News
Reviews
Articles
Surveillance
Trailer Park: This Is It
Can't help thinking that there's a kind of perverse brilliance in the last Michael Jackson performance being played out to no-one (and now everyone) - like those rumours of Diana's coffin being empty in her funeral procession. Where's Baudrillard when you need someone to decode the emptiness of late capitalism's blank heroes, the vacuum of celebrity?
This Is It Trailer.
#chimp71
#Film
#Music
#TrailerPark
21st Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
These Aren't The Hoodies You're Looking For
Religious outrage, as the Bangor based founder of the Jedi 'religion' is ejected from Tesco for wearing a hood. I actually saw some hood-based discrimination in my own local Tesco only yesterday. Seriously.
21st Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Thom Yorke - All For The Best
Rolling Stone have got the video for Thom Yorke's cover of Mark Mulcahy's All For The Best from Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy
21st Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
It's Seinfeld In Curb...
on-set footage coming in from S7 of Curb, where Larry is putting together a Seinfeld reunion...
21st Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Search
How to open a bottle of Wine with a phonebook
Here's one from the 4 Hour Work Week files.
18th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Star Status: Jeff Bridges
How does the much-loved Jeff Bridges actually rate in the Chimpomatic Star Status Movie Maths Generator?
It's 10 points for a Hit, 5 for a Maybe and 1 for a Miss... No TV movies, just cinema releases to date.
How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008) .... MAYBE
Iron Man (2008) .... HIT!
Surf's Up (2007) (voice) .... MAYBE
Stick It (2006) .... MISS
Tideland (2005) .... MAYBE
The Moguls (2005) .... MAYBE
The Door in the Floor (2004) .... MAYBE
Seabiscuit (2003) .... HIT
Masked and Anonymous (2003) .... MAYBE
K-PAX (2001) .... HIT
Scenes of the Crime (2001) .... MAYBE
The Contender (2000) .... HIT
Simpatico (1999) .... MISS
The Muse (1999) .... MISS
Arlington Road (1999) .... HIT
The Big Lebowski (1998) .... HIT!!!
Hidden in America (1996) (TV) .... MAYBE
The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996) .... MAYBE
White Squall (1996) .... MAYBE
Wild Bill (1995) .... MAYBE
Blown Away (1994) .... MISS
Fearless (1993) .... HIT!
The Vanishing (1993) .... HIT
American Heart (1992) .... HIT
The Fisher King (1991) .... HIT
Texasville (1990) ....MAYBE
The Fabulous Baker Boys (1989) .... HIT
Cold Feet (1989) (uncredited) .... MISS
See You in the Morning (1989) ....MISS
Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988) .... HIT
Nadine (1987) .... MISS
The Morning After (1986) ....MISS
8 Million Ways to Die (1986) ....MISS
Jagged Edge (1985) .... HIT!
Starman (1984) .... HIT!
Against All Odds (1984) .... HIT!
Kiss Me Goodbye (1982) .... MISS
The Last Unicorn (1982) (voice) .... MAYBE
TRON (1982) .... HIT
Cutter's Way (1981) ....MISS
Heaven's Gate (1980) .... MAYBE
The American Success Company (1980) .... MISS
Winter Kills (1979) .... MISS
Somebody Killed Her Husband (1978) .... MISS
King Kong (1976) .... MISS
Stay Hungry (1976) .... MISS
Hearts of the West (1975) .... MAYBE
Rancho Deluxe (1975) .... MAYBE
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) .... HIT!
The Iceman Cometh (1973) .... HIT
The Last American Hero (1973) .... MAYBE
Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973) .... MISS
Bad Company (1972) .... HIT
Fat City (1972) ....HIT
The Last Picture Show (1971) .... HIT!
23 hits, 16 maybes and 15 misses.
So that's 307 points out of a possible 540.
Jeff Bridges: you have scored 56.9%.
There's no doubting he makes some odd choices, and his huge work-rate brings him down with a lot of 'maybes' but even in a bad film he remains pretty much 90% watchable. If he worked at a Harrison Ford rate, he'd probably have a near-perfect record, with a serious hit every couple of years.
If you need any further convincing that The Dude is a very cool dude, check out his own great website.
If you dare make a purchase, you can do so here, allowing Chimpomatic to profit from his loss success. Check back soon for more Star Status movie maths. Same Chimp Channel, same Chimp Time...
18th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Gerhard Richter
I'm disappointed to learn that most of Gerhard Richter's Sonic Youth-inspiring candle series are less that 1.5m wide. I had been thinking how nice one would look filling out my living room wall.
18th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
The 4 Hour Work Week
I'm aiming for a new zen-like existence after reading Tim Ferris' excellent book The 4 Hour Work Week. In fact, I've been living such an existence for many months now, meaning I didn't get round to writing this up.
The basic concept of the book deals with streamlining your work life to make you more efficient, giving you time to pursue recreational ambitions and further yourself. Luckily, it just about stays on the right side of being a self-growth, believe-in-yourself type load of spiritual mumbo-jumbo and focuses on practical applications, many of which are easily done, most notably checking your emails only once or twice a day, turning down troublesome work and sub-contracting many tasks - even to the point of hiring an assistant in India.
A major focus is the 80/20 principal, where 80% of a lot of things is unnecessary waffle, while 20% is the useful core. I imagine it's applicable on chimpomatic too, with 20% of our readers being loyal followers, while 80% are just here for the early word on Torchwood.
Once you're on top of your game, the fun begins - letting you blow 80% of your time on more fun pursuits, with Ferris having become a kick-boxing champion, a speed swimmer and even built up 34lbs of muscle in 4 weeks. Check out his excellent website for occasional tips on speaking a new language in 1 hour, sleeping better, travelling the world with 10lbs of luggage, speed reading, never forgetting anything, holidaying by twitter, getting a good table at top restaurants and more.
Ferris has become something of an internet personality in the wake of the book's success, making maximum use of the likes of Twitter and Facebook to rustle up followers and crowd-source content for his next book - and even knock out a possible TV show, where he learns a new skill per episode. All that stuff can actually get a bit annoying, and he sometimes seems so obsessed with efficiency that the writing can be a bit dry ("Post reading time: 15 minutes" etc.), and his collaborations with Digg founder Kevin Rose tend to make one of the two seem strangely closed-minded...
17th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Augment Me
Some good-looking augmented reality apps on the slate from developer Across Air. They are listed as being available 'as soon as iPhone OS 3.1 launches', which happened last week. Apparently that update included some code-improvements that will enable all this future mapping technology to unfold...
17th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Pavement Reform
There have been rumblings for a while, but now it's official - Pavement are reforming.
Don't get your knickers in a twist just yet, as they are quick to caution not to expect too much. At this stage, it's for a series of shows and tours 'around the world' to coincide with some sort of anniversary (ten years since break-up - if that's an anniversary) and a 'greatest hits' record.
"Please be advised this tour is not a prelude to additional jaunts and/or a permanent reunion."
More details here.
17th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
PYO Books
Thanks to the Google Books service, which has digitized several million out-of-copyright books, you can now print your own editions. Throw in the $100,000 expresso printer and you can even pop into a book store and get a nicely bound version of an out-of-print rarity for around $10. Wired has the details.
17th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Listen To Folk
The forthcoming Monsters of Folk album - from Jim James, Bright Eyes and M. Ward - is up in full over at Myspace.
16th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
3D Printing
Printable trainers may still be a way off, but 3D printing is finally starting to make a bit more sense. Bruce Wayne used a computer to re-assemble and remove a finger print from a bullet in The Dark Knight, but CSI were way more up to speed with their tech, using 3D printing to sculpt a bullet - and then remove the finger print themselves.
Prototyping seems to be the main application so far, where silicon is used to build-up or cut out a precise 3 dimensional object based on detailed computer specification, and I did hear about 3D animators starting to use the technique to produce perfectly adjusted models.
With tech like this getting cheaper and cheaper it was only a matter of time before it becomes available to all of us and as Wired report, companies like Ponoko and Shapeways will begin to popularise the service. If only we can think of something to do with it.
16th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Hello, Nasty
The Beastie Boys re-release juggernaut continues, with masterpiece (aren't they all?) Hello Nasty getting a de-luxe remastering. This one also has a considerable amount of actual rarities on the disc two.
16th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Vampire Weekend: Contra
Details up for the next Vampire Weekend, which isn't set to be released until January 11th/12th 2010.
16th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: VU & Nico - Femme Fatale
well, it's probably not really all the Velvets, but looks like Lou and John backing Nico on Spanish TV in 1975?
15th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Gil-Scott Heron
Suitably mysterious website up for Gil-Scott Heron's forthcoming new album - I'm New Here - out next year on XL.
15th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: A Single Man
Good-looking trailer up for fashion maestro Tom Ford's first foray into film-making - A Single Man.
14th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Spotify For iPhone: Review
With a ton of never-played-CDs archived around my house, I've been looking for a reason to get rid of them and move forwards with technology. Spotify has been looking like a likely candidate to fill that gap for a while - although with little difference between their offering and the likes of Real Player or the current incarnation of Napster, I'm not sure why - as I would never have gone near them. I think their stand-alone app (and now iPhone/Android app) just came along at the right time, as the market matured to a suitable place.
At £10 a month it rivals the price of buying a new CD per month - with around 80% of the other music in the world thrown in as a bonus, although it is always disappointing when they don't have something - and as the Chimp iTunes is loaded with pre-release stuff it often seems a little behind. New releases generally become available as soon as you can buy them however, and a simple small auto-playlist from iTunes could fill the remaining gap.
I was a little unsure of the sound quality at first, though suspected my fading headphones to be the more guilty party - and Hot For Teacher sounded better and clearer than ever. While listening over 3G there were minor delays between tracks and it dropped out in a couple of notorious 3G black spots en route to work, but generally it's very acceptable. Changing the way you think about using the app can certainly improve things and offline syncing of playlists is a simple task - but it's the playlists themselves that highlight the main issue with both the desktop app and the phone version - the organisation of music. If you could sort and search within playlists like iTunes, you could easily build up favourite playlists, ratings and dynamic playlists too. Importing your owned music from iTunes would also be a major bonus.
With the desktop version of Spotify only at version 0.3.19 however, it's a very reasonable assumption that there's plenty more to come - and any success is bound to be met with a retaliatory offering from Apple, or at the very least Napster and Real Rhapsody - both of which allegedly have mobile versions under development. Exciting times.
P.S. Since launching the iPhone version, Spotify has reverted to an invite-only service in the UK. We have 2 invites for any struggling listeners in UK, Spain Sweden, Norway, Finland or France.
14th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Everett True
You may have heard about the war of words between Courtney Love and Grohl/Novoselic last week, but one good thing to come out of it was the discovery of the website of music journo Everett True, the man often credited with promoting Nirvana and grunge's big break-through.
Here's a run down of his Last FM page.
14th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Google Timeline
Nice timeline for the Google corporate history over here. Why am I not surprised that Larry and Sergey were off to Burning Man in 1998?
14th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: The Rolling Stones - 2000 Light Years From Home
a little Friday freakpower from back in the days when the Stones weren't quite the international conglomerate they are now, via Dangerous Minds
11th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Up In The Air
George Clooney racks up some serious frequent flyer miles for Up In The Air
11th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Freedom
stumbled across this description for a 2000 TV show called Freedom:
"After a plane is flown into the White House killing the president of the United States, the US is taken over by United States military forces. Four soldiers who do not go along with the takeover work with a wider resistance movement against the military government, in order to restore the Constitution and freedom to the people."
anyone ever see it?
11th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Google Map Monopoly
Looks like Monopoly is coming to a Google Map near you, with a new online version of the game allowing you to play across the entire world and let you buy your own road.
The official site isn't isn't live yet, but there's a blog - and Wired have seen a demo.
UPDATE: It's now live, but overloaded...
11th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Beck - Time Bomb
the internet hates a vacuum: no video for Beck's new single? don't worry, some DIY ones will appear soon enough
11th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Remember The Word
90's post-pub entertainment show The Word pretty much set the pace for a lot of music in the 90's, introducing a load of new bands (Nirvana, The Lemonheads, L7, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins and Cypress Hill amongst others), thanks to music booker Jo Whiley and creating a lot of controversy with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Johhny Rotten, Shabba Ranks and audience participation section The Hopefuls (snog a granny anyone?).
The show was axed after 5 series in 1995, but it lives on through a pretty well-packed channel on YouTube - although I had to dig around to find Eddie Vedder drinking bile beer for the Jim Rose circus. So that's why no one likes Pearl Jam...
Get The Word here.
10th Sep 2009 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Brief Interviews With Hideous Men
based on the David Foster Wallace book Brief Interviews With Hideous Men is the directorial debut from American Office star John Krasinski, and stars Will Arnett, Bobby Canavale, Dominic Cooper, Max Minghella, Timothy Hutton, and Julianne Nicholson.
10th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
At Home With Bob Pollard
Nice at-home-with-Bob-Pollard type article over in the Spin archive.
"I like these old solid-state cassette players for recording - they get a good, bright guitar sound. When Guided By Voices were on TVT, they'd make us go to a studio to make the demos, then a bigger studio to record the album, a process I really don't understand."
10th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Van Morrison
Not sure if it's down to YouTube sorting out their deal with PRS or what, but Van Morrison's been filling up his Official Exile Films page with more gems from the vaults, like this super tight Street Choir jam from 1974 in Montreux
10th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
New iPod Time (again)
the Nano now comes with video so you can film your awesome pals being totally awesome. looks like they're going after that Flip point/shoot/youtube market
10th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Airline Seat Review
With marmot and I heading off to NYC for a team tour in December, I stumbled across the handy V-Flyer website, rating every seat of the plane for access, TV viewing angles, lean-back-potential and more.
9th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Bitter Sweet Loog Oldham
never actually got round to listening to the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra version ofthe Stones' The Last Time that The Verve borrowed for Bitter Sweet Symphony... so here it is
9th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Massive Attack w Tunde From TVOTR
yup, Pray For Rain basically does sound like what you'd expect from TVOTR's Tunde jumping into the Massive Attack guest vox spot. Kip from TVOTR has been busy with his Rain Machine project too - Pitchfork have got a download of Smiling Black Faces
9th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Where The Wild Things Are: Spike Jonze Interview
interesting piece talking to Spike Jonze about getting the Wild Things project off the ground, his early skate/BMX history and losing two cameras on the Sabotage shoot
9th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Air - Sing Sang Sung
new Air album on the way - Love 2 - in October
9th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Beck's Record Club - Songs Of Leonard Cohen
seriously, is Beck just having the best time at the moment? for the next round of his Record Club project, he's roped in Devendra Banhart, MGMT, Andrew Wolfmother and a dude from Little Joy to have a go at Leonard Cohen's Songs Of Leonard Cohen. apparently it was either that, or Ace Of Base...
8th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Neil Gaiman's Bookshelves
via the always excellent BoingBoing: nice insight into Neil Gaiman's mind here w Shelfari's shots of his bookshelves. don't think he's gone colour-coded like some chimps we could mention
8th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Adventures Of Power
New air drumming comedy Adventures of Power - starring Ari Gold - yup, he's got the same name as Jeremy Piven's character in Entourage - and also, confusingly, Adrian Grenier - aka Vince from Entourage...
8th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Mercury Judge Jude Speaks
Jude Rogers, one of this year's Mercury judges, on what the prize is actually about... with bonus interview with our favourites, The Invisible.
8th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Cap'n Claypool
It's not often that the old salty dog steers his electric tugboat towards these shores, but cap'n Les Claypool will be making an appearance at the Islington Academy on the 8th March 2010 playing all manner of weirdness from his newest rekkid Of Funghi And Foe - where the Tom Waits influence grows ever more present. Sou'Westers mandatory.
7th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Re-worked album covers
Some nice work over at the Becks Music Inspired Art page on Flickr, where people have re-worked classic album covers.
Update from CSF: I like the Paul's Boutique meets 5 Boroughs mash-up
7th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Scorsese Mob TV Series for HBO
Martin Scorsese's on board for a new HBO Prohibtion-era mob drama - Boardwalk Empire - with Steve Buscemi, Kelly MacDonald, Stephen Graham and Michael Kenneth Williams (Omar!) all in the cast. Should be ready sometime in 2010
7th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Spotify For iPhone Is Here
In the app store now. Test drive coming soon, on a day pass if possible.
UPDATE: Day pass is not possible, so I guess a more thorough test is coming soonish.
UPDATE: I'm up and running - just need to remember to use it now. I have two invites if any struggling citizens in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France or Spain are on the sniff.
7th Sep 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Sufjan Stevens: The BQE
Sufjan Stevens hasn't quite finished his project to record an album for every State in the US, but that doesn't mean he's slowed down his work rate. The next album The BQE is "a grand creative franchise-incorporating movie, symphony, comic book, dissertation, photography, graphic design, and a 3-D Viewmaster® reel" based on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway - a road in New York. It's all out in October, and is an all-instrumental affair
#chimp71
#Books&Comics
#Film
#Music
#Photography
7th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Youth In Revolt
Youth In Revolt might get round the problem of having Michael Cera riff off his Arrested Development character in every film - here he does that, but also creates a super-obnoxious alter ego who's nothing like him. Que Cera, Cera etc
7th Sep 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
People Person
Being the kind of easy going people person that I am, I often find myself trailing behind someone on the street, thinking "Look at this douchebag ... thinks he's all blah blah blah". More and more of late, that douchbag has been shockingly similar to me.
Here's some defining characteristics of my type, defined by CJ as "post skate":
- Just graduated from a rucksack, probably to a groovy laptop bag? Check. It's hanging to the right too.
- Vans, or even better some exotic variation that you won't have heard of.
- Can't let go of the denim, so spending extra on an expensive variation. Possibly from Japan. "They're like art, almost".
- In the graphics/film/website business.
- Beard.
- iPhone. Or getting one soon.
- Jeff Bridges may well be a style role model. Or Paul Newman. Or Steve McQueen.
You'd hate me if you didn't know me. In fact, I'd hate me if I didn't know me.
4th Sep 2009 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet