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Big Biden Deal
nice to hear that the Vice President talks to the President in normal everyday language
24th Mar 2010 - Add Comment - Tweet
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@PhilipBloom www.titaninternet.co.uk - awesome customer sevice from real people.
7th Mar 2010
Read on TwitterGoo.gl
Google has thrown it's hat in the URL-shortening arena - launching goo.gl
While all these bitly / tr.im etc services are pretty handy, they have all seemed a little shaky in terms of a business model - promoting concerns about millions of lost links if one went bust...
15th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Harris Pilton's 2009 Gaming Round Up
Various
I can't claim to be any kind of authority on video games. My history of gaming is patchy to say the least, having been an early gamer back when we used "home computers" for such things, but then never owning a PS2. Also, I tend to stick to games which involve shooting at things - so if you're looking for a well-balanced, concise round-up of the gaming year, you might want to look elsewhere.
My gaming life is divided between the Xbox and the DS. The DS is still the best hand-held gaming device on the planet - with an almost resolutely lo-fi approach both sonically and graphically, it's success is down to gameplay and elegant programming. The PSP (with it's high-end graphics and sleek design) is not pulling in the kid-gamer dollars. In the world of so-called casual games (video-crack, more like), the monkey on my back was mostly Peggle and Scribblenauts. Oh, and re-playing the mind-numbingly addictive Cradle of Rome line-'em-up. As for the Xbox, now I look at the amount of games I've been through this year, I can't believe I had much time for anything else.
The much hyped Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 has been ridiculously successful (sales-wise at least), but in my opinion they done jumped the shark. Brilliant, visceral and engaging for sure, but also short, non-sensical, and rather too easy. It certainly delivered plenty of "fuck me!" moments, with breathtaking use of lighting and sound, but they messed with the multi-player, which is clearly a case of fixing something that wasn't broken. Infinity Ward are edging dangerously close to believing their own myth rather like Bungie have with Halo - all self-aggrandising seriousness and stirring martial music that can't be optioned out of your gameplay experience.
Special mention for post-release support goes to two games in particular. Firstly, Burnout Paradise: here's a rare example of a games developer (Criterion) being willing and able to respond to feedback from gamers. On it's initial release, Burnout Paradise was laced with flaws (ie not being able to instantly re-start a race), but Criterion got on the case - addressing issues, improving gameplay, adding decent downloadable content, and then re-packaging the whole lot at a mid-range price. Excellent work those men in Guildford. The other impeccably supported game was Gears of War 2 - with regular DLC packs of high-quality maps, top-notch graphics and sound, and new gameplay features. Had a lot of good times with online friends fighting off the dirty horde.
We nearly saw the birth of something revolutionary this year, with the release of the most ambitious Xbox Arcade game yet - Battlefield 1943. This was only available as a download, and did not feature a solo campaign. Instead, 4 large maps of territorial contest, planes, boats, jeeps and bombing raids with 24 people fighting online. Sounds good, but bit off more than it could chew. To start with, this game didn't even work properly online for the first week due to "unexpected high demand" or something. Then, once it was working, it wasn't quite as smooth as it should have been. Call me old fashioned if you like, but when I point a machine gun at another player who is only 5 virtual meters away from me, I'd sort of expect him to fall down - all dead, like.
A couple of this year's releases didn't quite make the top-list but are worth a mention (a mention? Hey, thanks Pilton, they only took two years to develop). Wolfenstein (not Return to the Son of Castle Wolfenstein, or Wolfenstein 3 or...) is a game I was getting pretty juicy about. Loved the originals and raised my expectations. Turned out ok, but fell a bit flat for me when (after much enjoyable gameplay) my save file corrupted and I couldn't be arsed to go back through it. Batman Arkham Asylum looked great and played really smoothly - yet was the most on-rails game I played all year. Still good though. Also Flashpoint delivered some enjoyable play - the polar opposite of MW2 this is a game that strives for realism even if that meant spending a large percentage of your mission time walking or running over endless landscapes in order to avoid combat with enemy patrols. Realistic, yes, but essentially lots of dull moments punctuated by some very tough firefights. Halo:ODST was the game for which Blockbuster was invented. A week's hire, rinse it out and forget it ever existed. Nothing original about it, but nothing really wrong with it either. Halo is Halo is Halo - the game that thinks it can fart higher than it's own arse.
This year also finally saw the release of Resident Evil 5 - in which the musclebound Chris ventures into Africa for some wholesale zombie slaughter (sorry, 'infected'. They're not zombies anymore). Jill doesn't nearly become a Jill sandwich this time - and in fact those Japanese translation quirks are wholly missing from RE5 - it plays like a global release, looks like a global release and - my goodness - it was a global release. Once I got used to the lumpy control system, and acquired some decent weapons, I had a wail of a time wading through the increasingly ridiculous scenarios and quick-time fights right up until the bit where you get to fire two RPG's into Wesker's eyes (while he's in a volcano). Beat that.
So, you may ask, since you've wasted so much of your time playing video games this year, what turns out to be game of the year for Harris Pilton? The answer comes with the unexpected late arrival of a classic shooter - Borderlands. A first person shooter with a visual style somewhere between Tank Girl and Metal Hurlant. The joy of this sandbox shooter is that it never forgets it's a video game - never tries to be realistic, pitches it's dark humour just right, and constantly serves up new weapon variants and character abilities. It works well online as a co-op, and the game adjusts the enemy AI to match the skills of the human players - getting considerably tougher when gamers have more collective experience. Borderlands has already delivered an excellent download pack and has promised a sequel for release in 2010, and the completion of the trilogy a year later.
Sadly, there's only so much time a man can devote to the noble art of videogaming, and thus I can make no comment on a slew of other much touted releases including Assassins Creed 2, Left 4 Dead 2, Forza 3, and Sheffield Wednesday nil.
15th Dec 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 5 star reviews
Huck + Little White Lies
nice to see some magazines still experimenting and having fun - check this cover team-up designed by Geoff McFetridge for Huck and Little White Lies for their Where The Wild Things Are covers (via Notes From My Sofa)
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#Film
#Skateboarding
18th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Kick-Ass
Trailer up for Matthew Vaughn's post-Guy Ritchie superhero movie: Kick-Ass
11th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Clash of the Titans
"Titans Will Clash" Heavy-metalacized trailer up for the Clash of the Titans remake.
11th Nov 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Spotify on 3
The 3 mobile network is bringing Spotify under it's wing, with their new Google Android phone including £240 worth of credit for a 24 month Spotify premium account. Quite an incentive.
19th Oct 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Flaming Lips - I Can Be A Frog
Nice, simple but effective video up for the new Flaming Lips track - I Can Be A Frog.
30th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
#Spotted: Aaron the Secret service from 24, in 'The Island' - playing a sort of Secret Service agent...
22nd Sep 2009
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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
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
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
Various Artists
Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs Of Mark Mulcahy
Mezzotint Records
Covers compilation Ciao My Shining Star brings together a broad range of bands to cover the songs of influential musician Mark Mulcahy - with the aim of raising money to support the artists and his daughters after the tragic death of wife and mother Melissa Mulcahy.
Mulcahy and his prior bands Miracle Legion and Polaris were never big names in the UK (I've seen him once, supporting J Mascis & The Fog in 2001), and as a result the featured acts are predominantly American. It's the haunting keyboards of Thom Yorke's cover of All For The Best that are attracting most of the attention however, with its electronic Postal Service-like atmosphere serving as a reminder of the differences between Radiohead proper and Thom Yorke's solo career - all electronics and twitchy breaks.
The National also make their song their own, though Ashamed Of The Story I Told is more direct and immediate than their own work, Further contributions come from Dinosaur Jr, Frank Black, Mercury Rev, Ben Kweller and Josh Rouse amongst others. Mulcahy's talent seems to be his thought provoking lyrics, which no doubt was a big part in attracting such a wide range of admirers - and in the light if his family situation, those lyrics often seem touchingly poignant.
While many of the bigger names are up front on the album, there are many gems tucked away. However, as is often the case with these covers compilations, it's perhaps too easy to get people involved and the album does run a little long - muddying the lines around what were the highlights, while not inviting too much replay. In the digital age however, a chocolate box of covers like this is born to be cherry-picked for a playlist.
9th Sep 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsSpotify For iPhone
Apple have said Spotify can come over and play. It's been accepted for the App store and will be available 'soon' for premium users.
Meanwhile, Sony have commented that Spotify brings in more income for them than the iTunes store...
iTunes 9 seems likely to arrive next week, with added social networking features. Let's see if Apple also come up with a service to compete with Spotify, which wouldn't be hard for them.
29th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Pynchon Playlist
Not content with breaking cover to do the voiceover honours on the trailer for his new book Inherent Vice, reclusive author Thomas Pynchon has also released a playlist to go along with the book on Amazon -
"Bamboo" by Johnny and the Hurricanes
"Bang Bang" by The Bonzo Dog Band
Bootleg Tape by Elephant's Memory
"Can't Buy Me Love" by The Beatles
"Desafinado" by Stan Getz & Astrud Gilberto, with Charlie Byrd
Elusive Butterfly by Bob Lind
"Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra
"Full Moon in Pisces" performed by Lark
"God Only Knows" by The Beach Boys
The Greatest Hits of Tommy James and The Shondells
"Happy Trails to You" by Roy Rogers
"Help Me, Rhonda" by The Beach Boys
"Here Come the Hodads" by The Marketts
"The Ice Caps" by Tiny Tim
"Interstellar Overdrive" by Pink Floyd
"It Never Entered My Mind" by Andrea Marcovicci
"Just the Lasagna (Semi-Bossa Nova)" by Carmine & the Cal-Zones
"Long Trip Out" by Spotted Dick
"Motion by the Ocean" by The Boards
"People Are Strange (When You're a Stranger)" by The Doors
"Pipeline" by The Chantays
"Quentin's Theme" (Theme Song from "Dark Shadows") performed by Charles Randolph Grean Sounde
Rembetissa by Roza Eskenazi
"Repossess Man" by Droolin' Floyd Womack
"Skyful of Hearts" performed by Larry "Doc" Sportello
"Something Happened to Me Yesterday" by The Rolling Stones
"Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman
"Soul Gidget" by Meatball Flag
"Stranger in Love" performed by The Spaniels
"Sugar Sugar" by The Archies
"Super Market" by Fapardokly
"Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen
"Telstar" by The Tornados
"Tequila" by The Champs
Theme Song from "The Big Valley" performed by Beer
"There's No Business Like Show Business" by Ethel Merman
Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer
"Volare" by Domenico Modugno
"Wabash Cannonball" by Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans
"Wipeout" by The Surfaris
"Wouldn't It Be Nice" by The Beach Boys
"Yummy Yummy Yummy" performed by Ohio Express
17th Aug 2009 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Promo Promo: Stardeath and White Dwarfs with the Flaming Lips
Drop some acid and check out this trippy new video from Stardeath And White Dwarfs. The psychedelic clip is directed by the Flamig Lips' own Wayne Coyne - easy to arrange if he's your uncle.
The band (Stardeath, not The Flaming Lips) will be headlining a show on the 14th of September at the Islington Academy. Tickets here.
Their album is garnering high praise from Team Chimpomatic here.
13th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Trailer Park: Inherent Vice
something of a rarity - a trailer for a book is odd enough, a trailer for a Thomas Pynchon novel is pretty unheard of. is it really him?!
#chimp71
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#TrailerPark
8th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Oneida On Tour
Brooklyn's nouveau psychedelic rockers Oneida are bring their latest 3-hour epic Rated O to the UK.
August 16 Manchester, Islington Mill w/Teeth Of The Sea 8pm, £9 adv
August 17 Brighton, Prince Albert w/My Device + Teeth Of The Sea 8pm, £8 adv
August 18 London, Garage w/Mugstar + Teeth Of The Sea 7pm, £10 adv
August 19 Bristol, The Croft w/Cardinal Fuzz + Teeth Of The Sea 8pm, £7 adv
August 20 Cork, Crane Lane Theatre Midnight show, free entry
August 21 Belfast, Black Box w/What What + Bop Yestrum DJs 8pm, £10 adv
August 22 Dublin, Whelans 7.30pm, €15 adv
Get more Oneida (and other Jagjaguwar bands) info in the Jagjaguwar podcast.
4th Aug 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
SKY+HD 3D ADSL XBOX
Sky has announced their plans to roll out 3D TV next year, via the existing Sky+ HD box. You'll need special comedy glasses of course, but unfortunately you'll also need a new TV.
Tucked away in the announcement is the new that Sky will also be adding Video-on-demand to the Sky+ box in 2010, which will hopefully include the iPlayer...
The Guardian has the details.
Update: Some sniffing around also unearthed the Sky Player / Xbox tie-up, allowing you to watch your Sky content via XBOZ. Could be handy for that upstairs bedroom.
31st Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
SpotifiPhone
Spotify have announced an iPhone version of their excellent music streaming program - and have submitted the app to Apple for approval. Assuming it gets accepted, this could be a possible game changer for me, as the thought of owning any more CDs now has zero appeal. This thing requires a premium Spotify account, which will set you back £1 a day or £10 a month, but that will provide access to several million tracks - and no ads.
Spotify are also planning a US roll-out of their service. More info at WIRED.
27th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
De-spotify
Microsoft look set to launch their own competitor to Spotify, with the focus seeming to be to draw attention to their iPod rival, Zune.
With Spotify itself not actually operating in the US, there's certainly room for something like this - although if Apple flipped the switch to allow full stream playback in iTunes they'd be in a pretty superior position themselves.
More info at the Telegraph.
23rd Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Feed The Monster
Web 2.0 has really been picking up speed recently, and with Twitter seeming to catch up with Facebook in terms of mass popularity, let's have a look what else is out there.
Tumblr is somewhere between Twitter and a full blown blog, and in terms of customization it's pretty nifty. You can totally customise the code, and pull in data from other sources (e.g. our main content feed). Their business plan seems to involve ads on the home page, which like Twitter is made up of posts by other people you are following (e.g. Look At This Fucking Hipster). Check out ours and follow us here.
That following aspect is the big selling point for us, as a way of dragging new readers onto the mothership (www.chimpomatic.com), as well as adding some bonus data on the move, as Tumblr and Twitter are very iPhone friendly. In order to keep all our feeds and so on alive, we're using Twitterfeed, which can pull RSS content from any source and auto-Twitter it for you - hence our always up to date Twitter feed. That Twitter feed is then handy to post everything to your Facebook page.
Yahoo's Fire Eagle and Google's Latitude are likely to take off next, allowing you to easily update your location for selected people to find you. While there's something of a privacy issue, I don't think too many people will really care - or will select exactly who they wish to share that data with. Several location based social-networking services are already using the Fire Eagle service - for example Dopplr (there's that dumb spelling again), which is a travel based info-sharing service. Haven't quite got my head around that one yet, but will keep you updated...
22nd Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Goth Cruise
Goths on a cruise? Doesn't it mess with their no-tan policy? Maybe they only come out at night...
22nd Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Star Status: Andy Garcia
A recent screening of The Untouchables brought Andy Garcia into the sights of Star Status, and it's a mixed picture. He's actually been in a lot of TV stuff and a lot of stuff that I for one haven't seen - so quite a few of these scores will be coming from the over-generous IBDB voting system. No TV, so his appearance in the pilot of Murder She Wrote won't count I'm afraid.
So, how does Cuban-born Andy Garcia 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...
The Pink Panther 2 (2009) .... Vicenzo - MISS
City Island (2009) .... Vince Rizzo - HIT
La linea (2008) .... Javier Salazar - MISS
Beverly Hills Chihuahua (2008) (voice) .... Delgado - MISS
Ocean's Thirteen (2007) .... Terry Benedict - HIT
The Air I Breathe (2007) .... Fingers - HIT
Smokin' Aces (2006) .... Stanley Locke - MAYBE
The Lost City (2005) .... Fico Fellove - MAYBE
Ocean's Twelve (2004) .... Terry Benedict - HIT
Modigliani (2004) .... Amedeo Modigliani - MAYBE
The Lazarus Child (2004) .... Jack Heywood - MISS
Twisted (2004/I) .... Mike Delmarco - MISS
Confidence (2003) .... Gunther Butan - MAYBE
Just Like Mona (2003) - MISS
Ocean's Eleven (2001) .... Terry Benedict - HIT
The Man from Elysian Fields (2001) .... Byron - MAYBE
The Unsaid (2001) .... Michael Hunter - MAYBE
Lakeboat (2000) .... Guigliani - MISS
Just the Ticket (1999/I) .... Gary Starke - MISS
Desperate Measures (1998) .... Frank Conner - MISS
Hoodlum (1997) .... Lucky Luciano - MISS
The Disappearance of Garcia Lorca (1996) .... Lorca - MAYBE
Night Falls on Manhattan (1996) .... Sean Casey - MAYBE
Steal Big Steal Little (1995) .... Ruben Partida Martinez/Robert Martin/Narrator - MISS
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995) .... Jimmy 'The Saint' Tosnia - HIT
When a Man Loves a Woman (1994) .... Michael Green - MAYBE
Jennifer Eight (1992) .... Sgt. John Berlin - HIT
Hero (1992/I) .... John Bubber - HIT
Dead Again (1991) .... Gray Baker - HIT
The Godfather: Part III (1990) .... Vincent Mancini - HIT
A Show of Force (1990) .... Luis Angel Mora - MISS
Internal Affairs (1990) .... Raymond Avilla - HIT
Black Rain (1989/I) .... Charlie - HIT
American Roulette (1988) .... Carlos Quintas - MISS
Stand and Deliver (1988) .... Dr. Ramirez (Educational Testing Service) - MAYBE
The Untouchables (1987) .... Agent George Stone / Giuseppe Petri - HIT
8 Million Ways to Die (1986) .... Angel Moldonado - MAYBE
HIT 11
MAYBE 11
MISS 13
So that's 178 out of a possible 370
Andy Garcia, you have scored a (perhaps surprising) 48.1%
If you dare make a purchase, you can do so here, allowing Chimpomatic to profit from his loss. Check back soon for more Star Status movie maths. Same Chimp Channel, same Chimp Time...
17th Jul 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Power-less
The freaky-deaky world of wireless power is moving forward, with the new Palm Pre including a 'touchstone' power-pad - and now Wildcharge is offering a solution for the iPhone, which combines a desktop pad with a special case for the phone that includes the necessary black magic. That also has the possible advantage of letting all your devices charge of the one matt.
Wired has more details.
30th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
CHAD
A recent travel-op led to some discussion about the origins of the famous Chad and the results are interesting. Turns out that there are several intertwining stories going into the mix.
Chad
The 'Wot no...' tag line originates from the shortages experienced by rationed Britishers during World War II. Where 'Wot no eggs?' or 'Wot no tea bags' were literal complaints. Not too much detail on the nose-over-the-wall cartoon though.
Kilroy
The viral message of the Chad was most likely popularised by the American usage of cartoon alongside 'the Kilroy'. The tagline 'Kilroy was here' written in further and further flung fields, allegedly even written on the dust on the moon. The Kilroy plausibly originates back to World War II warship inspector James J. Kilroy, who would write 'Kilroy was here' once he had finished his inspection.
Speculation even takes the story even further, to the point where the omni-presence of the slogan - which appeared wherever US servicemen had been - led Hitler to believe Kilroy to be a super-spy.
Lose The Game
An interesting modern spin on the phenomenon comes in the form of Lose The Game. A game supposedly devised by a couple of chaps stranded at a train station over night. The aim of the game is simple - don't think about the game. By the way, you lose.
18th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
BYO CD
Interesting developments on the way from Amazon, with a partnership with distribution start-up Tunecore allowing artists to get physical CDs onto Amazon's books, through a new short-run system.
Only problem is, does anyone still buy CDs? Tunecore are on top of that too as we already reported, allowing full distribution through Amazon's MP3 store - with Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor paying the company a mere $38 to get his 4-disc album into the store, then receiving a 40% share of the Amazon retail price.
Wired has the story.
16th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Double Twist
I've been trying out Double Twist this week - the new project from notorious former hacker DVD Jon.
The program has a simple premise: bring management of all your phones/devices, photos and music into one place. You can plug in your smartphone, sync up photos, upload them to Facebook and Flickr, share files with friends - and also decode your protected purchases from the iTunes store.
It's a great concept and for certain phone users in particular (Blackberry/Windows Mobile) it'll solve a lot of problems. As a dedicated iPhone user however, it doesn't offer much that isn't already covered elsewhere.
11th Jun 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Wavves
Wavvves
Bella Union
Wavves is the solo project of San Diego's Nathan Daniel WIlliams and that's the simple part. This is his second full length release, the first came out earlier this year and was self titled and featured the song Wavves, which was one of the best songs on the album. Both records have as their cover image, a faded photograph of a kid on a skateboard in his backyard and both will fix your head in a homemade vice but you'll love every minute of it.
Much like its front cover which features a kid attempting a drop-in off a wheelbarrow in the 70's, the debut record was pumped full of hazy nostalgia, disaffected youth rebellion, boyish reverie and was all churned out with the same DIY scuzz that you'd expect from a wheelbarrow drop-in. This follow-up features a more zoomed in shot of the same kid but this time he's found an actual ramp and it's possible to see a link between these two visual differences. They both thrash uncontrollably between slacker-punk and twisted surf-rock, they're both shrouded in red-line production and they're both pretty damn gnarly but this followup is more focused, more fluid and much like the difference between a wheelbarrow and a ramp when it comes to skateboarding this one is way more fun.
He's got himself a drummer on this new record and it makes a big difference. Together they scoop up the sticky floor-muck that is left behind after your average punk gig and recycle it back into music. Incorporating elements of Sonic Youth, Nirvana, the Beach Boys and contemporaries like No Age and Sic Alps, Williams masterfully evokes every musical and social teenage experience I can remember and filters it all through claustrophobic production. The two most obvious central anthems are So Bored and No Hope Kids. Both illustrate Williams' knack for crafting perfect pop hooks and melodies and then burying it all under a ton of feedback and general punk noise. They clatter around as if directionless but even in their most abrasive spells the pop element is always adhered to. I use that word 'Pop' with some pretty heavy inverted commas around it, but in this context it represents direction, be that melody or rhythm. Everything possible is done to submerge this element but it ends up carrying most of these songs to their successful conclusion.
To sum up, may I use the Paris Hilton vernacular and call Wavves my NFB (New Favorite Band) This title has been awarded for some pretty base level reasons. Williams makes proper punk rock that while doused in the contemporary trend of red-line production hollers with teenage nostalgic abandon and instantly takes me back to sunny days spent hating the world and dropping-in off wheelbarrows. Good times.
29th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviewsSteal Our ideas
Check out Steal Our Ideas for some high-brow marketing ploys. Like an In Rainbows version of the full-service ad agency.
22nd May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Ashes of American Flags
Perhaps a little under-advertised, you may have missed Channel 4's screening of the new Wilco movie Ashes of American Flags on Friday. Fortunately their 4OD on-demand service has the movie available for another 27 days.
It was out on DVD on April 20th.
27th Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
The Veils
Sun Gangs
Rough Trade
After having seen Finn Andrews perform with his unassuming ensemble at a small east end pub not so long ago it's pretty hard not to get excited about a forthcoming release by The Veils. 2006's Nux Vomica came out of nowhere and blew my mind with its ferocious intensity. It was raw when it needed to be but as smooth as silk at other times and running through it all was such profound yet compellingly humble songwriting. Sun Gangs inevitably possesses all these qualities and is a worthy followup indeed.
Described by Finn as "a very modern mixture of prayers, love letters and personal record keeping," Sun Gangs is the natural progression after Nux Vomica. It's less wild definitely and more mature as a result. And yet with maturity can often come a bloated beast, but it has resisted the temptation to grow beyond all recognition of it's past. It is epic though, and more so than Nux. The Letter with its soaring central guitar chord hints at where this record could have gone, but it's the vision of Finn that one assumes keeps this from straying into dangerous Coldplay territory and instead it remains genuinely rousing.
The quote from Finn at the start of the last paragraph says much about this writer and the work he produces. It's real and honest and delivered with such humility. This can all be seen at the live shows - as Finn stands awkwardly at the front, profoundly flattered by the very presence of the crowd in front of him and then with the first note he recedes into a zone all his own and emerges as if in a room all alone. One of the elements that makes this band stand out form others that sit in a similar genre is the varied gradation of sonic tone that is covered throughout the record's progression. They can express such unsettling intimacy on songs like the title track - as Finn, accompanied only by a piano can drip his words from his mouth right into your ear, like it was only meant for you. He can then turn on you on songs like Killed By The Boom which recollects the nasty side of this band last seen on songs like Not Yet on Nux Vomica. Instead of dripping, Finn spits every word in your face on this song with screeching guitars and hard drum action. He also says of this song which tells the tale of a mysterious character of slightly ill repute that it is "possibly about The Wire's Omar Little." I think I can speak for my colleagues here at Chimpomatic when I say, that's all the information I need.
Three Sisters channels all this aggression into a slick and damn near perfect two and a half minutes of breakneck pop, with ukulele up front and bass and lead guitar in twin formation either side it's a formidable attack and is electrifying. As it slams on the breaks abruptly it makes room for The House She Lived In which shows Finn's undying romantic side. All of this is then thrown skyward when we hear Larkspur. This is by far the longest song here and shows a side of this band that is not only unlike any other we've seen in the other songs but one that hasn't shown its head in their whole career. This is where we see the maturity of Finn after the success of Nux Vomica. This song opens up the ribcage of his sound to expose a dauntingly cavernous and hollow interior that goes on for way further than your eyes or ears can fathom. With limited lyrics it simply sits back and watches you sweat in all this space as it slowly closes in around you. When you think it's all going to explode and launch into driving guitar bliss, it does the opposite, it recedes and reveals yet more hidden chambers. It's torturous in its resistance but utterly brilliant and enough evidence alone of Finns talent and the ground that he and his band have covered since Nux Vomica.
In short Sun Gangs may not have such stand alone gems as Advice For Young Mothers To Be or Jesus For The Jugular but as a whole plays out with consistent quality and maturity. It's got it all, love, faith, life death and the fear of all the above and is presented in a package that's impossible not to believe.
21st Apr 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
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Black Lips
200 Million Thousand
Vice
With this third release on Vice from Atlanta garage-rock four-piece Black Lips, the band skillfully manage to side step much of the expectation that has been put on them since 2007's fantastic Good Bad Not Evil. Having started out as a bunch of young, unwashed punks they quickly developed a reputation that got them banned from many venues in Georgia for their pretty wild live shows. After a few decent but hardly memorable albums, Good Bad Not Evil has boosted their stock no end. It stays true to their ragged aesthetic and is full of lo-fi blues rock that frays at the edges but stays this side of unpredictable and is packed full of wooly hooks that guide you through its many ups and downs with surprising warmth.
200 Million Thousand however, refuses to expand on this success and is almost a two finger salute to all the praise that came with the last album. That's not to say it's inferior and the fact that they've chosen such a route off the back of what can only be called a break through album is impressive.
Much of the jaunty bar room jams are replaced here with a much more sluggish soup of hazy narcotic songs that recall bands like The Velvet Underground and early Rolling Stones. They have always nodded towards sounds of old and their success comes from their ability to incorporate these with their gritty, no-bullshit sensibility and throwaway passion for rock n roll. But their references seem more clear here and while not necessarily detracting from the songs does change the overall feeling of the record. The twang of their guitars throw up an almost impenetrable veil of sound that swirls around each song. Cole Alexander's vocals growl and crawl through this mist like a possessed Jim Morrison. It's thick and at times hard going, Alexander seems far away from the listener as he's surrounded by this sound and the distant production.
The moments when this mist lifts and the tempo rises are very effective. Drugs and Short Fuse both have an infectious rolling tempo lead by a fantastic surf guitar chord that dispels a lot of the haze and hints to us that the band haven't totally forgotten what they started on the last record. And I suppose as beacons in the slush they are bound to sound all the more sweet. As we descend back into the swirling dream world of songs like Starting Over and Trapped In A Basement, we wait for these beacons to guide us through but like a drug setting in we feel unable to turn our backs on this sound that is pulling us under. Alexander's proposal of "come and ride with me, I'll make some room in my dirty back seat," seems unattractive to a normal mind but here feels almost too much to resist. This is the kind of music you need to shower after as it's scuzzy to say the least but it's a bit of a fuck you of a direction change and while being slightly less enjoyable than its predecessor it hints at the worth of this band
13th Mar 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsWireless Hot Spotify
Despite a minor security scare, Spotify is continuing to gather a major following after their UK launch - with a load more labels now getting on board (most notably Sub Pop). Still a few big names missing (The Smiths anyone?), but it's fast become a totally viable storage-free alternative to iTunes.
The obvious drawback remains not having the files on your iPod, making listening on the move a problem - but the big news hitting the nets is a possible mobile client, and as shown in the video an iPhone client (More info: Wired / Techcrunch). The best feature? The app is designed to cache music you have lined up, meaning there's music available when you drop out of signal range.
Of course, Apple may not allow the app onto the iTunes store, but they do allow Last FM on there - and even highlight it in their iPhone adverts on TV. Apple could, of course, launch a similar service themselves - and have recently begun offering season pass-type subscriptions, similar to Top Spin's business model. They'd probably need another round of negotiations with the labels, but with many indies now working as a fifth pseudo-major label that shouldn't be all that complicated (p.s. note, Merlin have our inside-man Matthew Herbert as their poster boy).
Some bands are even taking the matter into their own hands, with No Doubt giving away their entire catalog when you buy a tour ticket and The Presidents of the United States offering four of their albums in a handy app for $3. Ex-President Dave Dederer has even gone so far as to become involved in a company offering such apps, as well as the Nutsie service - which promises to deliver your iTunes music to your phone, other PCs and even Facebook.
That social networking aspect is integral to all these services - and sites are springing up all over the place allowing you to share your playlists and so on (1,2), but none can beat this old-school front end for actual browsing.
Exciting times.
6th Mar 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Star Status: Michael Caine
The whole star status formula was concocted one evening in the pub following a discussion about the patchy career of messrs Connory and Caine. Connery has a career so patchy he only scored a 28.8% hit rate, while Michael Caine's career is so schizophrenic that he couldn't collect his Oscar for Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, as he was busy filming Jaws IV: The Revenge. A low in the entire pantheon of cinema, not just one man's career.
So, how does Michael Caine (A.K.A. Sir Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr.) 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.
In the spirit of full disclosure I should also tell you that I've been a little presumptuous and started the count with Zulu (1964), as prior to that it's a barrage of uncredited roles and TV bit parts. As he's a man with 139 credits on his IMDB page, there's plenty I haven't seen, for which I've taken some advice from the often over-generous IMDB ratings.
Is There Anybody There? (2008) - MAYBE
The Dark Knight (2008) .... Alfred Pennyworth - HIT
Sleuth (2007) .... Andrew - MISS
Flawless (2007) .... Mr. Hobbs - MAYBE
The Prestige (2006) .... Cutter - MAYBE
Children of Men (2006) .... Jasper - HIT
The Weather Man (2005) .... Robert Spritzel - MAYBE
Bewitched (2005) .... Nigel Bigelow - MISS
Batman Begins (2005) .... Alfred - HIT
Around the Bend (2004) .... Henry Lair - HIT
The Statement (2003) .... Pierre Brossard - MAYBE
Secondhand Lions (2003) .... Garth - HIT
The Actors (2003) .... Anthony O'Malley - MAYBE
Quicksand (2003) .... Jake Mellows - MISS
The Quiet American (2002) .... Thomas Fowler - HIT
Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) .... Nigel Powers - MAYBE
Last Orders (2001) .... Jack - HIT
Miss Congeniality (2000) .... Victor Melling - MAAAAYBE
Get Carter (2000) .... Cliff Brumby - MISS
Shiner (2000) .... Billy 'Shiner' Simpson - MAYBE
Quills (2000) .... Dr. Royer-Collard - HIT
The Debtors (1999) - MISS
The Cider House Rules (1999) .... Dr. Wilbur Larch - HIT
Curtain Call (1999) .... Max Gale - MISS
Little Voice (1998) .... Ray Say - HIT
Shadow Run (1998) .... Haskell - MISS
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997/II) (TV) .... Captain Nemo - MISS
Mandela and de Klerk (1997) (TV) .... F.W. de Klerk - MAYBE
Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996) .... Harry Palmer - MISS
Blood and Wine (1996) .... Victor 'Vic' Spansky - MAYBE
Bullet to Beijing (1995) .... Harry Palmer - MISS
World War II: When Lions Roared (1994) (TV) .... Joseph V. Stalin - MAYBE
On Deadly Ground (1994) .... Michael Jennings - MISS
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) .... Ebenezer Scrooge - HIT
Blue Ice (1992) .... Harry Anders - MISS
Noises Off... (1992) .... Lloyd Fellowes - MAYBE
Bullseye! (1990) .... Sidney Lipton/Doctor Hicklar - MISS
Mr. Destiny (1990) .... Mike/Mr. Destiny - MISS
A Shock to the System (1990) .... Graham Marshall - MISS
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988) .... Lawrence Jamieson - MAYBE
Without a Clue (1988) .... Sherlock Holmes - MAYBE
Surrender (1987) .... Sean Stein - MISS
Jaws: The Revenge (1987) .... Hoagie Newcombe - MIIIIISSSSSSS!
The Whistle Blower (1987) .... Frank Jones - MISS
The Fourth Protocol (1987) .... John Preston - MAYBE
Half Moon Street (1986) .... Lord Sam Bulbeck - MISS
Mona Lisa (1986) .... Mortwell - HIT
Sweet Liberty (1986) .... Elliott James - MISS
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) .... Elliot - HIT
The Holcroft Covenant (1985) .... Noel Holcroft - MISS
Water (1985/I) .... Governor Baxter Thwaites - MISS
Blame It on Rio (1984) .... Matthew Hollins - MISS
The Honorary Consul (1983) .... Charley Fortnum, Consul - MISS
Educating Rita (1983) .... Dr. Frank Bryant - HIT
The Jigsaw Man (1983) .... Philip Kimberly/Sergei Kuzminsky - MISS
Deathtrap (1982) .... Sidney Bruhl - MISS
Escape To Victory (1981) .... Capt. John Colby - HIT
The Hand (1981) .... Jonathan Lansdale - MISS
The Island (1980) .... Blair Maynard - MISS
Dressed to Kill (1980) .... Doctor Robert Elliott - MAYBE
Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) .... Captain Mike Turner - MISS
Ashanti (1979) .... Dr. David Linderby - MISS
California Suite (1978) .... Sidney Cochran - MAYBE
The Swarm (1978) .... Dr. Bradford Crane - MISS
Silver Bears (1978) .... Doc Fletcher - MISS
A Bridge Too Far (1977) .... Lt. Col. John O.E. Vandeleur - HIT
The Eagle Has Landed (1976) .... Colonel Steiner - HIT
Harry and Walter Go to New York (1976) .... Adam Worth - MISS
The Man Who Would Be King (1975) .... Peachy Carnehan - HIT
The Romantic Englishwoman (1975) .... Lewis Fielding - MISS
The Wilby Conspiracy (1975) .... Jim Keogh - MISS
Peeper (1975) .... Leslie C. Tucker - MISS
The Black Windmill (1974) .... Maj. John Tarrant - MISS
Sleuth (1972) .... Milo Tindle - HIT
Pulp (1972) .... Mickey King - MAYBE
Zee and Co. (1972) .... Robert Blakeley - MISS
Kidnapped (1971) .... Alan Breck - MAYBE
Get Carter (1971) .... Jack Carter - HIT
The Last Valley (1970) .... The Captain - HIT
Too Late the Hero (1970) .... Pvt. Tosh Hearne - MAYBE
Battle of Britain (1969) .... Squadron Leader Canfield - HIT
The Italian Job (1969) .... Charlie Croker - HIT
The Magus (1968) .... Nicholas Urfe - MISS
Deadfall (1968) .... Henry Stuart Clarke - MISS
Play Dirty (1968) .... Capt. Douglas - MISS
Billion Dollar Brain (1967) .... Harry Palmer - MISS
Woman Times Seven (1967) .... Handsome Stranger (segment "Snow") - MISS
Hurry Sundown (1967) .... Henry Warren - MISS
Funeral in Berlin (1966) .... Harry Palmer - HIT
Gambit (1966) .... Harry Tristan Dean - HIT
The Wrong Box (1966) .... Michael Finsbury - MAYBE
Alfie (1966) .... Alfie Elkins - HIT
The Ipcress File (1965) .... Harry Palmer - HIT
Zulu (1964) .... Lieutenant Gonville Bromhead - HIT
HIT 28
MISS 22
MAYBE 44
So that's a generous 434 points out of a possible whopping 940.
Michael Caine: you have scored 46.1%
If you dare make a purchase, you can do so here, allowing Chimpomatic to profit from his loss. Check back soon for more Star Status movie maths. Same Chimp Channel, same Chimp Time...
26th Feb 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Seinfeld Gets Back In The Ring
It's been 11 years since Seinfeld finished on our TV screens, but now Jerry Seinfeld is back with a new show. The Marriage Ref is the title of the somewhat dubious-sounding non-fiction show, which will "feature opinionated celebrities, comedians and sports stars offering commentary and advice to real-life couples enduring "classic marital disputes.""
Variety has the details. Gawker is less that impressed.
26th Feb 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Get Spotify. Now.
If you're not on board already, head over and register for a free account at Spotify and download their player now. Building on Nokia's badly presented, but solid concept of 'comes with music', the program works like iTunes, or a totally unlocked Last FM - but stores no music on your hard drive. Music is all delivered legally over the www as and when you play it, at a bitrate comparable to decent mp3 compression. A basic account is free, with the only concession being the occasional advert. And currently that is occasional - with only about 3 ads playing over 8 hours of continuos use at the moment, and most of them were for Spotify's own premium service. For that premium service you can pay 99p a day, or £9.99 a month for advert-free listening - which is hardly extortion.
The concept has come a long way since I last checked in, with the selection now being pretty thorough. Some of the usual cautious big-hitters (Beatles, Led Zep, Pink Floyd, Metallica) are absent, and a few labels are obviously not quite there yet (e.g. Sub Pop, Jagjaguwar) but on the whole the catalogue is on a simlar footing to iTunes - and they even have a few exclusives, like a one week heads-up on U2's new album.
Search for an album, press play and you're off. So easy it's ridiculous.
We're already using it heavily at Chimp HQ - particularly thanks to the built in support for Last FM, which lets us keep our charts up-to-date with minimum hassle - and I dare say this app (or at least the concept) will undoubtedly define the future of music, just as Napster, iPods and iTunes all have. You have been warned.
23rd Feb 2009 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band
Dead Oceans
As you may or may not summise from their name, Seattle quintet TMSHVB (for, errr, short) are a mischievous bunch. Naming rights were given to then 13 year-old Marshall Verdoes, as a reward for improving his drumming sufficiently to form a band with his brother/adoptive father (depending on which blurb you read) Benjamin. With obscure name in place, TMSHVB set about creating a buzz for themselves - issuing a number of Public Service Announcements before making a sound available to the wider public.
When those sounds were set free, first in the form of self-recorded and released EP Weepy and now in their debut self-titled full length LP, the mischief remained very much front and centre. Co-produced by Scott Colburn (with Arcade Fire and Animal Collective to his name) TMSHVB walk a tidy line between slick and slapdash, playful and professional. I would guess that Marshall is no longer 13 years of age, as he spares no snare, keeping hard time with the wayward structure of most of the 11 songs that make up the album he titled. Like a more mature Spinto Band (a category which technically every single band in the world falls into) TMSHVB’s tunes are driven by fun and good times - a refusal to be limited by anything as square as traditional structure.
“Who‘s asking?” opens things up nice - with a choral ‘Oooh Oooh‘ heralding in a tune evidently about a disagreement between Ben Verdoes and an old flame. All nice and jaunty then a pair of lead guitars appear from nowhere, perform a quick Brian May-esque dual, then disappear off into the night, allowing the tune to return on its original way and pace. “Masquerade” has those May guitars starting proceedings, building a tasty riff, which this time is broken down into a Waltz after a minute. That’s not to say this is Vampire Weekend type boundary busting novelty fayre, Mt St Helens are indie and no mistake. And they do it well. With obvious talent, they keep the energy high and the mood light, sample lyric from “On a hunt“ “I’m going to spear the mighty Giant Squid, I’ll Steal it’s ink, to write you letters of my adventures.” In amongst all this hyperactivity, slower tracks such as “A Year or Too” or 7 minute string-tinged closer “On the Collar” hold their own - rounding out the album nicely.
Forget the hype. Let the music speak on their behalf.
23rd Feb 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
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The Veils
The Macbeth, London
February 5th, 2009
With a follow up to 2006 break-out Nux Vomica in the can and ready to drop in April, The Veils lined up a four night stint across London to road test the new material. We made it along to formerly-out-of-the-way pub The Macbeth in Hoxton in anticipation of catching an early airing of new songs from this great band.
Once the sub-par openers were out of the way, it was pretty clear that the packed-out crowd were here for one reason only - and the show kicked off at a lightening pace. With their recorded material, the emphasis is all on lyrics and vocal deliver, but live on stage the band were a different animal entirely. Dan Raishbrook's outstanding guitar work and cool-as-fuck bassist Sophia Burn really added another dimension to front man Finn Andrews booming band, as they hammered through very promising sounding new material, clearly building on the strengths of Nux Vomica. Old favorites weren't passed over though and Calliope!, Advice For Young Mothers and Not Yet (all available on their www as it happens) met with resounding approval.
Band or no band however, this is clearly Andrews' project - and a mid-set solo number wowed the crown, while another solo encore cemented him as a mesmerising poetic figure. He led the show with style and bumped Sun Gangs onto this year's 'most anticipated' list.
6th Feb 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 4 star reviewsiPhoto '09
I've got my mitts on a copy of the latest version of iPhoto - Apple's photo management software, and I'm loving it. It's got three great new bonus features: Maps, Syncing and Faces.
Geotagging has been picking up momentum for a while now - and with more and more phones and cameras coming with built-in GPS, it's only going to get bigger. Geotagged photos are now all pulled together on a map, with the co-ordinates reverse coded to show location names, allowing you to search for places and find photos taken there. Pretty nifty. Adding locations isn't a big feature yet, but any locations added in Flickr can be synced using the next new feature.
Just when PhotoCopy had launched their excellent Flickr syncing program, Apple have added Flickr-syncing to the mothership - and it works perfectly. Any set of photos can be used to create a Flickr set, which then uploads to your chosen account. Any changes made to the set or the photos (adding tags, changing title etc) are automatically updated online, and even more impressively any changes made online are synced back to the program.
With more and more services becoming available to run sophisticated photo sites using Flickr (1, 2, 3), anyone can now manage a detailed photo site using just iPhoto.
Here's an example using the Chimp surveillance data.
Finally, iPhoto now uses facial recognition. If you saw this on CSI you would dismiss it as implausible, but it actually works incredibly well. As you first set it up, it scans through your library and marks any faces it thinks it has found. You can then click these and add a name - and as the names build up, the program quickly suggests other photos with that person in. It's right maybe 70% of the time, which makes tagging these photos super easy. You can then search your library for a name, and bingo - all the photos of one person in one place. The tagged photos work pretty much like Facebook's photo tagging, so as expected you can now upload directly to Facebook, keeping all that data in place.
I wasn't intending this to sound like a software review, but there's no denying how it's turned out. The best photo management album out there just got way better.
CSF - 4.5 Stars
2nd Feb 2009 - 2 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Picassa for Mac
While iPhoto offers a pretty nifty set of features, there's something to be said for the speed and ease-of-use of Google's Picassa photo-management software, which is now available for Macs.
It also integrates nicely with some of friendly-Monopoly Google's other services, such as Web Albums and Blogger.
6th Jan 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet
The WaterMill
new product that could help get rid of the bottled water madness: "Technically speaking, the WaterMill is an atmospheric water collection device that condenses water vapor and purifies it. In English: It's a home appliance that makes drinking water for your whole family - using only air."
26th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
iZagat
The indispensable Zagat restaurant guide has finally popped up for the iPhone. The £5.99 app provides all the 2009 results, in the same manner as their Blackberry-centric version, Zagat To Go. It also uses the GPS of the phone to hook you up with the nearest listed restaurants, hotel and bars - with results you can order by rating, type, cost etc.
Get it here.
While the service has had a mobile phone version of their website for a while (zagat.mobi), for that you still have to be a website subscriber, which is a $25 annual subscription.
It's also worth getting the free Open Table app, which allows you to make restaurant bookings over the air, and ties in with the Zagat app.
AppleInsider has a more detailed write up of both apps.
24th Nov 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Guns 'N Roses
Chinese Democracy
Polydor
So it's finally a reality, the album no one, least of all Dr. Pepper (that's not what a company needs in a credit crunch), thought would ever materialise. But it has and as expected it has brought with it the tidal wave of opinions that accompany every move Axl Rose makes. Listening to, and to a much greater extent, forming an opinion about Chinese Democracy is damn near impossible while employing your regular critical faculties. It's hard to compare it to previous Guns N' Roses material, seeing as their last studio album was 17 years ago and Axl is the only original member left. And Axl's dominating presence on the record is the only thing linking it to the previous work, as musically it is a different band all together and fiercely contemporary. It would be a different story if Axl had disappeared for 14 years and now reemerged with a comeback album in order to pay some bills, but as we all know that is not the case here. By all accounts he hasn't done anything else but make this record for 14 years, so to review it is like reviewing history and seeing as I am a long way from where I was 14 years ago it's hard to know if I'm disappointed in Chinese Democracy or if I lost interest in its concept a long time ago.
With this record Axl Rose reveals himself as the Colonel Kurtz of the rock world, or actually of the whole world. Lost long ago, way up the river of obsession and self-delusion, he works beyond the boundaries of reason endlessly creating things that mirror himself. In this likeness comes Chinese Democracy, drifting out of the mist from a place no man has gone, a bloated monstrosity so impressive in size and construction and displaying elements of genius but often swaying with uneasy insecurities. And like Joseph Conrad's character you stare back at him with awe, dazzled by the ambition but all the time filled with terror at the mind that could conceive of such a creation.
Excess has always followed Axl Rose both in his music and his lifestyle. Use Your Illusion was flawed, but few have managed to pull off the double album like he did back in 1991. It too was an over-ambitious project that was filled with fat, over-stuffed, gluttonous songs that aimed for the stars with every note. They often failed but it was hard to fault a band that had produced such perfect punk-rock ferocity in Appetite For Destruction only to set a rocket under all that and change forever what any fan had thought or appreciated about them before. All the signs were there that this was going to be a vastly out of proportion project. Axl has always tended towards the epic and with songs like November Rain and Estranged we saw his gigantic vision expressed, but then with songs like Coma we saw how it could all get out of hand. It's no surprise then that left to his own devices and devoid of the more direct guidance of Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan that Axl would be free to express his tendency to swell each song out of all proportion and cram as many elements into every second of his sound. This is the main critisism here but then it was always going to be.
Underneath the colossal weight of production you can hear some great songwriting. The title track opens the album with some force and with his Mr. Brownstone growl, Axl reinstates himself in our lives and it's good to have him back. As expected, Better is the high point of the album. It's a real powerhouse of a song and shows us how far this songwriter has brought his sound and yet at the same time shows glimpses of the feral energy that got us all hooked in the first place. It also shows how different the guitar playing is now compared to the melodic skyward playing of Slash. It's much harder on this record and the way the guitars chug with the force of a freight train on Better affirms that this is a totally different band than before. Shackler's Revenge sees the same guitar train chug but then unravels into an epileptic guitar solo the like of which this band have never provided in the past. Then there's the impressive Catcher In The Rye or the bewildering Street Of Dreams...enough...this has to stop. Having scratched the surface of what makes this record work I see before me, in my mental landscape, a vast chasm of points I feel the need to express, this must be what Axl lives with on a daily basis, and much like this records history any reviewer faces the same temptation to keep writing and writing. So with that in mind I move swiftly and brutally on to the concluding paragraph.
Ultimately, Chinese Democracy poses more questions on its arrival than it did as a myth. All the way through I find myself scratching my head in puzzlement at some of the bizarre twists and turns that Axl takes his band through. But I don't know if this confusion is down to the fact that I too am 14 years older. My formative years were spent with this band blasting in my ears and I can't say that I was chomping at the bit to get another taste. Few things on this earth are worth waiting such a long time for, except maybe actual Chinese Democracy, so now that it is here I can't say I am disappointed, all I can say is that I don't think I really like it but I do think that it's pretty good. The bright light that is Axl Rose has in no way dimmed as a result of this release, it hasn't tarnished the moments of perfection that soundtracked my younger days and all-in-all it's a very impressive event.
24th Nov 2008 - 1 comments - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviewsWhere 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
Apparitions
Episode One
BBC1
Spooky atmospherics with Martin Shaw as a Catholic exorcist, fighting off a series of angry demons and the people they've possessed.
The first episode crams in a visit to the Vatican, a repressed novice priest who was once cured of leprosy by Mother Theresa and a dad whose Satanic babbling isn't scoring him too many points on the parenting front.
Sounds like it's been toned down from the original full-on version featuring a man's skin being ripped off his body in a gay sauna thanks to the kind intervention of the Sunday Express - can't have helped that it's being broadcast so soon after the nonsense of Sachsgate or whatever we're calling it. Which in a way is probably a sign that it's the sort of thing you might enjoy if you're not an Express reader.
With this and Dead Set, looks like horror's back on primetime TV - BBC3's vampire flatshare Being Human is coming in 2009 as well...
9th Nov 2008 - Add Comment - Tweet
Read more 3 star reviews