I've just added a linkroll displaying my latest del.icio.us links on the sidebar. Nifty! I usually post a few links to my del.icio.us every day so it'll be updated often. Actually, I wanted to setup my del.icio.us to automatically post my daily links to this blog (as described in this hepful post from theory.isthereason) but I can't find any useful info on how to set it up on a Blogger account- though any pointers would be much appreciated. :) So this is the next best option!
Warren Ellis's Superburst Mixtapes were easily the best podcasts of the year for music lovers- they showcased really excellent independent bands from a wide mix of genres. Each new episode promised brilliantly unpredictable auditory delights. Sadly, he ended the series with number 25.
BUT!
He's back with a new podcast- Apparat. Needless to say, it's brilliant. Programmes one through four are available on his website.
So Nickson Fong, a Singaporean CGI dude who worked on Hollywood films like Shrek and Matrix: Reloaded, and his team at Egg Story are making an animated movie called Kungfu Gecko!
The official site's got Quicktime trailers in high, medium and low sizes.
So how is it? From a technical perspective, it's excellent! Detailed textures, nice particle effects, realistic lighting, they've got it all down. But it's not a tech demo, it's a movie trailer. And from that perspective... it's lousy. The character designs are unappealing (my sister just called them "weird"), the first action sequence rips-off Spider-Man, and the comedy bits at the end are just flat.
Given that this is this is Kungfu Gecko's first trailer, I'll give Egg Story the benefit of doubt. The movie's slated for a 2008 release so they've got PLENTY of time to work on storyline and characterisations. OK they probably won't change the character designs but I could look past that. I just hope they don't suffer from 'Final Fantasy' syndrome- an extreme case of style over substance.
(via twitchfilm.net)
Yesterday, I read this Kaiju Shakedown about Jackie Chan's iTunes playlist. I don't pay attention to celebrity music recommendations unless it's from a musician I like, but this made me too curious. What does Jacky listen to? Well, first thing I found out is that the man sings! Indeed, he's got an album out. Interesting, but nothing I'd want to listen to.
Then I spotted the name HANG ON THE BOX. I knew them! An all-girl band from Beijing whose short, snappy punk songs I'd rather enjoyed listening to a few year ago (the songs are still available on their old Sister Records site. But I'd forgotten about them for a while. Time to see what they'd been up to lately! So I googled them and lo and behold, they've got a snazzy new site! I discovered they had a new lineup- with the addition of male guitarist Xiao Gan, they no longer qualified as a girl-band. They'd released a couple of new albums out since I last checked. But best of all, the site had new songs to listen to! I checked out the song Rollercoaster (streaming WMA there), described on their site as an "electro-spacerock number." Intriguing!
Whoa! This song was so different from their old stuff! Punk no more, they were. Electro-spacerock was apt. Sounded... experimental. Bit like Mars Volta (no surprise- their guitarist is a fan!). But very enjoyable! It's been a while since a band really surprised me and HANG IN THE BOX have done just that. I look forward to their next album!
Though, impatient to hear more of their stuff, I took the liberty of downloading their last album- Foxy Lady (actually an EP with a cover of Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady and 2 new songs, padded out with older songs. Not that I mind!). Great stuff! The albums on my to-buy list, along with their previous album "Di Di Di" and their compilation album "For Every Punk B**ch & A**ehole". I'll see if I can't cajole a local music store into bringing in their stuff.
What does all this have to do with African Trance, though? Well, while perusing their site I took a look at their links section and spotted a link for "Konono No.1 (the African Neubauten!)." I have no idea who Neubauten is but I clicked the link anyway! And so I ended up at the site for KONONO N°1, a band from Congo whose music is out of this world!!!
The band uses traditional instruments called likembés or thumb pianos, microphones made out of recycled car magnets and a percussion section made of junk! And they use this unusual setup to make totally funky music. But don't take my word for it! Listen to this MP3 and check out this video of the band performing.
I've been hunting for mashups (remixes where 2 or more songs are mixed together) after listenin to the excellent M.I.A. vs Madonna mashup I linked to yesterday. There's quite a few DJs doing this mashup thing nowadays and some of them are pretty darn good. Here's a few tracks I like:
Superlangalang! - M.I.A. vs Super Mario Bros Theme by Josh Console. Quirky and utterly, utterly cool. The Super Mario theme is just... immortal.
Radio Hollaback- Clash vs Gwen Stefani (2nd song in the list. check out the other tracks too!) by Party Ben. Oh yeah, this one's fun. The Clash's superbly dancey 'This is Radio Clash' mixed with Gwen's 'Hollaback Girl'. Funky!
Since you ain't me- Kelly Clarkson's vs Frank Black (4th from bottom) byDivide and Kreate. I love Kelly Clarkson's Since You've Been Gone- total guilty pleasure. I haven't listened to Frank Black's solo work but the Pixies is, you know, legendary. His music adds a gritty edge to her singing. Nice mix.
Her new song, Hung Up, is eminently danceable pop bliss. Listen to it on her site. Then get an awesome remix, featuring the ubercool M.I.A., here.
Even cooler than the song is its video! Madonna calls it a tribute to dance, and it shows. It's got a supremely-flexible b-girl (who is she???), le parkour (which isn't dancing, but its such a beautiful expression of human motion that it fits right in), a gorgeous sequence set in a Chinese restaurant, some krumping and DDR! Sadly, nobody plays the game- they just dance on the machines. But its still cool. In fact, its very cool.
Check it out in either high and low Windows Media flavours (bleh) or streaming Quicktime.
On a related note, POPJUSTICE's got a rather good interview with the producer of Madonna's new album, Stuart Price (his name, not the album's- which is Confessions On A Dance Floor).
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) Corp has developed a device that lets you remote-control humans!
Don't panic just yet- it's not a mind-control device. What they've developed is a special headset and remote control combo. The headset sends a low-voltage electric current from the back of your ears through your head in either a left-right or right-left direction- as set by the remote control. When the remote switch is set to right, you'll be compelled to turn right when walking (apparently you can resist but then you'll have to stop moving altogether).
NTT envisions a range of uses for this technology, from games(!) to amusement park rides to music. Defence contractors, on the other hand, are already envisioning ways to use this as a "non-lethal" weapoon.
Now if they could make a device that works without the intended controllee having to wear a headset, it'd make for the ultimate prank device! Oh, the possibilities!
You were a true hero. Would that the world had more people like you.
My dad's written a good piece about Rosa Parks on his blog.
Update: This Time magazine piece about her from their 100 Most Important People of the Century special is rather illuminating.
Another Update: Rosa Park's is on Apple's homepage! The picture of her links to a news story about her. Very classy, Apple. Very classy indeed.
"Also, I had the hottest curry ever on Sunday. Magic Spice in Shimo-Kitazawa. The hot curry requires a password that is not printed on the menu."
Tim Rogers lives in Tokyo. He's a punk rock kinda guy. He writes about games, music and other interesting stuff. Read his blog.
Thud! is the 30th Discworld novel. 30! That's a lotta novels. Remarkable then, that Terry Pratchett has managed to keep the fires of his creation so strong through all this time. In fact, I think this latest one's absolutely brilliant. It's a cracking read- I devoured in less than 2 days- and also scarily prescient as it tackles the currently rather-sticky issue of ethnic warfare and ideological fanaticism. At the same time, we get to see a new side of Samuel Vimes' (commander of the City Watch and star of some of the best Discworld novels) character as he's pushed to his absolute limits by the investigation in this book while at the same time attempting to be a good father to his baby son. Both aspects of the book are developed simultaneously and collide in a rather exciting finale. Speaking of which, Thud! has one of the best endings of any Discworld book. One thing I love about the Discworld series is how Pratchett evolves the world with every book. And the events at the end of this one shake up the status quo with great aplomb. Absolutely brilliant.
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