more than an assistant to him.

His full-length album, "The Attraction to All Things Uncertain", takes its name and cover art from a painting by Joe Sorren called "Elliott's Attraction to All Things Uncertain". Over the last three years, Vrenna put together the album on the side while working on various projects (including the soundtrack for "American McGee's Alice", essentially recording all of the beats and other instrumentation on his own and building a sonic story based on the painting.

For the occasional vocal, Vrenna sent the tapes, a reproduction of the painting, a summary of the theme, and instructions on how he wanted each vocalist to contribute. Turns out that David Sylvian, Will Oldham, and Craig Wedren made the contributions and did quite well with the strange package.

Anyway, I just picked up the album today (it just came out two days ago) and, man, I've already deemed it to be one of my two favourite albums of the year (the other being R.E.M.'s "Reveal"). Pick it up when you have the chance.