youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P78pl1FUXfA

Perfect timing, Jeff Bridges wins this year’s Oscar, and the first trailer for Tron Legacy comes out.

I was the absolute right age for the original Tron. I loved, loved, loved it. Who didn’t? Even almost 30 years later, it doesn’t look its age. There was something magical about the film that’s hard to describe.

Man, December seems soooooo far away.

youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoDCiTsS7dU

If/when I become published I want to design my own covers. I won’t be able to paint or draw them since I’m an awful painter, but I can photoshop and I have definite ideas about what visual elements I want in my book covers.

I have a long way to go and much to learn though. This time lapse video from Lauren Panepinto, the creative director of orbit books shows the amount of skill needed, condensing 6 hours of work into 2 minutes. There’s even a brief interview about her approach. My awe of designers just went into orbit (pun intended).

Comments at bb rightly pointed out how effective this was as a marketing tool for the book. I must admit I am not bought into video trailers for books but based on this particular video, I can see myself checking out the book (due out Sept 2010 and is part of a series). Of course it helps that it’s steampunk and has vampires in it.

youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRKfZ0mGLaY

Went to an amateur improv show tonight. It was okay, the main purpose was to support one of the performers, and I enjoyed the show.

All I know is that, I will never be able to do it, I simply aren’t quick-witted enough and my comic timing is in the negatives. Nowadays when I think of improv, I think of the antics of improv everywhere, who have

caused [over 100] scenes of chaos and joy in public place

Paris, Texas is being released in HD and blue-ray tomorrow. It’s strange, I don’t remember the story, but I remember very well the mood. It was written by Sam Shepard after all.

I went to see Avatar on IMAX 3D, it was awesome. The special effects were seamless, Pandora was so stunningly beautiful it’s difficult to describe. It’s as of today the second highest grossing movie behind Titanic, and it’s for sure that it will be the highest soon.

Of course, there’s a lot of media hype and every one and their uncle seems to have a different spin on it. Right wingers are up in arms because it cuts too close to the truth about corporate interests, indiscriminate use of force and disregard for other cultures. Others have picked up on its racist undertones. It’s even said to have caused depression.

Yes, the story is clichéd and the underlying warning message delivered to us by a giant hammer unlike, well, what District 9 managed to do. But D9 was made by a South African, and Avatar is so utterly American. I can’t help but think that giant unsubtle hammer is the only way of delivering these political messages nowadays, and all power to James Cameron to do that, and entertain us in the process.

But anyway, back to the film. There is nothing to fault. There are so many colours and light and surprises on Pandora. My first impression was that it’s like a combination of Endor and Laputa, but it’s much much more. So much care has been put to create landscape, plants and creatures in such detail it is hard to believe it’s all in our imagination. The theme of nature-energy-force-we-are-all-connected-to-mother-earth theme is nothing new (I half expected someone to say ‘midi-chlorians’), and yes I cringed when they started doing voodoo-like chants, but at the end it’s all so, so good. I want to run and jump and fly and shout like a hunter-warrior. I want to sleep in those pod-hammocks. I want to ride the Toruk. I want to touch Eywa herself. For such an unsubtle film, there is an unexpected depth. I’m still thinking about it, and mulling over my experience. I won’t forget this film in a long time.

video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ-8jYpa1-o

I know I post this last year, but I can’t go through Christmas without listening to this on a loop. It’s my total favourite Christmas hymn.

something arrived in my mail today that I haven’t seen for long time — a print magazine. runner’s world to be precise. One of the perks of joining cara I suppose. It’s an interesting magazine, a few good articles like the one about running safely on the road, which is especially relevant in the winter when it gets dark too early. Runner vs vehicle, runner loses almost 100% of the time.

There’s also race calendars, a survey on the best marathons (most fun = NYC; best value = Fargo, ND; best destination = Big Sur, CA) and in general lots of encouragement. I visit the rw forum occasionally, but they seem too elitist and hardcore for me. It’ll be a change, to have a magazine to read in bed.

video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7tfyVbyD08

I caught the Cirque du Soleil cake challenge on the Food Network, which introduced me to the trampoline finale of la nouba. Wow. I mean, wow. It was mesmerising to watch this video — the precision, the control of the acrobats on trampolines, “walking” up a building cube and shooting themselves inside the windows. La Nouba is showing at Walt Disney World. I wonder how long it will be there, because if it’s still showing during gcls week, I’d want to go see it.

youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdVzboF2E2Q

This is a clever ad by doubletwist for an update available from tomorrow. A play on the original famous 1984 apple superbowl ad. Not the first time this has been copied or parodied, I’m not sure how the apple fanboi in me feels about this.

Peter Mayle is famous for his autobiographical A Year in Provence. I haven’t read it, nor did I see the film, but I’ve always been aware of him. Mr Mayle was a sort of expert on Provence, and France in general. And France is where this little novel, Chasing Cézanne is partially set it. It’s one of those books whose characters think nothing of stomping all over the world. It starts in New York, makes several visits to the south of France, the Caribbean, the English countryside, and of course Provence.

The characters fit the globetrotter type too — our MC, a “dashing” photographer who works for a glamorous magazine, his agent/soon-to-be girlfriend, a powerful editor who constantly reminds me of Anna Wintour, the villain with the Germanic name and the eccentric art dealer who acts as both catalyst and tour guide. Add a scandalous art scam and a little romance and we have the ingredients of a light-hearted comedy romp.

Some reviewers on amazon complain that the characters eat out at restaurants too much, or that Mr Mayle is too keen to show off his knowledge of French cuisine. Blah I say, that’s the point of the book. It’s not supposed to be War and Peace deep, people. If anything, I find the “elaborate” restaurant meals kinda boring, and want even more descriptions. I guess that’s the effect of the passage of time. The book was first published in 1997, those were the days when photography was still done using film, people were beginning to travel as opposed to just laying on the beach, and food programs on TV were mainly instructional (think Delia Smith and how to boil an egg). Foodie terms like velouté, sabayon, amuse-bouche and ceviche weren’t part of our everyday lexicon then, but have become oh so familiar (well, to those of us who are dedicated followers of the food network anyway). In other words, the readers then weren’t as sophisticated as we are now, and were more likely to be wowed by a French word by virtual of that word being French alone.

The art scam itself is pretty unremarkable and the resolution did come rather too quickly, almost like our villain has run out of steam, or has become so bored with the proceedings that he decided not to be a villain any more. It’s still a decent enough book, easy to read, and mostly enjoyable. Mr Mayle does know his food and France, no question. And for the record, I, an amateur cook, have made sabayon and if need be, can produce an amuse-bouche or two, but not in 1997.

I had to get home by 7pm today to catch the return of TAR. It was a 2 hour premiere!! Although at first when the contestants were running out I was like why are there so many YDCs?? [not a spoiler cos the cast bios are on the cbs site] But as the race got started, it naturally redeemed itself. Can’t wait to read the recap.

I was keeping track of the programs I have on my must watch list:
mon — none
tues — biggest loser
wed — top chef
thurs — survivor
fri — dollhouse
sat — none
sun — TAR and Iron chef

I also keep an eye on project runway whenever I remember though I have very little interest in american idol, dancing with the stars or any of the “talent” shows. So apart from dollhouse, it’s all reality tv. Oh wow, I really am a reality tv junkie.
[t-shirt from redbubble]

youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5f-zdLqFuHw

Even though there were tons of people around, we made sure to catch ep 1 of the new dollhouse season. It was a Joss written and directed ep and it showed. Very intriguing, very great, it’s gonna be a good season.

youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppiF7FYQi_s

This song rotated to the top of my running playlist and it’s such a great song to start a run. I mean, I adore fleetwood mac and (almost) everything they do and Lindsey is a huge, huge part of that love. Yes, he gets disparaged — think the joke about the lindsey buckingham paradox — but even then he’s recognised as a genius.

This is did you miss me from his 2008 album, gift of screws, which has been very well received, albeit not much attention given by the mainstream press and radio stations. It’s a shame. This is a perfect top 40 song, with a catchy hook and the usual killer unstated guitar playing.

oh, while googling the LBP, I came across this:

sudden onset Stevie Nicks syndrome: a serious disability that may be accompanied by Lindsey Buckingham

SNERK.

youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcJWFvKQdM8

As a new owner of a sports car, I can safely say that yes, I look at other sports cars. And covet the models I didn’t get — Porsche 911 GT3, antique green MG, BMW M3. And this, the Audi R8. drool

I read Michael Ridpath’s first book, Free to Trade, when it came out in 1996. It coincided with the beginning of my career in financial services, and it was unspoken required reading. It painted an exciting, if superficial, picture of what it was like to be on the trading floor of one of the bulge bracket firms.

This one, The Marketmaker, was his third book and set in the world of Emerging Markets. The MC was a Russian scholar who found himself needing money and employed at the premier EM Fixed Income brokerage in the City, specialising in Latin American bonds, but aiming to expand into Eastern Europe.

I had it on my shelves for since it was published in 1999, and it was interesting to read about the markets then. It was before the term BRIC was even invented; before the LTCM failure; and just after the Asian financial crisis. Those were the days when the words banker and excess were synonymous, before all the scandals that eventually brought about Sarbanes-Oxley. It was also interesting to remember that the bulge bracket was bigger then, and there were more players on the street.

Our MC started all starry-eyed at the broker. There was a charismatic owner / mentor; a dodgy enforcer type with hints of mafia links; a best friend who had to make a choice between friendship and own gains; a beautiful, smart heroine who the MC fell in love with; even a cockney, pudgy East End boy. He was in turns fascinated by the City and angsty that he’d sold his soul. Then he discovered by accident something suspicious, and a series of seemingly unrelated circumstances only heightened his suspicion. He and his colleague-new lover were kidnapped, and he managed to escape himself but leaving our heroine in the clutches of evil kidnappers. In keeping with the “financial thriller” theme that the writer is known for, there were thinly disguised i-banks to give the feel of authenticity and much technical name dropping. I couldn’t help wondering if Bloomfield Weiss was Goldman Sachs and there’s no prize for guessing who the large Dutch bank KBN was named after.

The first half had some exciting trading scenarios and a touching philanthropic initiative. The beginnings of the romance was always hovering as a possibility. Unfortunately the financial backdrop faded to exactly that, a convenient background. The kidnap was a little too drawn out, and the solution to the story a tad too incredible. I was sympathetic towards our MC at first, but the Like (fb term) didn’t stay. I felt the writer was checking off cliché after cliché, the characters and story was pretty formulaic. Towards the end it read like an airport thriller and while there is nothing wrong with that (airport thrillers tend to be best sellers), the twists and resolution were pedestrian and I couldn’t wait to get to the last page.

youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYiw5vkQFPw

I’ve only recently come across the use of trailers to promote books. Seems a little disjointed to me, books are text only but videos need sound and graphics. To be honest I have only seen a handful of book trailers that I liked, the others are too forced.

Until this. Leviathan is labelled as a Young Adult book, this trailer makes me want to order it straightaway. Of course, it helps that it’s an illustrated book. And OMG STEAMPUNK.

Important: Simon & Schuster is giving away Scott Westerfeld’s earlier book Uglies, but only for 1 more day. Get it quick.

I’m still on the fence on trailers for books.

video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek3coSedm7o&feature=player_embedded

Bat for Lashes was the first act I stopped to watch at Lollapalooza, just because it was the first stage I came across, and because the music kinda grabbed me. There was a pretty, dark-haired girl and a voice that was, even at an open stage, ethereal. I filed the band’s name away in my head, and went off to see the likes of the Airborne Toxic Event, Vampire Weekend and the Killers.

So at the weekend I decided to browse amazon for their music, and I ended up buying both albums, fur and gold and two suns. Bat for Lashes is actually Natasha Khan, the practice of calling oneself a band continues, in the NIN and Badly Drawn Boy tradition. She’s from Brighton, looks a little like Lily Allen, has a hipster new wave fashion style. She’s been compared to Kate Bush and Bjork and has opened for Radiohead. Thom Yorke is a big fan.

I find her music clever and just that bit whimsical. Descriptions abound from reviewers like magical, dreamy, luminous. I actually can’t stand Kate Bush or Bjork, but Natasha isn’t grating like the former or batty like the latter, she manages to balance pureness of voice with pop; cute whimsy with solid musicianship. She’s indie without trying too hard, if that makes sense. Someone to watch out for, definitely.

Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen movies you’ve seen that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes. Tag fifteen friends, including me because I’m interested in seeing what movies my friends choose. I hope you participate, even if you didn’t get tagged.

1. Star Wars
2. Lord of the Rings series
3. Casablanca
4. The Great Escape
5. My Fair Lady
6. Reality Bites
7. St Elmo’s Fire
8. Streets of Fire
9. Ladyhawke
10. Chance
11. Il Mare / The Lake House
12. X-files: Fight the Future
13. Blade Runner
14. In the Mood for Love
15. When Harry Met Sally

Rules: Don’t take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you’ve read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes. Tag 15 friends, including me because I’m interested in seeing what books my friends choose.

1. Pride & Prejudice — Jane Austen
2. Catcher in the Rye — JD Salinger
3. The Belgariad series — David Eddings
4. Less than Zero — Bret Easton Ellis
5. I am David — Anne Holm
6. Hood - Emma Donoghue
7. The Sun also Rises — Ernest Hemingway
8. Bright Lights, Big City — Jay McInerney
9. Down there on a Visit — Christopher Isherwood
10. From an Inland Sea — David Harsent
11. Pzyche — Amanda Hemingway
12. Deverry Series — Katherine Kerr
13. American Psycho — Bret Easton Ellis
14. Hitchhikers’ Guide series — Douglas Adams
15. Little Women — Louisa May Alcott

I’ve had this book since it came out in 1997, together with Goodbye Johnny Thunders and Elvis Has Left the Building, Tania Kindersley’s other books. She was someone in my generation, catching the end of the yuppie 80s, the generation for whom it was almost easy to achieve success and wealth, provided we went out to look for them.

This book chronicles the friendship of a small group of young people, from their undergraduate days at Oxford to their burgeoning careers (or not) as they found themselves entering their thirties. The focus was on the narrator, Ashley, and her best friend, Virge.

One of the most noticeable things about this book is its atmosphere. I look for atmosphere in books, in the same way that I look for plot in films. The poignancy reminds me of another “atmospheric” book, Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, which I return to again and again when I’m in search of those quiet, deep moments. There are shades of Jake Barnes in Ashley; and a lot of Brett Ashley in Virge.

That the characters are privileged and indulgent and petulant is no question. However, they oh so charming and nonchalant about it, because they didn’t set out to be arrogant. This is a generation that reinvent themselves on a whim, and has very little patience for those who can’t keep up. A side character described Virge as” shallow and fey and smug” but Ashley never felt it. She was upset and angry, but her response to that jibe was that the person could feel whatever he feels about Virge. In a way, Ashley doesn’t feel any need to justify Virge, and by extension herself, to anyone.

Ultimately, it’s about growing up and leaving the comfort of college to face the outside world, which they do in various shades of success.

“No one has told me,” said Virge with sudden violence, “that it was this complicated. Why do they never tell you that?”

Here the atmosphere evoked is This Life, so much so that the characters could almost interchange.

The blurb is that the story is all about friendship. Ashley and Virge are opposites who attract. We hear mainly Ashley’s voice, about her feelings for Virge,

and because i didn’t believe in coincidence, I felt utterly unsurprised that she should be here, back from America on the very day that I had fought my way out of the months of darkness and despair and self-doubt, because she was the one person in the whole wide world who always made me feel that I was lovable and desirable, and good enough.

And later on,

“You do know, Ash, don’t you,” said Virge, “you do know that you are the one I love best. I never loved anyone so much as you.”

I keep waiting for them to cross the line from friends to lovers, which they never do. Perhaps I’m projecting, or perhaps the writer intended this as the pure, unconditional kind of love that can never be tainted, even by sex.

As is life, nothing is perfect and golden forever. Throughout the story, the copious reference of looking back suggests to me that Something Big will happen at the end. And again, to mimic life, it’s not one big event that gives ample warning — it’s a series of littler events that chip away at the perfection, and then finally, something explodes.

The events at the end were actually not unexpected, though just as tragic. The last pages were sad and, again the word is poignant, but it seems to me that a page has been turned. What is past is gone, and there is a future that is more mundane and less rose-tinted.

Don’t ask me why, but that’s just how life is, isn’t it.

So, we went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I’m ashamed to say I haven’t read the book, I know i need to finish the series. I didn’t mind that the film would spoil the book. Wow, the kids have grown up. I want to see it again already, it was awesome.

The first Walkman was launched 30 years ago this week. Wow. I had one of those original monsters, and still have this 1987 WM-103 in my drawer.

The BBC asked 13 year old Campbell Scott to trade his iPod for a Walkman for a week, and his account made me feel old. OTOH, it’s amazing how much technology has advanced over the last 30 years, that he has absolutely no idea what a cassette tape is.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape.

Oh my! Cassette tapes! I still have a couple of them at the bottom of drawers. Remember making mix tapes for friends and swapping them? Blah RIAA.

I went to Amber Benson’s signing of her book Death’s Daughter today. The event started at 4.30pm, but I got there after work at around 6pm. I could have brought a whole collection of her stuff for her to sign — Chance and LLL dvds, Chance poster (hmm, that one is already signed), my 2 limited edition Ghost of Albion hardcovers (hang on, those are signed too), or any of her comics. Or Buffy stuff. She’s got such a varied body of work. While I was queuing someone at the store asked me was there a signing. I said yes, and he asked who? He didn’t know Amber (travesty!) but I heard him tell his friend “it’s an author.” Little does he know she is more.

I guess there was a reading, which I missed. The queue for the book signing was long, snaking all the way to the back of the store. I wish I’d brought some water cos it was a hot day and I felt dehydrated. It took the better part of an hour. but it was all rewarded when i finally reached the front, because she was warm and friendly. She greeted every single person like a friend, and was genuinely happy to speak with each of us. I didn’t really have anything to ask or say to her, just asked her to sign my book, and another copy for Car.

I took a picture of her and the books. There’s also one with me, but I’m doing the hiding being invisible thing again so that pic isn’t available in public.

There are tens of thousand of iphone apps available. This one, Brushes, created a stir last week, as it was the app used to create the June cover of the New Yorker magazine. Of course, artistic talent had a lot to do with it.

Ever since the story broke about the Kuzuis’ intention to reboot Buffy, ostensibly to take advantage of the current Twilight-fueled obsession with vampires, there has been no shortage of fan outrage. Joss’ response was a diplomatic:

I hope it’s cool

which says absolutely nothing.

From the response I’ve read all over the place, and the ones from my fb friends (a large proportion are Buffy fans), the overwhelming response is that a Joss-less Buffy is a Very.Bad.Idea.

Me? On the one hand, I’m cautiously excited about any (re-)appearance of the Buffyverse, OTOH I share many fans’ skeptism and trepidation that the slayer as we know it will be completely ruined.

So with perfect timing, via kottke is a long article on the star trek reboot. We are reminded that Star Trek, Batman and James Bond are among the franchises that have gone through reboots, some more successful than others.

The author came up with some thoughts on how to successfully reboot, among which is don’t abuse the audience goodwill:

If you’re doing a new version of a beloved old property, that means you need to figure out what it was people liked and make damn sure it’s in there. That doesn’t mean you have to do it the same way every time, you just have to do it. James Bond movies have been retooled a number of times, but we never lose the license to kill, the exquisite stunt work, the Bond theme music, or the cool cars and hot girls. There’s about a million miles of difference between Moonraker and Casino Royale, but they’re both recognizably Bond movies and they were both successful, because they met the baseline audience expectation of what a James Bond movie would give them.

Who’s to say that we won’t get another director who ‘gets’ buffy as much as we do? That perhaps we are lucky enough to get the equivalent of a Christopher Nolan or JJ Abrams for our beloved verse? The cynic in me says no, because the Kuzuis’ haven’t shown much wisdom (apart from giving Joss freedom to work on the series), but I can’t join the chorus of disapproval. At least not until more details emerge.

Evelien Lohbeck is a Dutch artist who makes videos, commercials clothing, posters, and a ton of very very cool stuff. I’m always in awe of creative people. This is called “Noteboek”.

gama-go are the people who made the boing boing hoodie, which I missed. :( They’re now doing the boing boing t-shirt, but I’m not interested. Instead, I entered into thehoodie roulette in which I sent in $40, and they sent me back a hoodie. The fun part is that I didn’t know what the design is until I receive the package.

It turned out, I got #61/360 of the pastoral dirty bird design. Pretty cool.

Wow, free CDs seem to be the newest thing. From Darren Hays (remember him? from Savage Garden) and Robert Conley comes We are Smug, the name of both the band and the album. Download the full 10-song album. FREE.

The concept of extreme opinionated news reporting baffles me. News, by definition, should be neutral. Now of course people can’t help but to have views. But, shouting? We have people screaming on ads — I can’t put these on mute fast enough, otherwise my ears will burst — and i don’t know whether to laugh or cry at the shouting and dramatics on American news shows.

Anyway, this is the astute Charlie Brooker on the difference between US and UK news.

Sigh. Americans [/Giles]

Starting tomorrow 15 May, Coldplay is giving away a FREE DOWNLOAD of their latest live CD, leftrightleftrightleft, recorded over the Viva La Vida tour.

This coincides with their North American tour. Those who are lucky enough to make it to the tour will also receive a free copy of the CD. Tracklisting:

1. Glass of Water
2. 42
3. Clocks
4. Strawberry Swing
5. The Hardest Part/Postcards from Far Away
6. Viva La Vida
7. Death will Never Conquer
8. Fix You
9. Death and All His Friends

When I lived in NYC, I remember watching some Julia Child. I had no idea of her significance or influence on Americans, just that she seemed important in a Delia Smith sort of way. This film looks really really good. I even checked out julie powell’s current blog.

 

I did flat stanley for my niece this week. flat stanley is inspired by the children’s book by Jeff Brown. Poor Stanley got squashed and became flat as pancake. Undeterred, Stanley takes advantage of his flat state to go on many adventures around the world and even to space.

Many schools initiate Flat Stanley Projects in which children make their own Flat Stanleys, and take him to activities with them for a few days. They record the activities in a journal. Then the fun part starts:

Flat Stanley and the journal are mailed to other people who are asked to treat the figure as a visiting guest and add to his journal, then return them both after a period of time.

So my niece’s flat doll, whom she named Flat Neena, has been making the journeys. She’s been to her grandparents in West Sussex, and our cousin in New York so far. And this week she was with me. I took her to Sears Tower, the Arts Institute, the Bean, downtown, and on a ride on the brown line. She’s now on her way back to my niece. It’s been really fun.

Full set: 17 (15 public) on flickr

from the award-winning documentary,playing for change, stand by me performed by musicians around the world adding their part to the song as it travelled the globe.

An interesting article in the new yorker magazine on ereaders. I read it, and disagreed with most of it. Originally I was just going to post a link on fb, but I realised I had more thoughts on it. Not many, but a tiny bit more than just a 1-2 liner that accompanies a link.

The author references, and I think is trying to debunk, a recent WSJ essay that, inter alia, postulates that as more people use e-readers, reading may one day be a social networking activity.

As you read, you will know that at any given moment, a conversation is available about the paragraph or even sentence you are reading. Nobody will read alone anymore. Reading books will go from being a fundamentally private activity — a direct exchange between author and reader — to a community event

I like that idea. Already I know i search online in blogs or amazon reviews if I want to buy something, or have an idea. I love reading comments for posts and articles and get disappointed if an article (in, say, the online version of the NYT) didn’t have comments turned on. The idea that I can click out of a passage in an ebook and see comments from readers is simply fascinating.

But Thessaly La Force at the New Yorker doesn’t share my enthusiasm. He sites the example of the Project Gutenberg books, and how much discussion there are [not] on the books. Well, I counter that the books there aren’t of sufficient interest to elicit discussion. All of the books there are in the public domain, and are either a) obscure or b) books we’ve read in school. I looked at them, and frankly dismissed them. I still have 50 books from the free Sony classics library I am entitled to get, but I don’t care either way if I forfeit my right cos I know I’ll not read them.

The other point made in the article, that e-readers aren’t as sexy as real books,

that guy reading an electronic device at a restaurant by himself? He just looks busy. The same guy reading a crumbly paperback? Attractive and approachable

I dunno. I disagree with that too. When I was flying back from LGA, I had my 700 out in the plane happily reading away while the rest of the plane got on (advantages of boarding first, heh) and I got noticed! A couple commented “is that the Kindle?” and I said no, it’s the Sony and we had a quick chat about the difference. A young guy and his girlfriend just behind them chimed in and expressed interest. They had to move on cos they couldn’t block up the aisle. My point is, the ereader does get you noticed. Perhaps as a gadget, but increasingly other people who have an ereader or are thinking of one, will bond over this common interest. And that’s how social interactions start, right?

In many articles about ereaders, and where authors bashed the kindle, sometimes there’s a comment about whether the authors themselves own, or have used extensively, these devices. Yes of course at the back of my mind I long for an Apple e-reader (just like I want an Apple netbook) but I’m happy with my Sony right now. I recently cancelled a book order on amazon cos I decided to get the ebook instead. I have a big feeling this is the way forward and there’s no turning back.

Dream, by Priscilla Ahn.

i listened to this on the plane. Three times.

ifc.com is having a radiohead fanatic fortnight. Enter the draw for Special Collectors Edition of Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer.

swoon

Wow. nine inch nails. jane’s addiction. street sweeper are touring together. There’s even a great 6 track free EP for download on the nin|ja 2009 site.

Novel-I Am NEW Video f. f/ Ben Folds, Talib Kweli &Spree Wilson


For some very odd reason I like rap better than, say, country. Some rap anyway. This is “I am” by novel.

Apparently it was just a display issue, and my account was credited with 100 classic books. I looked through the ebookstore today, and even though there are over 900 books, it took me a whole day to come up with 66. Jane Austens, Shakespeare comedies, and a bunch of Dickens. But there were many from authors who are obscure, like Charlotte M. Yonge. And for some like Trollope, they’re not offering his most popular books. They have just one or two of each series, like just Barchester Towers above, but not many more. Actually the entire list looks like it was gakked from project gutenberg and if i wanted i could just download them free from there and convert.

I have to register twice for the ereader — once at the sony website for the device itself, and a second time via the stupid PC only software at the ebookstore. The first went fine, cos I did it on the mbp. The second wasn’t so smooth. The device had been authorised before to another user. What? It became obvious that I had been sold a returned product, as new. This is very annoying.

I emailed Sony, following the instructions on the faq. The fact that they had the answer to that question is disconcerting.

I got a reply within a few hours. They gave me 2 codes, each for 50 free classic books. I entered the code one at a time, and hey presto! Only one code worked. My account has 50 free books, but the other 50 was missing. I’ve emailed again, and waiting for the answer.

This is becoming ridiculous and a farce. Am I not supposed to have bought it? Was someone thumbing their nose at me for getting the 700 instead of the more popular 505? Should I have been more patient and ordered direct from Sony instead of getting from Borders?

Very bad taste.

so I was visiting Car this weekend, and she’d told me during the week that she’d ordered the sony ereader and it was expected to arrive on Friday. And when I got there Friday it was there, all tiny and thin and cool looking. How possibly can I resist such a toy? I had myself during the week went over to the Borders at Michigan Avenue to look at them in person, and i was amazed at how small they are.

Instead of ordering and waiting, I just decided to go get it. Originally I thought I’d go during the week when I’m back in town, but Car very kindly offered to take me to a nearby Borders. The one we went to first was further away, in a large shopping complex. I queued up at the till and told the person there I wanted to buy a sony ereader. She gave me a blank look for a few seconds before something snapped. she was still a bit clueless, first having to ask a colleague, then offering me the 505 when I specified the 700. Eventually i found myself at the information desk, and a VERY helpful lady told me they actually have one and was bringing it out. Then it turned out the they didn’t have it, but she continued her helpfulness by calling another store nearby and holding it.

Backtrack. Why not the kindle 2? The main reason is the DRM — I want to buy books from sources other than amazon, and the conversion process put me off. The k2 still looks like a toy to me. I will probably use the iphone, when i get one, perhaps on a daily basis. I wish I had gotten more into ereaders last year when I was travelling so much. Why the 700 and not the 505, at $100 cheaper. One word: touchscreen. I’m a big sucker for geeky things I can touch. When I was playing around both the 505 and the 700 at Borders, I’d finish with the 700 and was poking at the screen of the 505 expecting something to happen.

Okay, back to the buying adventure.

The other Borders (at 95th and Western) turned out to be elusive to find. First off, it started raining heavily, then there was zillions of traffic. We ended up at the mall, but it wasn’t inside the mall. Finally we got there, and I queued up again to buy my ereader. The helpful lady at the first store had told us, “it’s behind the registers” which we first thought it was the store that was behind some “registers”. Hee. Anyway, i paid for it, got suckered into getting a Borders card, and off we went back home.

Close. But the story doesn’t end there.

I carefully opened the box, fondled my new ereader, and then discovered the usb cable was missing. It’s a fairly standard cable, and i have a couple at home just like it, but still…it was missing so we should get the whole package. i called the store, and was fairly inept at the whole explaining thing, but finally i found out that i could go back and exchange it.

After a dinner of “shit on a shingle” — i was too concerned with my ereader to take pictures of the new food — we headed back to the store to exchange my ereader. Actually it ended up at the store assistant ripping apart a 505 package and giving me the cable. LOL

So i sit here, it’s happily charging up. The only hurdle to overcome is Sony’s STUPID decision to make their software PC only. Then again, they make vaio’s so they don’t want to be associated with macs? As i said, stupid, and it rings a sour note. But i’ll get round it somehow.

I have zero comics / graphic novels cred. I want to be all geeky about it, but alas I never got round to it. This looks absolutely fascinating.

meme #12. Tagged by Bobbi.

Instructions: A list of every movie to ever be nominated for a BEST PICTURE Academy Award follows. For each year, the film to actually win the Oscar is listed first. Mark every film you have seen, total them up, and divide the total by your age.

Very long list behind the cut.

meme #11. Tagged by Car who, together with airlines, provides me with film entertainment.

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 films, you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 films on this list. Copy this list, go to your own Facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x’s next to the films you’ve seen, add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun.

( ) Rocky Horror Picture Show
(x) Grease
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean
(x) Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest
( ) Boondock Saints
( ) Fight Club
( ) Starsky and Hutch
(x) Neverending Story
(x) Blazing Saddles
(x) Airplane
Total: 6

( ) Napoleon Dynamite
(x) Labyrinth
( ) Saw
( ) Saw II
( ) White Noise
( ) White Oleander
( ) Anger Management
(x) 50 First Dates
(x) The Princess Diaries
( ) The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Total so far: 9

( ) Scream
( ) Scream 2
( ) Scream 3
(x) Scary Movie
( ) Scary Movie 2
( ) Scary Movie 3
( ) Scary Movie 4
(x) American Pie
(x) American Pie 2
(x) American Wedding
( ) American Pie Band Camp
Total so far: 13

(x) Harry Potter 1
(x) Harry Potter 2
(x) Harry Potter 3
(x) Harry Potter 4
( ) Resident Evil 1
( ) Resident Evil 2
( ) The Wedding Singer
( ) Little Black Book
( ) The Village
(x) Lilo & Stitch
Total so far: 18

(x) Finding Nemo
( ) Finding Neverland
(x) Signs
( ) The Grinch
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre
( ) Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning
( ) White Chicks
( ) Butterfly Effect
( ) 13 Going on 30
(x) I, Robot
( ) Robots
Total so far: 21

( ) Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
( ) Universal Soldier
( ) Lemony Snicket: A Series Of Unfortunate Events
( ) Along Came Polly
(x) Deep Impact
( ) KingPin
(x) Never Been Kissed
( ) Meet The Parents
( ) Meet the Fockers
( ) Eight Crazy Nights
( ) Joe Dirt
( ) King Kong
Total so far: 23

( ) A Cinderella Story
( ) The Terminal
( ) The Lizzie McGuire Movie
( ) Passport to Paris
(x) Dumb & Dumber
( ) Dumber & Dumberer
( ) Final Destination
( ) Final Destination 2
( ) Final Destination 3
( ) Halloween
( ) The Ring
( ) The Ring 2
( ) Surviving X-mas
( ) Flubber
Total so far: 24

( ) Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
(x) Practical Magic
( ) Chicago
( ) Ghost Ship
( ) From Hell
(x) Hellboy
( ) Secret Window
( ) I Am Sam
( ) The Whole Nine Yards
( ) The Whole Ten Yards
Total so far: 26

(x) The Day After Tomorrow
( ) Child’s Play
( ) Seed of Chucky
( ) Bride of Chucky
( ) Ten Things I Hate About You
( ) Just Married
( ) Gothika
( ) Nightmare on Elm Street
(x) Sixteen Candles
( ) Remember the Titans
( ) Coach Carter
( ) The Grudge
( ) The Grudge 2
( ) The Mask
( ) Son Of The Mask
Total so far: 28

( ) Bad Boys
( ) Bad Boys 2
( ) Joy Ride
( ) Lucky Number Slevin
(x) Ocean’s Eleven
(x) Ocean’s Twelve
( ) Bourne Identity
( ) Bourne Supremecy
( ) Lone Star
( ) Bedazzled
( ) Predator I
( ) Predator II
( ) The Fog (the original)
( ) Ice Age
( ) Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
( ) Curious George
Total so far: 30

(x) Independence Day
( ) Cujo
( ) A Bronx Tale
( ) Darkness Falls
( ) Christine
(x) ET
( ) Children of the Corn
( ) My Bosses Daughter
(x) Maid in Manhattan
(x) War of the Worlds
( ) Rush Hour
( ) Rush Hour 2
Total so far: 34

( ) Best Bet
(x) How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
(x) She’s All That
( ) Calendar Girls
(x) Sideways
( ) Mars Attacks
(x) Event Horizon
(x) Ever After
( ) Wizard of Oz
(x) Forrest Gump
(x) Big Trouble in Little China
(x) The Terminator
(x) The Terminator 2
(x) The Terminator 3
Total so far: 44

(x) X-Men
(x) X-2
(x) X-3
(x) Spider-Man
(x) Spider-Man 2
( ) Sky High
( ) Jeepers Creepers
( ) Jeepers Creepers 2
( ) Catch Me If You Can
(x) The Little Mermaid
(x) Freaky Friday
( ) Reign of Fire
( ) The Skulls
(x) Cruel Intentions
( ) Cruel Intentions 2
( ) The Hot Chick
(x) Shrek
(x) Shrek 2
Total so far: 54

( ) Swimfan
( ) Miracle on 34th street [the original]
( ) Old School
( ) The Notebook
( ) K-Pax
( ) Krippendorf’s Tribe
( ) A Walk to Remember
( ) Ice Castles
( ) Boogeyman
( ) The 40-year-old Virgin
Total so far: 54

(x) Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
(x) Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
(x) Lord of the Rings: Return Of the King
(x) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
(x) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
(x) Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Total so far: 60

( ) Basketball
( ) Hostel
( ) Waiting for Guffman
( ) House of 1000 Corpses
( ) Devils Rejects
( ) Elf
(x) Highlander
( ) Mothman Prophecies
( ) American History X
( ) Three
Total so Far: 61

( ) The Jacket
( ) Kung Fu Hustle
( ) Shaolin Soccer
( ) Night Watch
(x) Monsters Inc.
(x) Titanic
( ) Monty Python and the Holy Grail
( ) Shaun Of the Dead
( ) Willard
Total so far: 63

( ) High Tension
( ) Club Dread
(x) Hulk
( ) Dawn Of the Dead
( ) Hook
(x) Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
( ) 28 days later
( ) Orgazmo
( ) Phantasm
( ) Waterworld
Total so far: 65

( ) Kill Bill vol 1
( ) Kill Bill vol 2
( ) Mortal Kombat
( ) Wolf Creek
( ) Kingdom of Heaven
( ) The Hills Have Eyes
( ) I Spit on Your Grave aka the Day of the Woman
( ) The Last House on the Left
( ) Re-Animator
( ) Army of Darkness
Total so far: 65

(x) Star Wars Ep. I The Phantom Menace
(x) Star Wars Ep. II Attack of the Clones
(x) Star Wars Ep. III Revenge of the Sith
(x) Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope
(x) Star Wars Ep. V The Empire Strikes Back
(x) Star Wars Ep. VI Return of the Jedi
( ) Ewoks Caravan Of Courage
( ) Ewoks The Battle For Endor
Total so far: 71

(x) The Matrix
(x) The Matrix Reloaded
(x) The Matrix Revolutions
( ) Animatrix
( ) Evil Dead
( ) Evil Dead 2
( ) Team America: World Police
( ) Red Dragon
(x) Silence of the Lambs
( ) Hannibal
Grand Total: 75

must watch video. Absolutely amazing statistics. Everything is going exponential.

meme #8, tagged by Kerry. Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1) Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have read
2) Add a ‘+’ to the ones you LOVE
3) Star (*) those you plan on reading
4) Tally your total at the bottom
5) Put in a note with your total in the subject

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen x+++
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien [I tried, but i just can’t get through them]
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte x
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling * [i’m stuck on book 5]
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee x
6. The Bible [the whole Bible, not so much]
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte x
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell x
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman x
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens x+
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott x+
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien [see #2]
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger x+++++++++ [:P]
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell [no, never]
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams x+++
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck x
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens x
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell x
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown [i got may be half way, then lost interest]
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far from the Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding x
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert x
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen x
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love in the time of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt x+
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On the Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding x
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens x
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett x
74. Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens x
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro x
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White x+++
88. The Five People You Meet in Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton [why these and not the Famous Five?]
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint Exupery x
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams x [really boring]
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas x [though, i think it was an abridged version]
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare x
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl x
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo x [this was definitely an abridged version]

Total 28, of which most were required reading at school. Those I like I put more than one (+) and of the ones I haven’t read, I intend to finish the Potters, that’s it. I wanted to read Atonement, but after seeing the film, not so much.

I tried to look for the origin, and I think the meme grew from a 2003 search for the nation’s favourite books that resulted in the Big Read. When i said grew, there are post-2003 books in this list, so perhaps it’s morphed.

new cds today:

• Coldplay: Viva la Vida — I bought the download already, but this was a bonus cd with the Prospekt’s March EP
• Beyoncé: I am…Sasha Fierce — I’ve only listened to If I were a Boy, and this has changed my mind about Beyoncé, I used to be indifferent now I’ll take more notice
• The Killers: Day & Age — I bought it for the outstanding Human. One song can make me buy a whole cd, yep
• Franz Ferdinand: Tonight — no intro needed
• The Script: eponymous — and the indie rock cd gathering continues, this is a new Irish group that is in the same vein as the above
• Mark Ronson: Version — I think this will be interesting

25 years ago, on 22 January 1984, this ad showed once during the Super Bowl.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Tony Hart has died. It’s probably difficult for Americans and younger people to comprehend how utterly devastating this news is for me. I feel like Mr Hart watched me grow up, with programs like Vision On and Take Hart taking prime place in my childhood viewing schedule. I’ve never been able to draw, but watching him was inspiring enough. There’s a longer bbc tribute, but embedding has been disabled. Watch that video in addition to this ITN news item, if you have any love for children, art and fun.

Watched Anthony Bourdain all night, and tonight it’s Andrew Zimmern. Love the Travel Channel, especially when they have great food programs like these.

I never watched it’s a wonderful life but I understand it to be Christmas related, and not to make wishes you didn’t mean.

This flash animation was originally at itsawonderfulinternet but the website seems to have gone. I found it elsewhere and videograbbed it.

It’s one for the Christmas season.

The San Francisco Chronicle has an article about updating music libraries. Basically comparing 80s or 90s musicians with the current crop. I can’t say I agree with the choices.

If you like…

No Doubt “Tragic Kingdom” (1995)
The Orange County band’s hyper, unrepentantly fun breakthrough set sold 16 million copies worldwide on the back of rocket-powered pop singles “Spiderwebs” and “Just a Girl.”

… then try

The Ting Tings “We Started Nothing” (2008)
Singer Katie White doesn’t sound remotely like Gwen Stefani, but this heavily accented drum ‘n’ guitar duo does an incredible job channeling her group’s relentless, ska-propelled energy on its primary-colored debut, which includes the iTunes jingle “Shut Up and Let Me Go.”

Other comparisons include Rolling Stones—>Kings of Leon, Mariah Carey—>Leona Lewis (okay, I can see that) and Beastie Boys—>Girl Talk. But the comparison I most disagree with is,

If you like…

Paul Simon “Graceland” (1995)
Venturing into apartheid-torn South Africa and working with local musicians, Simon returned with dazzling, tuneful evidence for the case of taking world music seriously. It won a Grammy for album of the year.

… then try

Vampire Weekend “Vampire Weekend” (2008)
These well-groomed Columbia University alums launched their Afrobeat revival from the less dangerous environs of their dorm rooms, appropriating Simon’s fluid rhythms and featherweight melodies with a whiff of collegiate humor (“Who gives a f- about an Oxford comma?”).

The first tape (yes, I’m old) I got was from my aunt with Carpenters on one side and Simon & Garfunkel on the other. I can’t stand any of them too much now, Paul Simon in tiny tiny doses is okay, but I’ve yet to listen to a full song of his lately. Vampire Weekend is totally different, just because there’s a little hooting on “Oxford Comma” doesn’t mean they’re similar to Paul Simon. They’re way less self-conscious, way less earnest and (this is a compliment) less polished — there’s still a “newness” edge to them.

JJ Cale is set to release his first solo record in almost five years. Legendary.

Watch and listen to Cale and Eric Clapton so effortlessly play After Midnight.

via mefi, pride and prejudice told facebook newsfeed style. It’s funny as hell, I grinned like an idiot reading it. Funny bits further down:

Lydia Bennet and Kitty Bennet joined the group 1,000,000 Strong Against the Officers Leaving Meryton!

Mrs. Bennet joined the group Widows of Men Killed in Duels.

via kottke, mcsweeney’s break down 50 years of popular songs intoone simple sentence.

The Beatles “I Want to Hold Your Hand” — I want to do it with you

Led Zeppelin “Whole Lotta Love” — I want to do it with you

James Blunt “You’re Beautiful” — I want to do it with you

Frank Sinatra “Strangers in the Night” — I’m drunk and I want to do it with you

Patsy Cline “Crazy” — I want to do it with you so much I’m going fucking nuts

Kate Bush “Wuthering Heights” — I’m an 18th-century fictional character and I want to do it with another 18th-century fictional character

I’m, um, sensing a theme here. Writers of pop-rock music seem to have one thing on their mind.

Matt Ward (M. Ward) is an indie singer-songwriter from Portland who manages to combine country, blues, pop, and folk into a unique package. He’s toured with Bright Eyes and is mentioned in the same space as the Decemberists, the Shins and Feist. I keep expecting to see his name on the Garden State, or some other Zach Branff film, soundtrack.

Zooey Deschanel (awesome, awesome name) is an actress who has small roles in films like Almost Famous, and increasingly larger roles in films like Elf, and was Trillian on Hitchhiker’s Guide.

Matt and Zooey met on The Go-Getter, in which they sang a duet together. Some correspondences led to the formation of She & Him and their first cd Volume One. The first single, Why don’t you let me stay here, is kinda bouncy and folksy. Another of my favourites is their cover of Smokey Robinson’s You Really Got a Hold on Me, when Zooey channels some serious Patsy Cline.

She has a distinctive voice, he has a way of arranging the music that is simple and effective. There’s a cute, retro, kitschy feel to the songs. Paste magazine said in their review,

the 13 songs on Volume One are lovely throwbacks to blissful 60s pop, tastefully arranged and produced by the uber-talented Ward

They should know, they just named She & Him — Volume One as their best album of 2008.

via bb, a weird, strangely mesmerizing, out of senses…flash platform game by the name of I made this, you play this, we are enemies. The creator, Jason Nelson, who tells us “don’t try to get it”, calls it,

an artwork/game/digital poem/world of scribbles and ideas from the back of my brain, way-way back in a storage room for contextual whims

Cory Doctorow calls it

brilliant and terrible all at once

Broken down, it’s basically a flash platform game using famous webpages as background and incorporating random words and graphics. But I think it’s more than that, just like poems are more than just a collection of words. Or graffiti spray paint. It has attitude.

I freaking love it, the freak that i am.

via stacia seaman, an editor at BSB books. Interesting, her answer on romance books.

+++INTRODUCTIONS+++

What’s your name? heh, you’re kidding me, right?

Do you read a lot? yep

What’s your favorite genre? modern fiction, adventure, fantasy


+++FANTASY AND SCI-FI+++

Do you prefer fantasy or science fiction? fantasy

What’s your favorite fantasy book/series? the Belgariad

Who’s your favorite fantasy author? David Eddings, Katherine Kerr, Anne McCaffrey

What’s your favorite science fiction book/series? it’s been a long long time since I read good sci-fi: Foundation series, Hitchhiker’s Guide

Favorite sci-fi author? Asimov


+++MYSTERY, HORROR, AND THRILLERS+++

Which do you prefer: a puzzling mystery, or a terrifying thriller? mystery, i get too scared of scary stuff

Do you have a favorite mystery novel? probably more adventure, Desmond Bagley, Frederick Forsyth

A favorite horror novel? i’ve never finished a horror novel


+++ROMANCE+++

Do you read romance novels? yep, i can’t stay away even though I get really disillusioned reading them

How about gay romance novels? uh huh

What’s your favorite? all bella, spinsters ink, bsb authors, the standard is very high


+++CHILDREN’S AND YA+++

What’s your favorite children’s book? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Encyclopedia Brown series, Three Investigators series, Hardy Boys series, Famous Five

Is it the same book that was your favorite when you were a kid? these were the books i read as a kid

What’s your favorite YA book? I am David

Did you actually read it as a YA? i read it when i was 12, so probably it’s should have been classified as a children’s book

In general, do you prefer children’s books over grown-up books? i think i’ve outgrown children’s books. classics now classified as children or YA books — Jungle Book, Alice in Wonderland, the Count of Monte Cristo among many — i haven’t read and find it hard to motivate myself to read


+++CLASSICS AND GENERAL FICTION+++

What’s your favorite classic novel? Pride and Prejudice

What about general fiction? Classic: The Sun Also Rises; Modern: Less than Zero

What classic novel do you just not get? Moby Dick

Do you have a favorite play or drama? Macbeth

What do you think of Shakespeare? some are okay, like the comedies and tragedies. i don’t get the heavier war plays


+++POETRY+++

Could you pick a favorite poem? don’t know any poem, let alone picking a favourite

What about a favorite poetry collection? see above

Who’s your favorite poet? see above


+++COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS+++

Do you read comics or graphic novels? i’ve read a few: Buffy, Oldboy, Doraemon, but not a lot

Do you have a favorite series? nope

A favorite book? nope


+++SHORT STORIES AND NOVELLAS+++

Do you prefer short stories (or short novels) over full-length novels? no, i pretty much only read full length novels, which is strange because I write a lot of short stories

What’s your favorite short story? i have to think about this

Favorite short story collection? nope

Do you have a favorite short story author? nope


+++NONFICTION+++

What kind of nonfiction do you usually read? none, unless we’re talking about blogs, travel guides or the watcher’s guides i use for reference

Do you have a favorite nonfiction book? i have a few travel photography books i treasure: the collection of Furano & Biei photos by Kenji Alsumi and the Chile photo book by Pablo Valenzuela Vaillant that K gave me for example

Read any interesting biographies? no, though when I was really young (like primary school) I read a bunch of biographies about famous composers

History books? no

Politics? no

Religious texts? no

How about books on mythology, fairy-tales, or other cultural stories? I have Mythology for Dummies on my desk for months and I haven’t touched it


+++ELEMENTS OF FICTION+++

What’s the most important element of a novel? Plot? Characterization? Style? Themes? Happy ending? as long as it makes sense and speaks to me. some books have no particular plot, like the Catcher in the Rye, but i get embroiled in Holden Caulfield’s mind. some have weak characters but a strong storyline, like a lot of adventure books, i get caught up in those too

What kind of plot interests you the most? ones that have that something — not too clichéd, have a combination of strong characters, intrigue, angst

What kind of characters usually appeal to you? real people; people with ups and downs; people who are not perfect; people who know what they want, or are confused about what they want; they can be twisted (like Patrick Bateman) or curious (like Hermione Granger) — as long as the writer tells me their story, and i can relate to them somehow

What is your favorite book overall? i don’t think anyone who takes this survey can answer this


+++PASS IT ON+++

What’s the last book you read? the Supreme Constellations series by Gun Brooke

What are you reading now? i’m looking at my shelf and trying to decide

What are you going to read next? probably something i’ve read before

Is there a book you would recommend to everyone on your friends list? if you want to understand my writing and the type of writer i want to be, read Less than Zero

Tag five people to fill out this meme. I don’t tag. do, or not do, it’s up to you

Helen Sandler used to be the editor of Diva, and still freelances for them though nowadays she’s more known as a poet. I haven’t read Diva in many years and I have a feeling my copy of this book was a freebie with the magazine. Published in 2001, it’s Helen Sandler’s proper book about “sanity, secrets and cybersex”.

Some of it seems at once to be both relevant and dated. People still IM and email and (may be) do cybersex. But there’s so much more to online life today that the protagonists would simply be overwhelmed — all the social networking, blogs, vlogs, podcasts, twitters, tumblrs and just completely conducting one’s life online — all pretty unthinkable in the early part of the millenium.

It’s a nice book to read on the plane, not too heavy and just enough humour mixed with angst to make the story interesting. The main character, Joss, tends to whinge and feel sorry for herself way too much but I suppose we all do that. Weird neighbours, well-meaning friends, boring job, a relationship without commitment are all familiar in real life. Meeting someone online and falling in love may seem a novel idea in 2001, but nowadays it’s almost a norm.

Like I said, the writing is light and funny. There are bits between chapters providing insights from the point of view of a side character that are amusing. The main characters are real enough, though in the spirit of being light, not hugely developed. Not a book that left me deeply affected, I enjoyed it.

I think I’ll try to make it a habit, read one of the bookshelf books when I’m travelling.

I heard this song from The Airborne Toxic Event on the plane, and had to scroll back and listen again. What caught my ear was how much like Chasing Cars it sounded. And I’m big on Snow Patrol. No wonder, this LA group has been compared with The Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. Mixed reviews, mostly with critics wanting more from them than sounding like yet another one of those bands.

But you know what? I don’t care that they don’t sound quite original, it’s the style I like and there’s never too much of a good thing with stuff you like.

and all of these memories come rushing
like feral waves to your mind
of the curl of your bodies
like two perfect circles entwined

I bought a stack of CDs lately, the new ones from: Kings of Leon, Jason Mraz, Keane, Airborne Toxic Event, James Morrison, Katy Perry, Oasis. I’ve gone back to buying physical CDs, for no good reason that I feel like it.

So now I have over 10,000 songs in my iTunes library. Most are ripped from CDs, quite a few are freebies from everywhere and, okay, there’s a bunch that comes from frostwire.

Bret Easton Ellis defined my writing. I was very affected by Less than Zero and American Psycho. Not so much The Rules of Attraction but still. It’s the style, the tightness of language and ultimately the blank emptiness of his characters, his stories and his locations that got me. Deeply.

The Informers came out in 1994. My copy is actually signed, I bought it in London. Strange that it’s taken me 14 years to finally sit down and read it. I’d tried numerous times, but never got round to finishing. When I’m stuck on a plane with no access to my books, it’s a good incentive to finish.

Not so much a novel as a collection of short stories about a group of people who are loosely interconnected. Almost all written in first person and, honestly, it sometimes took me a few pages to figure out who was narrating.

Nothing of import went on. Set in opulent LA we had people doing drugs, doing each other, aimlessly going from one place to another, and not even death can pull them out of their self-absorption. The actions shock, but are not written to shock. Some of the chapters held my interest more than others. Some of the characters I could recognise — Julian, Tad, Alana and Blair from Less than Zero, or just characters with the same names. Tim was just like Clay. Sean. The characters are grotesque, in their tanned, Porsche-driving, Spago-dining ways. But they are just who they are. He doesn’t judge, or glamorise, he just paints the picture.

Now I need to read Glamorama.

omg, i’m getting this giant totally inappropriate crush on Rachel Maddow. She’s so smart. She’s on twitter. She cares about technorati searches. Yet she claims to be just a normal person. Here she is interviewing John Hodgman, another crushworthy guy — he’s “PC” on the mac vs pc ads (I know, I know, Justin Long has the better hair but John is a cutie). Mr Hodgman has a new book out on fake trivia and he’s guest blogging on boing boing. All round coolness.

Back to Dr Maddow. She’s got huge attention as her new msnbc show is doing great in ratings. A whole slew of articles on her: new york times magazine AND arts section, washington post, la times and time magazine, too many to list.

I had just over half an hour to spare today so I hung out at HMV listening to new releases. The station that had the new James Morrison and Daniel Powter also featured someone I’d never heard of before, Jason Mraz. I listened to We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things and immediately picked it up, as well as his previous CD, Mr A-Z.

I can’t find a lot of articles on him, but it doesn’t matter. A peek at his website confirmed my first impressions — quirky, fun, nerdy and downright left of centre. The Hawaiian influence reminds me of Jack Johnson except I’m liking Jason Mraz whereas I can’t get into Jack Johnson at all.

I tend to listen to too much depressing indie rock, this cheerfulness is a nice change.

It’s not that often that I read through all my digg feeds but I’m glad I did today, because there was a link to 7 unexpected moments of guitar awesomeness. I mean, Lindsey Buckingham on there is enough for me.

But their #1 is Prince’s solo at the George Harrison Tribute. He totally outshines Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne. Dude.

Found on the guardian, Kaiser Chiefs’ single Never Miss a Beat from their new album which came out this week. I’m only slowly starting to discover the Chiefs, having heard their name in my subconscious now and then but never quite registering enough attention. I’m liking this song, it’s kinda catchy. Disturbing video though, kids in halloween masks running rampant around a decrepit council estate scaring off the residents and then ending up in some sort of surreal Fame groupdance routine. Huh. Will reserve judgment till I hear more.

oh. my. lord. I’m watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

It’s spectacular.

Ignore the fact that mm had to work over the weekend. We’d originally (or rather, I’d begged and begged) planned to see the X-files movie sometime over the weekend. But when I got back I found out that it was on for a week, then disappeared. Either The Dark Knight was too strong, or the people here too stupid to remember. I suppose I have to be resigned to waiting for the dvd.

I’m reminded of this strange article in the USA Today a couple of weeks ago. Most of the article was blurb about the film, which appeared with all the other blurbs out there. But the bits about the Museum of Jurassic Technology inserted into the article were truly weird, like they were trying to be as weird as the show in the early days of the mythology and it ends up seeming forced.

Unfortunately the reviews of the film were pretty harsh. Perhaps Chris Carter was trying too hard? Trying to satisfy the formerly faithfuls while trying not to confuse newcomers. It’s like trying to park a car with 2 open spaces, you’re never as focused as when you have only one space available.

I dunno. May be I managed to convince myself that the film wasn’t worth the hype and anticipation cos I missed it. I may have felt differently if we’d gone and seen it. May be. I hope they aren’t too disappointed and bounce back with a third movie. After all, we still haven’t used the tagline The Truth is Out There.

Quiet reading day today. I hadn’t done much reading during the week between eating out, jetlag and watching the travel channel. I got through 2 books before dinner (okay, that includes last night).

We spent a little time persuading Gram to come watch Mamma Mia with us and were pleased when she agreed finally. It wasn’t a wasted trip cos she was laughing and humming along.

I saw the musical with mm a few years ago and the film followed the musical pretty loyally. The reviews have been mixed but my reaction to the film is that it was very enjoyable. Sure, Meryl Streep was extra twitchy, Pierce Brosnan can’t sing, Colin Firth was hideously underused and there was an uncurrently of cheesiness to the whole endeavour. But I suspect the viewers weren’t supposed to take it too seriously, and the reviewers who trashed it were probably those who didn’t know how to let their hair down and just have fun. I really wanted to sing along with the songs but was too shy, heehee.

Less than 2 weeks from the opening of the one film I’ve been looking forward to all year, the New York Times tells us that Chris Carter has a message for us.

CHRIS CARTER, the creator of “The X-Files,” has a message for anyone who, some time during the show’s nine-season run, threw up his hands trying to figure out exactly what was going on with the extraterrestrial abductions, the black-oil aliens, the metal sinus implants, the Syndicate, the Cigarette Smoking Man, Mulder’s sister, Scully’s baby, Mulder’s father, Scully’s cancer, the colonists, the Lone Gunmen, Deep Throat and all the rest of the show’s staggeringly complex and often murky mythology:

You can come back now.

I love that all the players are back. The producers, the stars, the back-to-early-seasons standalone type story. Great article. Must read.

I got a chance to watch an old musical, Brigadoon on stage. The venue was the Huron Playhouse, a part of Bowling Green State University of Ohio. This is the 60th anniversary year of the theatre and they are putting on 5 productions, as per usual.

The theatre itself is the auditorium of a local school, but it was a full house! All 500+ seats were sold, and many of the audience have season tickets to watch all 5 shows.

I liked the show. The cast and crew are mainly students and this is a sort of educational / semi-professional production. It’s not 100% professional of course, and there were some outrays, but it made it charming. All the credit goes to the company and the director for getting it all ready in 2 weeks. It’s a 5 hour drive from Chicago and I’m glad I was invited.

I had missed the headline, which read: “Two-Hit Wonders!”

Oh, that.

It’s a list I have shown up on fairly often recently, so I had almost gotten used to it. Of course, he’s right, and it’s demeaning — it makes me look as though somehow I managed to squeak out those two songs and then shuffle back to being a receptionist, which isn’t true.

A satisfyingly long and unsurprisingly well written piece by Suzanne Vega, deconstructing the making of Luka, reminded me of how much I loved her music. It’s great to see that she’s a regular NYT blogger, and I will follow her writing closely.

Like the hundreds of commenters on that post, I disagree that she is a two-hit wonder. She isn’t even a three-, four- or five-hit wonder in my books. Yes, Luka and Tom’s Diner dominate; but there’s Solitude Standing, Left of Center, Small Blue Thing, Marlene on the Wall, Undertow, 99.9F and many others. I remember watching her in concert, a long blue coat, small and thin, a quiet voice that sang deep songs. She’s one of the influences for my teenaged self that inspired that teenaged self to write poetry. Imagine.

Death Cab for Cutie’s new single, from their album Narrow Stairs. Very rare to come across a single that is over 8 minutes long. Fantastic intro. Even before Ben Gibbard starts singing, the girl in the video has been around the world already.

You gotta spend some time, love
You gotta spend some time with me
I know that you’ll find, love
I will possess your heart

I have no idea how much time I’ve spent waiting for mm. So when we were trying to arrange to meet after her church, I left plenty of time. She said 12.30pm, so I said 12.45pm, knowing that it means her 12.40pm at the earliest.

But by a strange type of luck: a) she was done early and b) I left my cellphone at home. So she got there really early and got tickets. I got there my usual 15 mins early and I got tickets.

Oooooooops.

With some persistence we were able to exchange the tickets for Price of Caspian in a couple of weeks’ time. Phew.

We were at the cinema to see Ironman. It was awesome. All that gadgetry … drool. But accomplished dramatic actors as Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges brought sensitivity and acting — who would have thought the 3 of them in a blockbuster superhero film. The CGI was flawless, there was enough story to add to the action, and so what if some of the technology was too fantastic? It’s a superhero film!

Definitely comparable to Transformers.

I spent most of the day reading quietly. For some reason, I’m reminded of something I find on kottke before my trip. Here’s sad kermit singing Needle in the Hay. He does Creep and Johnny Cash’s Hurt too.

I see it all the time, even though I don’t watch a lot of TV anymore. It’s always intrigued me, and apparently other people have been wondering too. It seems that it’s called Rolex: A Crown for Every Achievement and is attributed to a Brit by the name of Vince Pope.

What is it? The music for the Rolex commercials. It’s classical, strong, and encouraging. There’s not a lot of online information, surprisingly. But some enterprising people have made compilations. Nice.

It’s official, the X-files 2 movie will be called X-files: I Want to Believe. Chris Carter said, “It’s a natural title.”

It won’t deal too much into the mythology, but rather will be an earthbound standalone story aimed at both die-hard fans and newcomers. Chris Carter has a good point:

“It has struck me over the last several years talking to college-age kids that a lot of them really don’t know the show or haven’t seen it. If you’re 20 years old now, the show started when you were 4. It was probably too scary for you or your parents wouldn’t let you watch it. So there’s a whole new audience that might have liked the show. This was made to, I would call it, satisfy everyone.”

I don’t know about other fans, but my first reaction was that if they wanted to use a familiar phrase, they really should have used The Truth is Out There, unless they wanted to save it for film #3. That said, I don’t give a damn what they call it, 10 years is a long time to wait for the second film and July can’t come quickly enough for me. There are so many unresolved issues, like the baby, like what happened at the end of Fight the Future, the baby, and most importantly:

Are they gonna kiss properly?

Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty? asks the New York Times Magazine this week as they cover the work of Jan Chipchase, an anthropologist-designer working for Nokia whose job is to live and understand how cellphones means for people in Tibet, Uganda, Ecuador etc — in other words the other 4 billion people on earth who don’t have access to a mobile network.

Yes, ultimately the likes of Nokia and Motorola are there to make money but what strikes me as inspiring is that they are making an effort to learn about unique local needs in the developing world. These are potential customers for whom a cellphone isn’t just another gadget or device .

Something that’s mostly a convenience booster for those of us with a full complement of technology at our disposal — land-lines, Internet connections, TVs, cars — can be a life-saver to someone with fewer ways to access information. A just in time moment afforded by a cellphone looks a lot different to a mother in Uganda who needs to carry a child with malaria three hours to visit the nearest doctor but who would like to know first whether that doctor is even in town. It looks different, too, to the rural Ugandan doctor who, faced with an emergency, is able to request information via text message from a hospital in Kampala.

Given resources and the right motivation, people are fantastically inventive. That’s why some humanitarians favour the bottom up approach to aid rather than top down — empower and encourage entrepreneurship rather than telling aid recipients to wait for money to filter down through bureaucracy or corrupt agencies. An example is what Grameen Phone Ltd in Bangledesh offers:

Women use microcredit to buy specially designed cellphone kits costing about $150, each equipped with a long-lasting battery. They then set up shop as their village phone operator, charging a small commission for people to make and receive calls

In the Philippines, pre-paid cards double as currency and gives an alternative way of sending money to far away relatives. Monks in Mongolia are unbelievably tech savvy. In India locals want cellphones to tell them about the weather because they have no access to TV or radio. In Ghana locals are given a chance to test some new Nokia designs:

“Hellllloooooo,” Chipchase said, smiling broadly.

“Helllllooooo, Brudda,” she said back in English.

“We work for Nokia. You know Nokia?”

The woman said nothing, but reached down and from the folds of her wrapper produced a Nokia phone. “Not good,” she said, shaking her head disparagingly. “You call. It switches off.”

Chipchase enlisted the interpreter to explain that her problem sounded like a network problem and not a Nokia problem. Shrugging, the woman went on to inspect the prototype phones, testing their weight in her palm, pressing them against her cheek, punching buttons. She pooh-poohed the stylus phone but said she liked the one-button model if it meant she didn’t need to use a lot of numbers. “Brudda, how do you charge it?” she asked. From his bag, Burns pulled another still-conceptual design, this one a thin metal cylinder with a whirlybird antenna on top. He showed the corn seller how to rotate the cylinder in small circles, causing the antenna to swing, which, he explained, in 15 minutes or so would generate enough power to charge her phone battery.

The woman picked up the futuristic gizmo and began to swing it; the antenna whipped around and around. She let out an enthusiastic whoop. Then a friend of hers who’d been sitting in the shadow of her umbrella started to laugh. Another woman, a spice seller perched on a stool next to small mountains of turmeric and cumin heaped on canvas cloths, began to laugh also. “Very nice,” the corn seller said to Burns and Chipchase, swinging the antenna like a toy. “It’s good!”

Spotted via kottke, an article I’d never have noticed except it was about something called the Lindsey Buckingham paradox. Heh. What is the LBP?

The Lindsey Buckingham Paradox is what happens when otherwise brilliant musicians decide they’re better than their bandmates (creative differences, natch), strike out on their own with solo “careers”, and somewhat curiously never again manage to grasp his or her own genius in the way we all know is possible.

Lindsey is a goddamned genius. He strives for constant musical evolution, always pushing the creative envelope, and is unto himself an origination point on the great conceptual flowchart of musical evolution in the last 40 years. But, solo? Mania. I mean, oh dear god, concept albums. He’s a one-man Plastic Ono Band, all by himself.

It is when Lindsey Buckingham’s lunatic genius is tempered by Stevie Nicks (and even Christine McVie) that the magic happens, because the whole of Fleetwood Mac is so much greater than the sum of its parts.

Among the top 10 artists who suffer from LBP are Glen Frey, Peter Cetera, Paul McCartney, and Sting. I think about Lindsey’s solo stuff and, yeah, there’s a BIG case for the existence of LBP. Just look at this…um, i don’t know how to describe it…video of Trouble.

The strangeness that is my mind. I saw the periodic table poster on thinkgeek and my first thought was: “I wonder if someone can make a steampunk version.” I guess it’s the greenish grey background.

I find it not an exact science to define steampunk. It’s science; it’s fantasy; it’s history; it’s animation; it’s an attitude and a mood. It’s Jules Verne and laputa and Firefly.

Just watch that video, the guy’s work is so intricate.

I cannot believe it’s taken me this long, have I been living under a rock or something? A Popstars phenomenon since 2003, their success can’t be attributed to simply being manufactured fake reality stars. Seventeen consecutive Top 10 singles in the UK can’t be scoffed at.

So anyway, I heard Call the Shots on the plane and thought, “hmm, very catchy.” I had to wait for a second cycle to catch the band’s name and I had to write it down on my bookmark. And that was my introduction to Girls Aloud.

The more I listen, the more I like them. Yes, they’re pure pop. Yes, they sell glamour. Yes, I can’t tell the girls apart. So what? Like my first impression, they have catchy songs and that’s enough nowadays. I went out and bought Tangled Up and I’m enjoying it. It appeals to the part of me looking for instant gratification, ice cream and something different from the broody music I’m usually drawn to. The appeal of girls aloud is loud and clear.

He’s been around since the 1980s, so it hardly qualifies as new. But I’ve never truly gotten into Nine Inch Nails, or more precisely Trent Reznor. I find the music a little too electronic, a little too industrial, for my taste even though peripherally I know I need to explore the music more.

I was glad to be given an excuse when Ghosts I-IV was released. Definitely setting a great example of how the way music should be distributed in this day and age, the album is available in a variety of formats and prices. Tracks 1-9 are available for free download; the whole album for $5; a double CD for $10; a special edition for $75 and an ultra deluxe limited edition for $300. Needless to say, and as an affront to the RIAA, the $300 edition sold out quickly.

I was perfectly happy to pay $5 for the 36-track digital album and also happily found a review that included a little summary of each track. Very useful, especially for an instrumental album like this, where it’s easy to lose track (heh, no pun intended) of the tracks. One reviewer on amazon suggested listening to each section separately, but listening closely for the first few times then letting it wash over me works better for me. I’m at the listen closely stage and liking the variety as well as the different mood that each piece strikes.

Another advantage of being in the US is access to the iTunes music store. Although I’m wary of purchasing anything from iTMS because of the fairplay DRM, I live in hope that in time it will fade away due to consumer demands.

I was glad to read about the free album offer at tunecore. Free download at iTMS of 34 songs, definitely a good bargain. It was very easy, just click for a special code at tunecore and redeem it at iTMS. The offer is valid till September and includes music from the likes of the Dandy Warhols, Public Enemy as well as many more I’d never heard of. Good way of sampling new music.

One of the best things about being in the US is having access to Pandora again. In fact, I deliberately didn’t bring my external hard disk cos I knew I’ll have lots of music at my fingertips here. Yes, I know I can access pandora using other methods but it didn’t seem worth the trouble.

Anyway, first thing this morning after getting online is setting up a few new personal stations. I added one for the music from Once, let’s see what it brings me.

I found a Japanese kimono dolls origami kit at the bottom of a drawer. This must be at least 10 years old, the way they look so at home at the very bottom of the drawer.

 

So I thought I’d give it a go, knowing full well I’ll make a mess and it’ll look like crap. No shred of artistic creativity. Just as well that the instructions are illustrated cos I couldn’t make heads or tails of the Japanese. Also, very nice of them to enclose a sample. Took me forever to get it done, including looking for glue in my rarely opened stationery drawer.

The one on the left is my attempt; the one on the right is what it should look like.

One of my 101.1001 tasks is to learn flash. I guess it’s like photoshop and illustrator, the basics are straightforward to learn, once you grasp the toolbar system and understand the concept of layers and timeline. But with such a complex program, to get any good takes a long time.

So I followed an informative video that shows how to create a simple animation with falling text effects in flash. It was fun.

Over on the main site there are drawings and crafts that are so creative. So just to reinforce my knowledge that I have not a single artistic cell, here’s my attempt at art. This was created, not very creatively, at online sketchpad.

So yeah, we’ve been a little ebook crazy lately. And I finally bought ebook studio for $26.95 (I found a 10% discount code). It’s dead easy to use, it can read txt, rtf, html — the more stripped down text formats and conversion to pdb takes one minute. Of course, to add more features like images, page breaks, table of contents will take longer but the basic action takes a minute.

So for my thing-a-day today I made a video of me converting lamplight to ereader format to show: a) I made an ebook and b) it really only takes a minute.

What do balls, paint, bunnies and ribbons have in common? Ingredients for a kid’s party for sure. Miscellaneous items found in a garage too. But there is a sequence to these — these are the themes for a series of Sony Bravia commercials. I usually skip ads on TV but I’ve taken to watching it whenever it comes on.

This is the 4th in a series of colourful and creative Bravia ads, all are worth spending a few minutes watching, for no better reason that they were all filmed “real”:

• balls (2005) — 250,000 brightly coloured rubber balls bounced down real San Francisco streets
• paint (2006) — 70,000 litres of paint, 1,700 explosions, one Glasgow council estate
• bunnies (2007) — or sometimes called play doh this featured claymation rabbits, cubes and shapes given free rein of the streets of New York
• pyramid (2008) — the Great Pyramid in Egypt is covered with ribbons

Good stuff. As the guardian said:

Simple, catchy, different, endearing, brilliant

When I read about layer tennis I thought: “okay, it’s a bunch of designer-bloggers doing their small clique thing again, to show off to the general public why they are so cool and why other uncool people can’t get into their club.”

Well okay that was a little harsh. The idea of layer tennis is that at a pre-determined time (usually 2pm Central time on a Friday), two contestants

swap a file back and forth in real-time, adding to and embellishing the work. Each artist gets fifteen minutes to complete a “volley”

The file is published to online viewers and a third person provides commentary. Most matches are played in photoshop but there’ve been matches played in after-effects, flash and illustrator. It’s really a test of visual design skills in a short period of time rather than how well they know how to use photoshop filters.

There’s been 15 sessions so far, this weekend’s featured two simultaneous matches and it was touted as a “finale” so I’m not sure if it’s the last scheduled or what.

Do I understand it? Yes I do. And I’m pretty impressed with the creativity and ideas. This is from one of my favourites, between Veerle Pieters and Cindy Li on 11=Jan-08.

It was also interesting to read the participants’ thoughts on the match: Veerle Pieters | Cindy Li. Of course there was a large dose of inside jokes, as they know each other. Not a huge amount of technique commentary, mostly thoughts of how they arrived at each volley. Seemed like fun was had by all.

Ever since the kindle came out I’d been having on and off thoughts about getting an ebook reader. I’m still not sure about the kindle. I’m with Philippe Starck, it is a little sad. No, it’s actually pretty ugly, expensive and the wireless all but useless for me. I wonder why ebook reader designers insist on using a one page portrait orientation. I’d prefer a device that shows 2 pages on a screen, landscape — like an actual book.

But ebooks aren’t just for handheld devices. ebook software has existed for a long time, and I can’t believe it took me this long to download ereader. I have the free version now, but the pro version is only $5, which is…nothing.

Car did all the research, cos she’s the one who likes reading on the screen. There are so many places to download ebooks, one of the early favourites is manybooks with they claim almost 20,000 titles, mostly from project gutenberg. The books come in all sorts of formats including: kindle, palm, iPhone, pdf, even newton. Most of the titles are public domain classics and with so many available, it’ll be a long time before anyone is tired of their selection. Here’s how Pride and Prejudice looks on my screen.

For fanfic closer to home, there’s pdafiction, and Susan has converted a number of stories on the muse to ebook format — it was weird downloading my own stuff. Hee.

Ease of reading is very high. I can choose one page, two-pages and full screen. There’s a range of backgrounds, fonts and sizes — these may be pro only features but like I said, $5 is a doddle. I can pageup or down using my arrows. There’s also links, annotations and a dictionary. No complaints here. For $29.95 I can get ereader studio which allows me to create ebooks. Oh boy, I can see days and days of fun.

I just finished watching the final of TAR12. It was very exciting, and for once it was 3 likeable teams. Most of the comments on twop from last week’s ep was how no one minded who won, because in their ways they all deserved it.

I was mad, because there was a tiny header in the NYT which spoiled it for me about who finally won. Sigh. That was the first time I was spoiled. (Apart from catching up on TAR1 and 2 a few seasons after they aired.) In any case, I enjoyed it. And that’s why TAR is my favourite reality program…favourite program in all classes actually.

It’s a family tradition, that we all go to the yacht club to enjoy mulled wine and minced pies, then watch the choir sing the christmas carols before sitting down for christmas eve buffet. This year sis invited her friends Win, Po and their son Josh. I had something like 4 glasses of mulled wine but only a few bites of the minced pies. Mum put probably 20 of them in a ziploc bag for home.

I do enjoy Christmas Carols very much. I don’t broadcast this all over the place but deep down I’m a fairly religious person and I like the meaning that carols bring. Ignoring how commercialised Christmas is, step back and think about the origins of the day, and listen to the words in the hymns. I’m not so keen on the overly jovial ones like Joy to the World or Jingle Bells. My favourites are Once in Royal David’s City and Silent Night sung very slowly. This year, I have O Holy Night on my mind pretty constantly the last couple of days. I mean, how can anyone not be moved by the chorus.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices
O night divine, O night when Christ was born

There are literally dozens of versions available online. I’ve listened to pop stars and opera singers on youtube but this one is absolutely stunning! Michael Crawford with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Don’t let this Christmas pass without listening to this at least once.

I have a soft spot for charming, off-beat, Sundance-type of films. Sideways, What’s Cooking, Before Sunrise (but not Before Sunset), Oldboy, an obscure French film called Nanou, and I’ll admit it…Reality Bites are ones that I remember long after I’ve seen them.

I watched Once on the plane. It won the World Cinema Audience Award at this year’s Sundance. And well deserved, it was absolutely charming and wonderful. A simple story — an Irish busker meets immigrant woman and they find music, friendship and love. There’s a lot of chemistry between the 2 leads, who are more musicians than actors; and for a short film the character development was fantastic. A sign of quirkiness is that the characters were never named, just going by “Guy” and “Girl”; it also has the type of ending I enjoy.

The film starts with a man and a guitar. My first thought was, it’s another Chance! No offense to Amber Benson, but this is what Chance tried, but couldn’t quite get to be. Conceived by director John Carney as a “video album” much of the film was just the leads singing some songs. And what songs! Wow. A commenter wrote on the Time Out London review wrote:

The kind of film which overwhelms me in its breathless scope. Genuine, big hearted, generous. It touches at our romantic notions if we have them. I wanted them to be together. I wanted to listen to the songs over and over again with my own sense of resonance with my own meaning in perception of it. I felt emotional but I didn’t cry, I just recognised my own experience of life through this film.

The official website streams the songs endlessly and I’ve been listening to them all night. There’s an official soundtrack but Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová also recorded a cd of songs called The Swell Season — some of the songs are on the film, some are not.

I shouldn’t put 2 videos in one post but I simply have to. This next one is of Glen and Markéta performing “If You Want me” my favourite song from the film. I actually rewound a couple of times when i was watching to listen to it again.

ETA: some stats. The film cost $160,000 and has grossed over $14million worldwide as of 6-Dec-07. The soundtrack was #1 on the iTunes soundtrack chart. There’s low level Oscar buzz too.

it was with great sadness that I read that Karlheinz Stockhausen has died. I don’t know his works that well, finding some of it in the Very Weird and Needing to be in A Special Mood to Listen category.

I was in a weird mood tonight so I thought it may be a good opportunity to try the new Deutsche Grammophon online store, with its giant catalogue of DRM-free, 320kbps mp3s, including its vast store of out-of-print albums. Alas, the only offering was a mixed CD containing one Stockhausen piece sandwiched between two by György Kurtág.

Lucky enough, he has his own website and an impressive collection of mp3s and videos. This youtube video is of Kontakte, written in the 1950s.

The third new book from yesterday’s big book order is a nice story about government, the President of the USA, a writer and 3 kids. It’s also set in year 2020-ish. Looking at the publication date, first published in 2001 which means probably written during 2000 or earlier.

Though a well-written story that flows easily and with likeable characters, I can’t help but smirk at some of the “advanced” technologies that we thought in 2000 would be in place in 2020.

1. voice activated computer and media systems with voice authentication, as in “Computer, start playback on disk, code 123456” where you had to use your activation code Every.Single.Time you issue a command — um newsflash, voice activation is a hassle and stupid; and needing to speak a code as security is worse than no security
2. taking pictures on a film camera — i mean, who uses film anymore?
3. paper newspapers — I won’t be surprised that by 2020 paper versions of newspapers and magazines would be overtaken by electronic versions
4. people using the phone to contact each other albeit with holographic images, no mention of IM, sms or anything using the web

I’m not deriding the book, in fact the tech part is small and only incidental to the story. I’m just kinda amazed at how quickly technology has advanced and how writers have to think very far ahead when writing a contemporary story set in the future. There were hardly any blogs in 2000 and certainly no facebook or skype. Again, amazing.

The big 15-book order I placed using the voucher Sis gave me for my birthday arrived yesterday. I was so excited when I opened the box, it’s been more than 4 weeks since I put the order in. I didn’t have to go out today cos of timing and miscommunication with mm (nothing bad, just confusion about times) so I stayed in and read like crazy. I finished the book I’d been reading before, read one of the new ones and am almost done with a second one. I’m likely to start a third new book tonight. It’s wonderful.

It’s strange, some time during the last year or so I picked up reading books again. I’m now reading less intense, and not generally fantasy books, but they are enjoyable nontheless. Add to it following 70+ feeds and writing here on the website, I’m doing more reading than anything else. Including writing. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, I guess it’s good.

There’s been a fair bit of attention on amazon’s kindle lately. At first I skimmed past all the articles but today I sat down and read a few of them. First impressions? Very mixed reception and boy, is it ugly. Conclusion? No thank you.

I’ve never considered using an ebook reader at all, although I can see the benefits especially when travelling, or for students who are carrying around too many heavy textbooks already. The demo video on the product page sure is enticing, and it tempted the gadget-geek in me for, oh, about a second.

why I might buy it

1. it can store hundreds of books in one book-sized package — saves lugging lots of books around


2. as of launch, almost 90,000 titles available from amazon at a lower price than paper books


3. amazon name, especially the book selection


4. eliminates expensive shipment fees


5. built-in wireless means instant shopping gratification


6. subscriptions to newspapers, magazines and blogs


7. dictionary and wikipedia

why I won’t buy it

1. oh lordy, is it ugly or what


2. $400 for the reader alone — there’s comparison with iPod pricing, but thing is … music requires a widget, be it walkman, boombox or iPod but books don’t need no hardware, dude


3. monopolistic — it can only read the proprietary amazon format, cannot load other formats, no connection between the book on my shelf and the ebook


4. DRM — who’s ever heard of DRM-ing books? Once bought, it’s mine and i should be free to do as I please with it, including sharing with my friends


5. although cheaper than paper books, $9.99 for best sellers is expensive — the publishers don’t seem to be passing along the vast amount of savings from not needing to physically publish and distribute books


6. charging consumers for books in the public domain doesn’t seem right


7. charging consumers for stuff they can otherwise get free is ridiculous — $0.99 per blog per month? Kidding?


8. omg, black & white screen?


9. what is the keyboard doing there? why isn’t it a slide-out panel?


10. the so-called built-in wireless uses EVDO, which for those of us who live in non-caveman networkland is something unknown — apparently it’s a CDMA (omg!!!) based cellular wireless network that is provided by Sprint. In other words it’s completely and utterly useless outside the US


11. I said ugly already, right?

I want to like this device. I’ve not thought of using an ebook reader but I’m intrigued. I read enough books to want something small that can hold more — I took 6 books with me on my 2 week trip, imagine the convenience with a kindle. I can imagine the convenience of having loads of travel guides when I’m on holiday.

Many people, including the newsweek cover story likened the kindle to the early iPod. Not apples to apples, I’m afraid. Yes even though the analogy is there, there is one HUGE difference — the consumer can happily use and enjoy the iPod without ever going near iTMS. I mean, I like amazon and order a hell of a lot of books from them so it’s not a huge problem that the content is tied to the hardware. But it’s too closed. What if a book I want isn’t on amazon but is available from say a niche publisher? So my choice is limited, isn’t it?

The iPod sold us something we never thought we needed before, but can’t live without after. There’s no such buzz with the kindle, for me it’s meh at best. It’s a great idea, and I hope amazon will continue to improve the product. Until then, I’ll stick with traditional books.

And really, they have to do something about the dismal design.

Ever since Pandora fell under the wrath of money-grabbing selfish music industry dictators, I’ve been missing it. I still have it on my toolbar, in case they make a triumphant return one day.

Not as sleek-looking but there’s now hope. lifehacker calls it Pandora on steroids — formerly known blogmusik.net, deezer is an awesome way of listening to music online. It lets users search for songs, create playlists and randomly stream songs. Though it’s still a little raw — it may not have all the songs one would typically search for, songs in an album aren’t listed in order and the stream is sometimes broken — but these are small things.

With a smart playlist, it will play similar songs the way pandora used to. I haven’t tried it yet — that feature requires registration and I haven’t gotten round registering. Still, the features for a non-registered user are nice enough. I listened to a few albums today.

There are discussions in the lifehacker comment thread, about saving the streamed mp3s. Turns out that the streamed versions are only 32kpbs, okay for streaming but not worth keeping. They seem to have worked out a way of pacifying the music industry, which is a good thing. I do still miss pandora, the recommendations were great and I like how the player popped into a smaller window.

This is Not Pretty Enough by Kasey Chambers.

Am I not pretty enough
Is my heart too broken
Do I cry too much
Am I too outspoken
Don’t I make you laugh
Should I try it harder
Why do you see right through me

Sigh.

Staying with the music theme, here are some of my recent purchases.

The Invitation — Thirteen Senses
Contact — Thirteen Senses
If You’ve Never Been — Embrace
This New Day — Embrace
Out of Nothing — Embrace
Tin Lily — Jeff Black
Love Travels at Illegal Speeds — Graham Coxon
Another Fine Day — Golden Smog
Blood on the Slacks — Golden Smog
From the Decker House — The Rosewood Thieves
Feeling the Fall — The Village Green

I was also listening to videos of Death Cab for Cutie on youtube. Further surfing led me to barsuk records and a very generous collection of free mp3s of their musicians.

Yes I’m a britpop and britpop-influence junkie. My iTunes library is full of Coldplay, Keane, Travis, Starsailor and the like. Here’s my newest discovery, Thirteen Senses from Penzance. Their song Into the Fire was featured on both Grey’s Anatomy and the 4400. This one’s called Do No Wrong and it’s really really good.

Do No Wrong

Satellites contain us
Traffic lights control us
Rockets shoot us up into the stars
Rockets shoot us up into the stars

Letters keep us posted
Numbers calculated
Nothing picks us up when we are down
Nothing picks us up when we are down

Complement the atmosphere
Fill the ground with all our tears
Dry them up to make it clear
Do no wrong
Complement the atmosphere
Fill the ground with all our tears
Dry them up to make it clear
Do no wrong

Strange surrounds each corner
Stains pollute the water
Something for us all to think about
Something for us all to think about

Summer sun protects us
Winter rain affects us
Now it seems to me we can’t be free
Now it seems to me we can’t be free

Close the door before it’s late
We were born to love and hate
Turn it down for our own sake
Do no wrong
You fill your ears with every note
Direction seems the only hope
Its crowded lets create now
Do no wrong

Common sense protect us
Everything affects us
To the outside light its paradise
To the outside light its paradise

We went to see Transformers mainly at my behest. I kinda wanted to see a film and there weren’t so many choices. I’ve heard of Transformers as toys and a cartoon when I was young, but I was never into it. I mean, I’ve seen my fair share of Japanese giant robot cartoons, but I didn’t obsessively follow them, nor found them memorable.

When the film started and the military base was being attacked, mm was scared and I was afraid she wouldn’t like the film.

Then the action got bigger, and everything got bigger. (Come on, it’s a Michael Bay film after all.) I was flabbergasted at the CGI effects — so seamless, to make the solid mechanical transformers move so fluidly. Wow, ILM really did their stuff. mm was getting into it too, so that was a relief.

We thought it was a very enjoyable film, one of the best we’d seen in a while. Yes the dialogue was clichéd and exposition-like at times; some of the human characters were extraneous and parts of the film were plain corny. But it’s not high drama — it’s a action film that’s based on toys! The main characters are the robots, there isn’t supposed to be a great human story there.

Like one of the critics said on rotten tomatoes: “there is so much action packed into every second of Transformers that by the time it’s over, you may be tempted to go outside and give the box office another 10 bucks.”

Found via mefi and totally dugg, a great sequence of movie scenes and quotes, counting down from 100 to 1.

And the maker very nicely gave us the answers too.

Lifehacker reports on some fantastic people who lists possible methods of accessing pandora from outside the US. I haven’t tried them all, but the most obvious public cgi loads, but is slow. Kudos for them for trying to help.

Warning: If you haven’t watched the TAR final, don’t read.

So, probably the most meh non-team ever wins TAR. Not the most unsatisfactory, because the despicable Mirna could have won and I would not want to hear her talk about “overcoming prejudices” and preaching about stuff (oh wait, she did that too). When the race started I wanted JVJ or Romber, but by the beginning of the finale I found myself rooting for the BQs. The tasks were interesting, the kayak looked very tough and they had helicopters overhead watching all the time. The know-your-partner task was better than a lot of physical or eating tasks we’ve had in the past.

Still, in all the TARs I’ve watched (and I’ve followed it live since TAR3, and watched the old ones on repeat) this ranks at the top 3 of sucky finishes. TAR:FE is still way out there in #1.

Finally I watched a couple of episodes of the Catherine Tate Show. It’s a series of sketches with recurring characters and themes, like the foul-mouthed granny Nan Taylor and her best known character Lauren “I ain’t bovvered” Cooper. Lots of Lauren videos on youtube, including the one with Tony Blair. Gets a bit formulaic after watching a few of them in one go, but still funny. I like this one with David Tennant best.

Talking about Pandora, the day after I decide to listen to it more, it will no longer be available to non-US users because of some crap-ass licensing issue. It was always intended for US users only but they were okay about users supplying any zip code.

Pandora operates under Section 114 of the DMCA, which gives them a clear process for paying rights holders in the U.S. There is no international equivalent of the DMCA, and so to operate legally in other countries, Pandora must sign deals with rights holders directly. That means separate deals with labels and publishers for each song, an extremely difficult and time consuming task.

You really gotta hand it to the music industry don’t you. They’re gonna kill their own industry all by themselves. If it weren’t for Pandora, I wouldn’t have discovered Brookville, Ivy and a whole slew of artists. And today I went to HMV looking for The Village Green! (Didn’t find them, I’ll probably order from amazon.) How are less well known musicians going to have this sort of exposure? Pandora is easy to use, has great recommendations and is not intrusive. And now they’ll lose a large chunk of their users because they live in the wrong part of the world. The world, and especially the internet world, is global nowadays, when will greedy businesses ever catch on to that?

I’m listening to pandora again and one of the recommendations was from The Village Green. Most google searches came up with the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society. This Portland band isn’t anything like the Kinks, though I like what I’ve heard from them so far.

This song is called When the Creepers creep in, which is very apt because I’ve been playing desktop tower defense. Again.

via bboing, a 1977 video of Jodie Foster singing in French, for a rare film called Moi, Fleur bleue. I’m impressed at how fluent she is.

Sometimes, not even rap or heavy metal can cut it. Sometimes, you need classical music. The mood called for something wrenching, and deep, and bone-crushing. So I put on my classical collection. I’m not a huge fan of symphonies, and definitely not chamber music. But concertos hit me big time. And what better than Rachmaninov’s #3? So I was watching and listening, and it’s indescribable. Vladimar Horowitz, New York Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta, 1979. I have the Ashkenazy version, but Horowitz … genius.

The audio and video is a little out of sync but who cares? Here’s the second movement and third movement.

It’s weird to be posting a rap video, cos I’m not into the whole hip-hop thing at all. Aside from a little Eminem, I don’t know any. This is from Fort Minor, which is a side project of Linkin Park’s Mike Shinola. What makes it interesting is I, um, don’t like Linkin Park either. Nice guest vocals from Holly Brook and Jonah Matranga.

Where’d you go?
I miss you so,
Seems like it’s been forever,
That you’ve been gone.

Sigh.

Watched episode 1 of TAR All-Stars. I was cheering and clapping my hands, I’m not too prudish to admit that. :)

The best thing was knowing all the teams, usually it takes a few eps to remember racers’ names but not this time. Some teams didn’t deserve the “All-stars” title — Dave & Mary, BQs and Eric(who?) & Danielle (who?) didn’t make an impression the first time they were on, and even less this time.

Uchenna & Joyce, Asshat+wife were meh tonight. I didn’t like the Frats as much as I thought, why are they whining so much?

Mirna & Chirna — stop talking please, both of you.

love love love — Guidos (boy they look so great), Romber (yes, I think they’re cool, so?).

SUPERDUPERSWOONDROOLINGLOVE — The Chas!

So why the bittersweet? JVJ. Sniff, I’m gonna cry now.

Gimmicks like All-Stars don’t work most times, but this one is gonna work. I can feel it.

mm and I finally saw Casino Royale on saturday. It was one of the best Bond films I’ve seen, and I like Daniel Craig as Bond, very much. Not since Connery has a Bond had this much grit and cool menace. Much closer to Ian Flemming’s Bond than Roger Moore (blech) or even Pierce Brosnan (too suave).

The action sequences were brilliant, absolutely brilliant. And I like that they relied less on gadgets (no Q, even). The foot chase was much more exciting than any car chase I’ve seen, and mm was so engrossed she was clutching my sweater! Heehee.

Oh, talking about James Bond title sequences. Via bb, some dude put together all the Bond title sequences. Another dude put together lots of Bond trailers. Ian Fleming would be proud.

mm and I went to see My Fair Lady today at the theatre. It was a production by a local amateur company. Although it wasn’t bad, we were hard pressed to find any overly enthusiastic words unfortunately. Top marks for effort, the ensemble did well and the director worked well with a large cast who seemed at times to be crowded on a tiny stage. Ultimately there just wasn’t enough chemistry between the actors. I did enjoy myself, the songs were familiar and the atmosphere very nice.

via me-fi, a phenomenal Christmas ad from Irn-Bru, entitled fittingly, “Phenomenal Christmas.” Now I haven’t had Irn-Bru for a long long time, cos it’s really very very Scottish, like scotch eggs and the legendary (read: urban legendary) deep fried Mars bars. Anyway the ad is a cheeky and nicely animated take on the famous song from The Snowman. The ad also features Scottish landmarks.

Official site and lyrics:

we’re walking in the air
i’m sipping on an irn-bru
my chilly snowman mate
says he would like some too

i tell him, get your own
he looks like he’s going to cry
i tell him once again
that the irn-bru is mine

now i’m falling through the air
i wonder where i’m going to land
he nicked my irn-bru
and let go of my hand

Loved Encyclopedia Brown as a kid, loved loved loved. Via metafilter, a modern day re-telling, with a twist. Nice stuff, must read.

I was looking for videos of Sleigh Ride when I came across an awesome performance of a group of marimba playing Japanese kids, playing Sleigh Ride. The little one is soooooo cute.

There’s more. Here’s an even more awesome video of them playing Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance.

I’m feeling a little rich today, so I went and bought a few cds. I can’t remember when was the last time I decided so quickly.

• in the clear — ivy
• life in the shade — brookville
• 100 broken windows — idlewild
• I sincerely apologise for all the trouble I’ve caused — david ford

And then I get home and remembered I should have looked for some more, like guestroom by ivy and some enon / gusto. Next time.

Someone, whose name shall remain anonymous but shall be known simply as The Garbo (heehee) introduced me to pandora, an intelligent internet radio station thingie. Enter an artist or a song and it tries to select songs or artists that have similar attributes like accoustic instrumentation, meandering melodic phrasing, downtempo influence (seriously, I kid you not). There’s a sense of artificial intelligence in this. Listeners can help build the knowledge base by voting whether a song fits the criteria, and the system remembers the vote.

Rhapsody has something similar (“James Blunt Radio”) but isn’t as clever, and no voting system. I also like how in Pandora I can build different stations, it’s like a never-ending playlist.

Oh, um, it’s only supposed to be for US residents. They ask for zipcodes when registering.

I officially don’t have cable anymore. I haven’t watched it in ages. Well, I hardly watch TV anymore.

Doesn’t mean I don’t have channels. I had both cable and broadband TV, but since my favorite channels are also on broadband TV, there is no point having both.

So, yeah. I hardly watch TV. So when my trusty 9 year old 25” died why did I buy an expensive 37” LCD? Heh.

I was surfing around youtube when I came across this. Subsequent searches on google, limewire and myspace were not succesful, so I’m putting it here. I hope that this song becomes more widely available soon. It’s called Lightbulbs by Sam Dillehay.

I know I should be writing more about my day, or how I think about an issue, or current affairs, or even more mac love. Posting youtube vids isn’t really posting. But K introduced me to this song and it’s really really good. So now I have 2 current favourites: I don’t care what you call me by David Ford and Waves by Mono Band. There is so much similarity with the 2 sounds.

From decaffeinated. Heh, I read the article a couple of days ago and had problems finding it again.

I have a second generation 20GB clickwheel firewire iPod, the pb1 still runs iTunes 2, even though the mbp is update as far as iTunes is concerned. I’d like a new iPod but I’m not allowed any more big expenses this year.

I’ve been listening in shuffle mode ever since I got the mbp. After reading the article, I sorted the play count of my 6,400+ songs. I’ve played Over My Head by the Fray 15 times, yet The Verve’s Bittersweet Symphony has never been played. It’s kinda a travesty isn’t it.

Shuffle gets up my nerves sometimes. Nirvana followed by Mozart then Faith Hill is too weird, my mood doesn’t change that quickly. Listening to artists alphabetically gets stale, and I don’t classify by genre. Making playlists is getting tiresome. I used to have every single song in at least one playlist, but it’s no longer possible. So it’s like a bolt of lightning striking me, to listen alphabetically by album. There’s sufficient randomness but keeps me in the mood of one singer / artist long enough. And I have tons of songs from one album only, so makes a good break.

So now when I power up iTunes, I randomly select a letter and play from there. It’s nice.