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Steet View Fun
Plenty of fun spotted in Google's Streetview so far, particularly along Sampsonia Way in Pittsburgh, who may have had a tip about the cars coming their way.
25th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
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There's Matthew Herbert And There's Links
After a great show at the Royal Festival Hall last night, here's a couple of Herbert related links: some playlist tips over at Clash magazine with a handy download of Micachu, Alice And The Cool Dudes, Kwes, Finn Peters, Lime Headed Dog and Rowdysuperst*r; a Guardian piece from Matt explaining the thinking behind the new album There's You And There's Me; and an interview at Pitchfork
22nd Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Where You At?
You probably don't want to delve to deeply into the potential invasion-of-privacy issues, but recent developments are now allowing browsers to access your position, much like a GPS enabled phone browser - meaning websites such as Last Minute's Radar can provide you with location-centric data.
Google's Gears is one way of enabling such services, recent builds of Firefox include similar tech.
21st Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Arrrrrrr
What's life like for the Jolly Somali Rogers?
And here's a map to tell you which waters to avoid.
19th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Format 22
YouTube is quietly testing a further improved format, according to The Times. We tipped you off to Format 18 a while back, but now they've bumped it up even further with Format 22. I'm guessing that the same trick (add&fmt=22 to the URL) will work nicely, although the original video will need to have been uploaded in a suitable resolution. Try the sample clip in fullscreen.
19th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Foal Up
Sub Pop's Foals have just found out that they have the daunting task of following Men Called Him Mister on to the Madrid stage later this month.
18th Nov 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Speak Into The Microphone Squidbrain!
Google's new voice-enabled search App should have hit the iTunes store by the time you read this. Versions for other platforms coming soon.
18th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
RIP Mitch Mitchell
Mitch Mitchell, the great drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience has died. Always loved his ability to get as many rolls in a song as possible...
13th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Real Californication
the Anthony Kiedis biopic Scar Tissue is heading to HBO
13th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Data Protection
By sheer coincidence, and a determination to distract myself from some tedious essential tasks today, I stumbled accross hard evidence of two products that I have had long designed in my daydreaming mind. First up, the pocket video projector.
At art school I mated a portable tv with an overhead projector, before evolving the idea with a magnifying glass and a video iPod a couple if years back. Both ideas were solid, but the brightness of the source let things down. Now Texas instruments have developed the concept more thoroughly, bringing out a pocket sized projector, which can throw a 60 inch screen onto a nearby white surface. Perfect for when you find yourself flying air India, or you need to show Ari Gold your reel while he's stuck in line with the valet. The 480 pixel resolution is nothing to write home about, but it's better than some of the studio previews we're screening at the ranch this Thursday.
Next up, as previously noted, digital photography is finally entering the mainstream of film production in a major way. I've often wondered what was holding video back from the high-end goodness enjoyed by the digital SLR world for quite some time. Red have taken that idea to a certain point, but now Canon have stepped in with a new digital SLR that can shoot full 1080 digital video (barrage of tech data here).
As it's a regular Canon body you have a huge choice if easily available lenses, which keeps the cost low and the f stop even lower. Check out Pulitzer winning photographer Vincent Laforet's dummy shoot for some sample footage. The clip was shot using the cameras low-light capabilities (+ helicopter + Moby soundtrack), and doesn't feature any post-production to enhance the colours and whatnot. Canon has some clips of their own here, some stills here and even a making-of video.
Michael Mann's not going to be able to sleep.
The concept's certainly building steam (witness this bulked-up camera kit) and Red themselves haven't been snoozing in this marketplace however - and a specs announcement Is due tomorrow on their new 'Scarlet' product, which is said to have radically moved on since initial word got out. Low light, plus low price and slow- mo goodness. Yum.
As a cryogenically suspended filmmaker, both of these technolgical advancements light my fire... and I'm happy to withdraw any claims on the technology.
12th Nov 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Batman Sues Christopher Nolan
love this story: the Town of Batman in Turkey is suing Christopher Nolan
11th Nov 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Fairly Fairey
Shepherd Fairey's Obama poster's spawned some spoofs...
10th Nov 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Four Track Is Back
4 track recording may be making a come back with the new iPhone App, cleverly entitled Four Track. By feeding a line in, or even using the built-in mic, you can use your phone to lay down those future re-release rarities demos - perhaps while you sit in Starbucks sipping a Latte.
There's a 'special introductory price' of $9.99/£4.99 attached however, which may be enough to stop a fair few people giving it a whirl. More details at Wired.
The maker, Retronymns, also make one of my favourites - the excellent Recorder app, which turns your phone into a fully-functional dictaphone.
While we're talking apps, check out Classics too. A mini library of classic books (including Huck Finn, Hound of the Baskervilles and Robinson Crusoe), all included with the app.
7th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
R.I.P. Michael Crichton
Author Michael Crichton has died after a long battle with cancer. If only there was a way to genetically engineer a new version...
6th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
In Pictures
Nicely topical round-up of pictures of the new Prez Barack Obaba over at The Big Picture - although as noted in the comments, he's clearly taken too many steps as he heads towards this particular slam-dunk.
5th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
RIP Jimmy Carl Black
"Hi boys and girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black, the Indian of the group..." RIP Mothers Of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black
5th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Indecision 2008: The Wait Is Nearly Over
Dear American Chimps
if you've got a few hours to kill today, why not pop on down to those fun election booths and pop some chads for us? Personally, we'd go for the ch-ch-changes guy over the white-haired dude but hey, why not surprise us?
Thanks ever so much,
Links
Tags
4th Nov 2008 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
The Intended
New Intended Play sampler available for download over at Matador's website. Quite a few as-yet unreleased tracks on there - including a rarity from Pavement's upcoming Brighten The Corners re-issue. Full list:
1. A.C. Newman There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve
(from Get Guilty, due out January 20)
2. Belle and Sebastian The State I Am In (BBC Version)
(from The BBC Sessions, due out November 18)
3. Jennifer O’Connor Here With Me
(from Here With Me, released August 19)
4. Shearwater The Snow Leopard (Remastered)
from Rook, released June 3)
5. Lou Reed Caroline Says, Pt. II (Live) (from Berlin: Live At St. Ann’s Warehouse, due out November 4)
6. Mogwai The Sun Smells Too Loud (from The Hawk Is Howling, released September 23)
7. Fucked Up No Epiphany
(from The Chemistry Of Common Life, released October 7)
8. Jay Reatard An Ugly Death
(from Matador Singles ‘08, released October 7)
9. Jaguar Love Humans Evolve Into Skyscrapers
(from Take Me To The Sea, released August 19)
10. Pavement Cataracts
(from Brighten The Corners: Nicene Creedence Ed., due out December 9)
11. Brightblack Morning Light Oppressions Each
(from Motion To Rejoin, released September 23)
12. Times New Viking Call & Respond
(from the Stay Awake EP, released October 14)
13. Condo Fucks What’cha Gonna Do About It?
(from Fuckbook, due out March 2009)
31st Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Eye of the Storm
If you think freezing temperatures and snow in October is tough going, check out the never-ending, hexagonal, 325mph cyclones that rage across both the North and South poles of Saturn. NASA has the data.
30th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Where's Jack Bauer When You Need Him?
An assassination plot, rogue bombing of a foreign state to distract the masses in the build-up to an election, and a credit crisis hitting £1.8 trillion - it's all getting pretty 24 in here
28th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Get Off Of My Cloud
Microsoft is belatedly stepping into the cloud computing arena - with it's 'Azure' platform set to debut along side Windows 7. Planning to take on already established over-the-net services from the likes of Amazon and Google, Azure will offer services such as storage and program access - as well as allowing developers to build their own apps.
And, mildly off-topic, while Adobe might have an online version of Photoshop up and running, they've been beaten to the post for an Illustrator-style app by Sumo.
28th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Back In The Black
AC/DC are number one again - do they only do well when we're in a recession?
27th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
I liked it so much, I bought the company
Jack's had a shave, which means there must be a trailer for season 5 of Lost online.
24th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Gmail preview on Android
as you'd expect, sounds like Gmail's neatly integrated w the Anrdoid phone
23rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
D.U.D. (Dumb Up Dudes!): Obama's not in yet
nice piece on not getting complacent about "President" Obama - still got that Kinnock "triumph" running through my mind...
22nd Oct 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
As easy as ABC
The Atheist Bus Campaign is up and running in London
21st Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Bugs v Daffy
Jimmy Cauty Splatter Exhibition, The Aquarium, London Oct 2008
17th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Entourage 6
Looks like my snack-related side-project has been commissioned for another season by HBO.
10th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
A Party Political Broadcast From Randy Randall
------ Forwarded Message
From: Randy Randall / NO AGE
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 2008 01:16:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: No Age vs. CBS
Hello All,
I apologize for mass email but I feel that it is important to get this out to as many people as possible. I have recently come under what can only be called extreme censorship. On Oct 2nd No Age was scheduled to perform on the Late Late show with Craig Ferguson, to be broadcasted on CBS later this month. I felt it was important to voice my choice for presidential candidate, Barack Obama, seeing as the episode would air 8 days before election day. We rehearsed on the stage and were waiting to film our performance when I was told that I would not be able to wear my Barack Obama t shirt. I was shocked, it seemed like some kind of joke, especially coming from a show like the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, produced by David Letterman's production company World Wide Pants. The representatives of CBS said that by wearing an Obama T-shirt I would be violating the FCC rule of equal time for all candidates
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-time_rule
however there there is a doctrine of fairness that former President Ronald Reagan and current president George W Bush supported the repeal of in order to allow themselves more time in the media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairness_Doctrine
Regardless, the Equal time rule clearly favors candidates with more financial support. Ralph Nader and Ron Paul are not seen nearly as much as Obama and McCain.
I had to look at what I was up against and with 5 minutes before we were supposed to shoot I had only a hand full of options. I could either A) walk away from the show and decline from appearing on the show, or B) change my T-shirt. My first choice was A. However, after talking way past the 5 minute mark, Dean and I decided that it would be better to take advantage of the stage we had at our disposal. I decided to make an appeal for "Free Health Care" on my T-shirt seeing as I was unable to voice my support for Barack Obama. Access to affordable health care is an issue very near to my heart for many personal reasons and I am sure that many of you can relate. I have lost and stood by as many of my close family members have battled with terrible illnesses. I have myself gone through traumatic hospitalizations only to come out the other side alive but horribly in debt.
I encourage all of you to speak out about your political views and your feelings about the many issues that are up for discussion at this crucial time in American history. CBS and major media outlets DO NOT speak for me. I do not look to corporate media to inform my views on the issues. Together through our communities we can make a difference and make it a point to express our views in order to shape our world into a better place.
Thank you,
Randy Randall
9th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Too Drunk To Email?
Google's come up with a way to solve that late-night email rant... Now, what about a drnk n txt solution? (or even a drunk dialling bail-out?). Mosie over to Wired for some more details.
8th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Google Streetview
Just when the Google Maps / Earth combo couldn't really get any better, they go and introduce Streetview. While the previous mapping technology pulled in a lot of existing data and re-formatted it for Joe-public, streetview involves Google driving cars with 360 degree cameras on the roof down every street in a city. The images are mapped onto the correct co-ordinates, giving a keyhole view into the actual street.
While some of the US cities have been available on the system for a while, things are really starting to take off as it becomes a more widespread technology. Despite some sensitivity backlash, Japan is now online, as well as France and Australia - and after jumping over some privacy hurdles, London is coming online soon.
Here's Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, the Hollywood sign, George McFly's house (actually in Pasadena), Shibuya crossing in Tokyo and my old flat in Melbourne. There's already dozens of strange sightings, as well as lists of best-ofs...
God know how Russia will embrace it.
6th Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
News Flash: Steve Jobs Doesn't Have Heart Attack
Not sure what Paxman would have to say about this iReport.
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
D.U.D. (Dumb Up Dudes!): White House 2008 in 3 Minutes
Barack, Palin, McCain, drill now!
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Tech Watch
more little boxes for you to think about: Nokia's 5800 is their first touchscreen w "unlimited" music access, and the new DSi console from Nintendo comes w music/camera abilities
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Newcastle 1 Press 0
Newcastle stand-in manager Joe Kinnear unleashed
3rd Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Death of Sister Ray
Some interesting points-of-view surfacing about the death of Sister Ray (1,2) as well as this BBC piece from last year about the demise of Berwick St in general. I confess to ending my weekly spending spree about a year ago. I just don't want a cupboard full of CDs anymore.
1st Oct 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Gomorra
(Dir Matteo Garrone)
Fandango
Two kids decide to take on the local crime boss. A mafia-funded tailor decides to moonlight for a Chinese sweatshop. A politician looks for new sites to dump toxic waste. A mob money man decides he's had enough. A grocery boy gets drawn into an escalating turf war.
Dizzying reinvention of the mafia movie, based on the nonfiction book by Roberto Saviano. Far from the glamour of The Godfather or even The Sopranos, this is more like a Naples version of The Wire. We're thrown into the middle of five stories, which build up a crushing portrait of a city in chaos; it's not so much that the system has failed here, but that even the crime culture which has stepped into the void seems to have spiralled out of control, light years from the honour amongst thieves myth we've seen time and again.
It's beautifully shot, with the housing estates where the bulk of the action takes place rising up like decaying Mayan pyramids. Scenes are artfully constructed, with details like a freshly manicured hand or a statue of Jesus being winched down an estate balcony standing out amidst the action. That's not to suggest that this elegant movie glosses over the trauma and social breakdown - far from it. Violence is ever-present, brutally casual and everyday. It's a bewildering experience, as we float from story to story and back again, wondering how they connect - and also wondering how any of the characters can possibly hope to escape the lives they've found themselves in.
At 137 mins, it's a long haul, but well worth it. Strong contender for one of the films of 2008.
1st Oct 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4.5 star reviewsBeware The Cloud?
interesting warning on cloud computing from GNU man Richard Stallman
30th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
D.U.D. (Dumb up Dudes) - it's Obama v McCain
90 minute showdown for the White House tonight. More4 are showing it in full in the UK tomorrow at 11pm, with their Presidential week kicking off with John Adams at 5.30pm - bit early for an Emmy-winner, but there you go. They've also got Recount on later in the week, a great new HBO film about the 2000 election and the hanging chad debacle
26th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
TV On The Radio
Dear Science
4AD
Sweeping and ambitious in scope, this is an eclectic record with so many levels it will take literally weeks to properly decode. Near impossible to predict, the record twists and turns, changing key, pitch and tempo - but never seems disengaging.
Halfway Home starts the album with pounding drums, hand-claps and a be-bop harmony building up the pace and pressure quickly and steadily. The track is a perfect gateway into the album - to the point that that it momentarily seems to have escalated things prematurely to a momentum that cannot be maintained. Just when it can't build anymore, a last minute tempo shift takes things up another notch - leaving you floating on the full steam of this relentless album. Like a crash course in TVOTR you are now schooled and ready to proceed.
Described as having a 'pop edge', that edge could at its most accessible be described as being as equally inspired by the likes of N.E.R.D. or Outkast as by the more rock roots of T.V.O.T.R.'s previous records. The rapped vocals of Dancing Choose stray dangerously close to cringeworthy, holding strong on just the right side of Blondie or the Edge's embarrassing efforts for long enough to balanced out by the delicate chorus - just one of dozens of unpredictable changes in the electric song-writing of the album.
The sound may be wide, but never seems scattergun. It's radio friendly but still relatively weird - and as a band TV On The Radio seem thoroughly cohesive and dedicated to the task at hand. Dave Sitek's production is immaculate, polishing and smoothing the uncountable elements into a densely packed whole - from the Bob Marley-esque bass-line of Golden Age to the twisted ballad Family Tree, which slows the pace a little, pitched perfectly at the old "end of side one / start of side two" point on the record. Close in style to 4AD's own This Mortal Coil, the track layers slow vocals over delicate string arrangements, building beautifully in momentum to end with trip-hop drums.
Red Dress and Love Dog provide side two highlights, and by the time you make it through to the electric frenzy of DLZ, or the anthemic drums and brass-band of Lover's Day it's all become something of a rousing finale, bookending the record by maintaining the momentum of the opening track so totally, that there's an almost euphoric atmosphere as the last note passes. There's a substantial range of bonus track and limited-edition type versions of the album, but after the logical conclusion of Lover's Day I can't imagine they'll do much to improve the shape of this perfectly paced and superbly crafted album.
TV On The Radio set the bar pretty high with Return To Cookie Mountain, but I'm happy to report that their 2006 album now seems like The Bends next to Dear Science's OK Computer. Both great records for sure, but this seems like an evolutionary leap forward and a shoring up of the band's sound and ambition. A certain contender for 2008's best-of lists and a consistently rewarding listen.
26th Sep 2008 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviews
Screening Room
With more and more films embracing digital distribution - and the average cinema experience getting less capable of surpassing the chimp screening room experience - it's not surprising that YouTube is starting to seem like a good way to promote films.
With Wayne Wang releasing two films this year, one of which - The Princess Of Nebraska - is premiering at You Tube's Screening Room, a site which is already hosting a range of longer-format films. The plan is that the exposure from that will drive punters to the cinema to see Wang's other film, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers.
The Princess of Nebraska premieres on You Tube on October 17th. More details at Variety.
25th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Last Wordle
Tired of working out what they're saying for yourself? Wired have a wordle friendly summing up of political speeches. Barack Obama and John McCain above.
22nd Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
D.U.D. (Dumb Up Dudes!): Globalize!
Following on from Puskas and Tim Berners-Lee's thoughts on trivia-chatter (tritter, if you will...) here's something on globalisation from Chris Patten.
19th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Google Phone Details
more on the Google Phone- on sale next month in the UK apparently
18th Sep 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet