a collection of words

Fresh Start Monday: The Drums - Let's Go Surfing

2009-10-26T07:32:00.001-07:00

There's a new musical genre term I've heard tossed around lately: chill-wave. I guess it's like New Wave, but more...chill, you know? Now, whether or not Brooklyn-based The Drums fit the chill-wave mold, I'm not sure. However, I'd like to think they do. Their track "Let's Go Surfing" is that nice balance of catchy and mellow.

See, the boys of The Drums hail originally from Florida, but they're now based out of Brooklyn and I've incorrectly seen people say they're actually from San Francisco. Regardless, whether it's Northern California or the North-Eastern Seaboard, the only surfing you'll find is a very chill surfing!

The video for "Let's Go Surfing" is, well, lacking any surf action. It does, however, play like those Levi's jeans commercials which are all shot at night with slightly too-perfect-looking people frolicking on a beach, sending that image that to do so (and to wear their jeans like everyone else) is to proclaim your freedom and your individuality! Why the word "Surfing" fills the screen during the chorus while the guys are singing both surfing and nothing confuses me just a bit.

The song is great! The video leaves a bit to be desired, but it's still worth a watch. And ask yourself this: is the chorus "Oh mama, I want to go surfing" or "Obama, I want to go surfing"? Something tells me Obama would totally paddle out!

The Busy Week and What's Ahead

2009-10-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

I know the ginormous crowd of ACOW followers are wondering what the hell happened to Big Wednesday's entry yesterday. Well, I had a feeling this busy week was going to keep me from the entries I wanted to make. This week, for me, has been crazy busy between a shift change at work, an awesome concert Tuesday night, and my heading up to Sacramento to replace my bus's transmission Friday afternoon (and during the weekend).

So, here's what's coming up...

A full and awesome review of The Grates' show at Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco.
A growing story about storm chasing and climate change.
A free for all Friday (though perhaps not on Friday) on more random web bits (webbits?).

So if you're actually the type of person who does follow this regularly (well, you've made my day), thank you. And bear with me. More fun stuff coming up as we approach Halloween!

Fresh Start Monday: Miike Snow - Animal

2009-10-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Miike Snow (yes, with two i's) is a Swedish band that formed in 2007. None of the guys are named Mike or even Miike, but the double-i does make it easier to search on the internet.

Their self-titled debut has spawned "Animal" as its first single. Despite its appearance on an episode of Gossip Girl, typically something that makes me run screaming away from a tune, "Animal" is as catchy as it is unique. The video for this song is one that I almost feel is classically Swedish. It's very much an art video. There's no message, no plot, just beats, hits, and clashes that a director can fit quick cuts to.

I've described several songs as infinitely singable or danceable. "Animal" is both. I've caught myself singing along dozens of times on the drive home from work and often waking up the next morning with the tune still in my head.

Here's the video for "Animal"

Free for All Friday: Ghost Investigation Shows

2009-10-16T09:01:00.001-07:00

Believe if you do, disbelieve if you want. However, few can disagree that the paranormal is becoming more and more prevalent on TV and in pop culture. Gone are the days of Abbott and Costello Meet the Ghostman and even Ghostbusters; today reality TV has met the unreality of alleged hauntings. Even The Blair Witch Project ten years ago started capitalizing on the handheld docu-drama format with the paranormal. Today Paranormal Activity is in theatres and TV now has three programs investigating ghosts.

First is Ghost Hunters (Wednesday nights) on the SciFi Channel (sorry, I refuse to call it SyFy...it's a stupid name!). This show has been on the longest of the three I'm going to feature today and it's probably the one I've watched the least. I'm not sure why I never really clicked with the TAPS team. Perhaps it's the obvious sponsorship by Roto-Rooter (I mean, are they trying to clean the ghosts out of there?), perhaps it's the occasional personal drama between team members (we don't need a sub-plot while hunting ghosts), perhaps it's the fact that there's such a big team following these guys around (too many cooks with the broth?), but I actually feel that Ghost Hunters is the least professional show out there. And I fully expect lots of people to disagree with me on this one. TAPS has a big following and it's great that it's encouraging others to investigate the unknown, but serious scientific methods should be followed to uncover credible proof.

Next is Ghost Adventures (Friday nights). I've been following this show since it premiered a year ago on the Travel Channel. Actually, Ghost Adventures started with a self-made documentary from 2006 which originally aired on SciFi and has later been replayed on the Travel Channel. Ghost Adventures keeps the number of chefs to a minimum, the team consists of three guys all who carry their own cameras, set up their own gear, and analyze their own findings after one night locked into wherever they're investigating. I like this format. I feel like it minimizes the chances of false readings. It's also been this show that has shown me more evidence that I can't explain away. The flying brick, a teddy bear that moves just a little all on its own, evident scratches...all of these gave me serious chills and really made me question the reality of the paranormal. If nothing else, I find Ghost Adventures rather entertaining. These guys are not afraid to get in there and taunt responses out of the spirits...and that leads to some interesting results! For me, it's a fun way to get home from work on a Friday night and spook myself a little bit. Now, take it for what you will, but I have to share the footage of the flying brick. This sold me on the show when I first saw it and I probably would have sprinted away from it as fast as these guys did!

The most recent addition to the TV ghost scene is Discovery Channel's Ghost Lab (Tuesday nights). The show is only two episodes into their series, but it shows some promise. The team spends at least two days, often more, at whatever location they're investigating. On the upside, it gives them more opportunity to cover more potential hauntings in a given area. On the downside, I don't think it gives them enough time in one location to find everything it might have. Ghost Lab follows the Klinge brothers (and their team) out of San Antonio, Texas with their kitted out Ghost Lab trailer. Funded by the Discovery Channel, they've got some neat technology, but they're also not using anything so new and cutting edge as to set themselves apart from either of the other shows (yet). What I do like about each show is that they put forward some kind of theory and then test it. For example, their most recent trip to Tombstone, AZ (the one place all three shows have visited) toyed with the idea that local thunderstorms coupled with the conductivity of the veins of silver under the town help provide the electromagnetic energy that gives spirits the power to manifest themselves. Two episodes really isn't enough to completely judge a show on, but I still feel like this show has some promise despite having to put up with Mike Rowe's unpleasant voice as narrator.

I consider myself a skeptical believer. I believe, but I've seen enough of what technology can do that I feel I have to judge what I see on TV with a bit of skepticism. That's really my major gripe with all of these shows. The channels that own these shows feel they need to provide a little bit of soundtrack and eerie music to heighten the viewer's experience. For me, all it does it make it more difficult for me to hear what the investigators are trying to hear in the first place. Plus, while the shows claim that nothing's being manipulated, it clear that some stuff is. I mean, the sheer act of editing these shows is manipulation, but when Ghost Lab places fake video lines and a big red REC on anything shot by handheld camera, it just gets to be annoying.

Again, I've had no personal experience with the paranormal to make me believe one way or the other, but (in the immortal words of Fox Mulder) I want to believe. And, if nothing else, these ghost shows are a fun way to spend an evening.

Big Wednesday: Here is Where

2009-10-14T07:35:00.000-07:00

Image Courtesy: National Geographic
How many times have your heard someone start a sentence with "Here is where..."? Typically it's been at some tourist location or in a National Park somewhere with a tour guide or ranger giving a talk about that location's most popular sights.

But what of the lesser known locations? No, not the ubiquitous "George Washington Slept Here" signs, but the places where pre-fame historical figures could have easily changed paths in life or where small decisions wound up having large ramifications down the road.

Andrew Carroll has been working with National Geographic to travel around the country to seek out little known historic sites in conjunction with the release of his book Here Is Where: In Search of America's Great Forgotten History. Andrew has been maintaining a series of engaging blog entries for more than a year. So I find it ironic that the day I choose to write about it is the same day he writes his last entry!

See, I've been talking a great deal about environmental issues on Wednesdays and I strongly feel that part of that includes being aware of the history of your environment. You simply can't get a picture of where things are going without known from where they've come.

The stories that Andrew Carroll has uncovered range from the strange to the utterly fascinating. Take, for example, Delaware's small claim to Reggae history. Yes, that is the sound of your eyebrow quirking upward.

"Marley's mother had been living in Wilmington since 1963 when Bob moved there in 1966, hoping to earn enough money to start his own record label. Under the alias Donald Marley, he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and at the Chrysler assembly plant just across the street from the University of Delaware campus." Link

The series of blog entries read like a plan for a fascinating road trip around America and I can only imagine his book will have much more detail and many more stores than the blog holds. But I happened upon an entry from Maui that struck close to home. Amber and I honeymooned in Maui and drove the road to Hana (I think we actually drove just about every road on Maui), but just a couple miles south of Hana is a small church behind which legendary aviator Charles Lindbergh is buried.

Let this be a lesson to us all: even the most simple place can be historically significant. It's all a matter of being aware of your environment.

Fresh Start Monday: Reverend and the Makers - Silence is Talking

2009-10-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gents, that sound has returned! Wait, which sound? The almost overblown sound of Brit rock as perfected by bands like Blur, Oasis, and (hell) even the Soup Dragons!

Meet Reverend and the Makers from Sheffield, England! They started up in 2005 and were quickly signed to the Wall of Sound label. And their sound is big, brash, playful, and just reminiscent enough of the Brit rock bands I grew up with in high school!

This week's track, "Silence is Talking" caught my ear because they sample (or come damned close to sampling) the horn section from "Low Rider". Yes, the song can definitely stand on its own merits. It's a great, high-energy track. But the hook is that horn section, that easily singable "ba da bada ba b'dada bap baaaa!"

Free for All Fridays: Random Bits Around the Web!

2009-10-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

We come once again to the end of another week and there really hasn't been one story that's jumped out and begged to be talked about. There have, however, been quite a few little stories and oddball tidbits that have caught my eye. Both of them, actually. So here they are in no particular order whatsoever!

First up...tape measures! Wha?! Yes, I do like a bit of home improvement and I'm terrible at eyeballing distances, so I need myself a good tape measure! While those neat digital laser tape measures (which can't be tape measures since they use a laser!) are neat, I grew up in an age where I constantly made mixtapes. Those iTunes playlists just aren't the same. So enter Gama-Go's highly affordable mixtape measure! At a mere eight bucks, even the retro-indie kids can measure twice and cut once with their thrift shop finds! I love that the site notes the tape measure comes in standard and metric (note, that's not the same Metric that rocks Canada so well!).

Okay, so let's say you need to measure stuff, but are just a little more retro than mixtapes. It could happen. I'm sure my blog is very popular with the senior-aged knick-knack crowd! Perhaps Gran needs you to hang a new cuckoo clock or over-sized wooden spoon in the kitchen and you don't want to freak her out with your rock-n-roll kids mixtape measure. Enter this fashionable and classy Owl and Mouse measuring tape made from, I believe, deer bone! Now, this isn't some crazy crafty etsy crowd's creation. This was actually purchased from a unique antique store in Pasadena, CA called GoldBug. By their site, the store looks rather high-end and fancy, but they also have a Facebook fan page, so they've at least got to be somewhat hip!

Earlier this year, I brought you an interesting mashup of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" and Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit". I'm still eagerly looking for an mp3 of it, but in time meantime I'm gonna chow down on this: A Flickr user in Ocala, FL who goes by planetwrite has used a laser engraver (because we all have one of those in our kitchens) to etch (burn? toast?) the image of Rick Astley into some dinner rolls. God, I would love to be at that next dinner party...being Rickrolled the whole way through dinner. Sing it with me now... Never gonna eat you up...Never gonna gobble you down....

Recently Americans voted on their least favorite phrase... whatever!

Lastly this week, a spot of bad news, scientists are rapidly reporting that entropy in the universe may be 100 times greater than first thought. Yes, the universe may come to a quicker end than we all expected! Let's keep in mind, however, that this is still probably a hundred bajillion times longer than we'll be here on Earth. Plus, this also likely explains how the wife and I can clean the apartment and have it messy again in about two days! Thanks, entropy! Just remember, folks, Don't Panic!

Environmental Wednesday: What Ever Happened to Earth First!?

2009-10-07T08:12:00.000-07:00

The other night, a question popped into my head: What ever happened to Earth First!? I’ve been reading the works of Edward Abbey recently and there certainly is a bit of reference and commentary on the Earth First!ers. Do I have to keep putting the exclamation point in the name? Well, yes. Now, as a younger self, I remember watching the news and seeing stories about Earth First! protesting this group or that event. Everywhere they were spiking trees and then sitting up in them and chucking fistfuls of dirt in Caterpillar gearboxes.

But that was the 1980s, a horrible time of yuppies and greed and BMWs. All through my time in high school and college, I never heard anything about EF! I’m not sure if it was a matter of the media taking a concerted effort against giving them any sort of publicity or the advent of the internet increasing the speed at which the average American consumed the news, but they just seemed to have disappeared. Truthfully, they didn’t; they were around doing their thing, but it appears that as the group grew larger, their ideas of what was, wasn’t, or should be acceptable became increasingly varied.

The early 90s saw the group try to make a more mainstream move, but that only served to piss of the more militant wing of the group who left to form the Earth Liberation Front (thankfully sans punctuation). Now, this naturally gets toward one of the more central problems in using rather anarchist ways to gain public attention and support: can you even be anarchist and militant and aggressive in your tactics and simultaneously gain widespread public support for your message?

Well, enter the 21st century (and down to the end of the first decade of it, no less) and now we find ourselves in an era where there does seem to be real and genuine concern over the fate of the planet. I can attest that in 1991 when I was a member of the Student Environmental Action Society at my high school, there wasn’t this feeling of “Oh man, we gotta go green now or it’s all over!”. All around us the evidence of products and companies and cars trying to “go green” is overwhelming. So where is Earth First!?

When I first searched them up on the net, I found earthfirst.org which is relatively currently updated, but features a very plain interface. It’s so plain, that I first asked myself if the site hadn’t been updated since 1996. However, the site is regularly updated; they must just like how it looks. Now, while the presence is there on the net, it’s not terribly compelling. This is my design sense speaking, but clean and effective site design isn’t difficult and it might be an easier way to rally some fence-sitters to your cause. Sites like the one for the Ruckus Society are a much more user-friendly way to get across the message of direct action.

So I kept searching and thought that maybe earthfirst.com was the current site for the EF! Movement. Nope. Very clearly on their about page, the authors of earthfirst.com state they’re not related to EF! and don’t necessarily support their strategies for affecting change in defense of Mother Earth. However, earthfirst.com is a nice site and has some good entries on leading a more earth-friendly lifestyle.

So I kept on searching and found the Earth First! Journal. The Earth First! Journal has been around a couple decades and now has a very web-savvy appearance on the web. The site has a good selection of environmental news stories as well as discussions on what it means to be a member of Earth First! and how you can get in touch with your local EF! group. It’s definitely worth reading in terms of staying up on what’s happening around the planet, but it’s also very full of what types of tactics they do and don’t support (as if it’s a bit of legal disclaimer in case anyone goes off and spikes a Caterpillar engine in a bit of monkeywrenching).

Even the group’s journal site doesn’t provide much “shouting” in the sense of what they’re doing in the day to day direct action against corporations and groups exploiting our resources. Why? What’s become of this group that used to be so in your face that it was difficult to avoid them? Now it’s difficult to even find them! I searched YouTube expecting to find video of protests and tree sittings and discourse on saving the planet. All I actually found was that footage of a North Carolina group of First!ers crying hysterically over the death of a tree.

Perhaps this is where the internet generation has taken us. It feels as though it’s become easier for people to follow a group on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or click themselves into signing a petition. Oh, I know there are real people out there dedicating their time and energy to physically being on the ground at a protest site, but I have the real sense that, in an age where even the evening news asks people to log onto their websites to vote in polls, the masses of people who could be moved to action are instead sitting at their computers clicking “yea” or “nay” on issues that matter to them.

While I’m not about to condemn nor condone Earth First!’s tactics and strategies, I can say that direct action does have an impact. And I have to wonder how much direct action can be done from the comfort of one’s laptop.

Fresh Start Mondays: Philadelphia Grand Jury - Going to the Casino

2009-10-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Philadelphia Grand Jury (or The Philly Jays, as they're already being shortened to) is a relatively new addition to the music scene. They were signed to a record deal in May of 2009, released their first single in June (you'll see it below), and had their first album out about two weeks ago! The Philly Jays (a name that should confuse the average baseball fan) are one of those bands whose music I really enjoy! It's high-energy, a bit wacky, and incredibly danceable. That said, there hasn't been a single Philly Jays song I haven't liked.

Philadelphia Grand Jury is made up of MC Bad Genius, Dan W Sweat, and Berkfinger. Dan W Sweat is also the same guy who plays drums for electro-rock act Art vs. Science (featured previously on Fresh Start Mondays). If you've seen that entry and the great, wacky energy that AVS has, you'll get a feel for what The Philly Jays can bring to the musical scene.

How to describe the video for "Going to the Casino"? Well, without knowing the full story, I get the feeling the band decided it was time to shoot their first video while at a niece or nephew's birthday party. It's a fun blast of punk/indie rock filled with balloons, a petting zoo, some cake, and everyone singing along! Their debut album, Hope is for Hopers, is out now (down under...let me know if you find a copy here in the US).

Free for All Friday: Britain Wants to Ban the Pint Glass

2009-10-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

Raise your pints high, fellas! At least, raise them while you still can. When I first visited England in 2000 (or as I called it then, PBS-land), I totally fell in love with eating at the local pub! Whoever started the rumor that the Brits can't cook is completely mad. Who doesn't love a giant basket of fries with a sausage on top!?

Regardless, my wife and I are looking into planning a trip to England and parts of Europe next summer and if Britain goes forward with what they're planning, well, those pub trips just will not be the same. In an effort which can only be called futile, the British Home Office wants to ban pint glasses (made of glass) in an effort to curb pub brawl injuries! Now, the alternative to an outright ban is coating the pint glass in some kind of shatter-resistant plastic. I suppose that idea sounds mostly harmless (*snort*) until I think about how often those glasses will be used and what effect the plastic will have on the taste of beer. If I've just taken a 12 hour flight to taste some proper Guinness draught, I do not want it tasting like I'm having it from a red Solo plastic cup at a frat house bender!

What the British Home Office isn't apparently taking into account is all the other items in a pub that you can injure someone with! Clearly, these folk haven't been in a proper bar brawl...or they haven't watched Shaun of the Dead recently. Do we need to make Nerf stools and, I don't know, carbon fiber ashtrays? The writers over at Lowering the Bar (yes, a legal humor site) have an interesting look into the issue complete with a fascinating list of stats from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents! Yes, that too is a real society! See why I like the Brits so much? And after reading the list over at Lowering the Bar, if anyone can come up with any injuries one can sustain from cardigan sweaters, please let me know!

Environmental Wednesday: Saving the Planet if It's Doomed

2009-09-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

This week’s look at the environment may run a little off-center at times and might sound more like an episode of The X Files, but rest assured the concept at the center of it is solid regardless of how wacky everything else sounds.

For years, I’ve been fascinated with watching movies that depict the end of the world. I don’t know why, honestly. It’s not a pleasant thought at all and I hope the world doesn’t end during my lifetime. There is something actually life-affirming about these films. Most of them show humanity carrying on in one way or another. They are, at the center, stories of survival despite insane odds. Lately, however, it seems like those movies are turning darker and they are becoming less stories of survival and more stories of the end. Couple this with the ever-increasing meme of 2012 and all the environmental and political struggles around the world and, well, I begin to wonder if there truly is something to worry about.

Search the web for non-movie websites about 2012 and you will find some interesting stuff. There is this growing belief that “the world as we know it” (vague terminology, yes) will end on the 21^st of December 2012. How? No one knows, but theories range from the reasonable to the absurd. It very easily could be a combination of political and climate troubles or it could be a sudden shifting of the Earth’s magnetic poles or the passing of Planet X, a planet 100 times the size of Earth which swings through the solar system on a highly-elliptical 3500-ish year orbit. If something cataclysmic happens at the end of 2012, it could be something between a Tom Clancy novel and a poorly-scripted 1950s B-movie.

My discussion today is not about what might happen, if anything, on 12/21/12, but about the effect this whole concept may have on humanity and whether or not it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What would you do if you knew the world was going to end at a set date? Would you continue your work-a-day life? Would you keep working out? Would you keep eating well? Would you even give a care for the environment? I mean, if the planet is doomed, it can’t get any worse if I start tossing my trash out the window, right?

See, there comes a point where we as a society need to ask ourselves if we would continue trying to make a positive difference on our planet even if it might be all for naught in the event of some planetary apocalypse. Would we continue to be people of positivity in the face of possible destruction?

Truthfully, we have no idea if the world will end in 2012. And what do we even mean by “end”? The average person thinks that it’s all game over, pull the plug, turn off the lights. But what if it just means that the way we’ve been living for centuries is going to change. Maybe it’ll suck for a while, but what if leads to something greater? There are theories out there proposing every scenario imaginable and I’m not about to throw my hat behind one or the other.

Some scientists claim that climate change is already on a runaway course and the ice caps are going to melt and the sea is rising and there’s nothing we can do now about it. Does that mean we shouldn’t cut our carbon emissions anyway? That we shouldn’t recycle the hell out of everything we can and toss our trash into the Great Pacific Garbage Pile?

If reading science-fiction my whole life has taught me anything, it’s that life finds a way to carry on. In my own view of the world, I find I have to cling to that idea. It keeps me going and it will keep me doing right by the planet even if it means I look into some wilderness survival training in the meantime.

I hope everyone would think that way.

Fresh Start Monday: The Big Pink - Dominoes

2009-09-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

UK Electro-rock duo, The Big Pink, is back with a new album, A Brief History of Love, and a huge new single. Robbie Furze and Milo Cordell have dropped "Dominoes" on our collective ears and I'm confident that the pizza joint of the same name would have to work damned hard to adapt this to one of their commercials.

No, "Dominoes" is a track that does a fantastic job of being infinitely danceable (or at least head-bobbable to those of us to whom dancing does not come naturally) and easy to sing along to. As a result, "Dominoes" gets caught in your head and stays there like a big-drummed virus.

My movie-oriented mind rightfully suspects that it will not be long before "Dominoes" goes huge on one of those teen movie soundtracks. Yes, the song is about being a guy who seems a bit of a commitment-phobe. Maybe it's a bit of a preening, too. "As soon as I love her it's been too long/and I really love breaking your heart." It's a song that begs a slow-mo scene of the high school jock strolling down the hall at school and all the girls swooning over him.

Regardless of any expected film exposure of the song, it remains a good download and one worth cranking in your living room or car (or old school boombox if you carry one of those).

Free for All Friday: Neat Hacks for Everyday Items

2009-09-25T08:05:00.001-07:00

This week's topic for my Free for All Friday is really a compilation of a bunch of tech links I've wanted to talk about for a while. They're all either hacks, modifications, or genuine improvements on existing everyday items. Truly, that's what drives innovation: looking at an item we use commonly and thinking "Wouldn't it be better if I did X with that?"

First up is one close to my heart. It's an external hard drive enclosure made out of a first generation Gameboy! I still have my old Gameboy in a box in the closet and every so often I'll pull it out, put in fresh batteries, and play Excitebike for a while (or Tetris)! The original post via BoingBoing is a little difficult to read because it's in French, but what really makes this hack stand out is the fact that the original power light comes on and the screen displays a custom start screen (in this case, Super Hard Drive) that looks like an original Gameboy game would have back in the day! Kudos to detail!

Next up is a very neat improvement on that stick blind people use to get around (or at least not crash into things). It's the basic red and white blind stick we're all used to seeing, but designer Wonjune Song has developed an Eye Stick for the blind. It has a small lens embedded in the lower portion of the stick that can sense objects and changes in elevation (like stair, for example) and then send a vibration into the handle that tells the operator what to expect next. The article doesn't indicate if different vibrations are used for different alerts, but it would stand to reason that that's the case.

Lastly, artist Kevin Cyr is building a pop-up camper fixture atop a regular old shopping cart. It's a fascinating little piece of work, this one! I can see it becoming very popular amongst the homeless. Now, I understand this is meant to be art, but Kevin is also building it to be fully functional. So, working on that premise, you'll totally be able to climb inside for a lie down! Mind you, having spent a childhood of either riding in or pushing someone in a shopping cart, I'm not sure how comfortable I'd be putting my bulky frame inside one of these and not having it flip over the first time I toss and turn in my sleep. Regardless, it's going to be a neat piece and I'm sure when the apocalypse rolls around, we'll all be pushing our carts around nomadically camping out in leftover parks and campgrounds!

Will Closing California State Parks Save the State Anything?

2009-09-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

"We know that closing state parks won't save money. It will actually cost the state tax revenue," said Elizabeth Goldstein, president of the California State Parks Foundation and one of 11 speakers at the packed auditorium at Cavallo Point, in Fort Baker. -Peter Fimrite & Wyatt Buchanan, SFGate.com Sept. 23, 2009

It seems sometimes like we Californians have short memories. We have been in a situation where we have had a horrible (or no) budget for so long that we forget it was all the way back in January of 2008 that governor Schwarzenegger recommended we close all or part of 48 of the state’s 279 parks to help close the budget gap.

Nineteen months later, we sit on the precipice of the closure of 100 of the state’s 279 parks! That would leave a mere 179 parks open for a state the size of more than half the Eastern Seaboard with a population of nearly 35 million people (not counting the millions of tourists who come here every year just to visit the state parks)! News reports indicate that the final list has been delayed and should be released to the public sometime this week. As of today, it appears as though hearing are still underway and no new date has been given for the release of any list.

In a time where natural resources appear to be dwindling at an ever-increasing rate and more people turn inward toward technology to keep themselves entertained, more and more of us need to get out an experience nature. We need to get out and explore our state! We need access to our state parks in order to do that!

Coupled with these proposed closures is, you guessed it, an increase in fees! So, theorhetically, when more of us are driving further (using more gas, polluting more, etc) to get to the few parks there are, we will be met by larger crowds and will have to pay more to access the wilderness. Where, in anyone’s logic, does this make sense? While I understand the guv’s determination not to raise taxes (and can, on a level, respect that), there are some places where increased taxes do something good! Now, the question comes up “What if we can make the parks self-sustaining?”
And before fears of privatizing the parks and letting the free market run them creep up, let’s hear what Adam Summers at reason.org had to say about just this idea about three weeks ago:

If user fees go up, some will say that the state is pricing out the poor. But there are ways to accommodate all income groups. The demand for park services is not constant year-round, or even throughout the week. Parks that use market pricing would have an incentive to reduce fees during times of low demand and increase fees during times of high demand. Thus, anyone who wanted to save money on recreation fees could do so by visiting parks during off-peak days or seasons.

If that’s not enough, the state could set aside an allotment of passes each day to distribute on a first-come, first-served basis. This method would allow anyone willing to get in line early for tickets to pay with their time instead of their dollars.

Summers also notes that demand for state parks and beaches is still incredibly high despite the current economic situation. I can attest to that because no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t able to make reservations to get out and do some camping this summer! Very disappointing for me, but it should be a clear and positive sign to the state that our parks are valuable and closing them would do everyone a great disservice!

So let’s say the state goes ahead and closes some of the parks. What happens then? Well, depending on who you talk to the answer ranges everywhere between potential liability lawsuits to outright wild west style desperados growing ginormous pot farms! In a recent article in the San Jose Mercury News, closing any state parks could mean a breach of contract with the private companies who provide concessionary services in those state parks. Furthermore, if someone were to enter a closed state park and either hurt themselves or set fire to the place or cause some other chain of damaging events into motion, the state could still be liable for allowing “dangerous conditions” to exist within state park boundaries.

My first thought on this goes toward a park like Big Basin Redwoods State Park (California’s first state park, by the way) up in the Santa Cruz Mountains near the town of Boulder Creek. Big Basin straddles Highway 236 which leaves Highway 9 at one end and reconnects with it in Boulder Creek. Highway 236 has many private roads that branch off from it on which private residents reside. If California were to close Big Basin, how would they then prevent people from still entering the park while allowing residents to freely traverse Highway 236? I don’t see how they could without actually costing tax-payers more money in the long term! Closing that park just does not make sense.

An article over at Mother Jones notes that the current trend of rather aggressive pot farmers setting up shop in remote corners of large state parks and wilderness areas could run rampant if the states goes ahead with park closures. Without rangers to patrol these areas, author Josh Harkenson fears that local “neighborhood watch style groups” would take up where the rangers left off. But that’s not so smart an idea, according to Harkenson. As I reported in Mother Jones' July/August issue, a third of California's national parks and all of its national forests have already been colonized by aggressive pot farmers. Where hippies once grew just enough weed to peace out, traffickers now cultivate more than 100,000 plants at a time on 30-acre terraces irrigated by plastic pipe, laced with illegal pesticides, and guarded by MAC-10s and Uzis. The state’s liability insurance rates are poised to shoot through the roof should something of this magnitude happen. And the state, funding through the public, would certainly foot the bill.

With the reality of dwindling outdoor resources and access very nigh, what can we do? We must take action! The folks over at calparks.org have a great site dedicated to helping preserve our parks and keep them open through these tough financial times with simple and effective steps each of us can do to show state government the values and benefits of our park system.

Fresh Start Monday: Horrorshow - Thoughtcrime & Urthboy - Ready to Go

2009-09-21T07:57:00.001-07:00

This week's Fresh Start Monday is going to take a look at two hot new songs from the folks at the Elefant Traks label and how two songs from the same label can look so very different.

First up is the first single from Horrorshow's forthcoming album. "Thoughtcrime (Doin' My Think)" shows me just how literary the Aussie hip-hop movement can be. Horrorshow's name comes from Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange in which the slang Alex and his friends speak equates horrorshow to "really really cool". And thoughtcrime is a term taken from Orwell's 1984 in which the Thoughtpolice could determine if you were committing thoughtcrime and then punish you accordingly. So, their literary roots naturally lend a bit of page cred with me, but their sound is great. There's that old R&B hook I dig so much as well as cleverly written lyrics. The video for Thoughtcrime is notedly low-key and somewhat DIY. A trio of blandly dressed thoughtcops (?) are out to snag Kid Solo and Adit for making music outside of the mainstream, but that whole plan backfires as their continual rapping gets the thoughtcops into the groove (and even samples a little Muph + Plutonic) while the Horrorshow boys make their getaway. It's all very entertaining and definitely bumps the speakers!

Second is the new single from Urthboy's Spitshine album (which came out in July). Ready to Go features Nat Dunn and Elefant Traks' resident female voice, Jane Tyrrell, on backup. Where Thoughtcrime is a bit of a low-fi R&B jam, Ready to Go is the flash, high-energy dance track that's great for working up crowds or working out to! Urthboy's solo work is a fairly refreshing aggro-edged album compared to his collaborative work with The Herd. It shows that Urthy's got a pretty big range musically. The video is all bright lights and fancy camera work as director James Hackett uses a neat little time-shifted long exposure effect that can be a tad jarring at first, but subsequent viewings of the video let you take in some of the more subtle effects. Add to it the dance crew in back covered in LEDs either spinning about or spelling things out and it's a pretty slick piece of filmwork.

Both Horrorshow and Urthboy can be found on the Elefant Traks label out of Sydney, NSW.

A Progamming Note

2009-09-18T07:09:00.000-07:00

No, Kanye hasn't interrupted my blog to let the world know that Beyonce's got the best blog of the year. I've decided it's time to trim the number of entries I put in each week and raise the quality of the ones I write.

I'm going to take the weekend to think about how exactly I want to lay things out, but right now I am thinking about keeping an entry dedicated to new music, one to environmental issues, and probably one that's more of a free-for-all (tech, weird, food or music review).

I might just go with a Monday-Wednesday-Friday structure, but even that might need to be flexible. Regardless, I'll be back on Monday with an awesome new song from a group called Horrorshow and an update on how entries will roll from here on out.

Throwback Thursday: Soundgarden - Black Hole Sun

2009-09-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well, as far as throwbacks to the 90s go, Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" has got to be up there in the top 10. Whether you loved the song right off the bat or hated it from the moment you saw those tweaked out faces in the video (seen below with an extra treat), you can't deny the impact this song had on Grunge music's popularity.

From their Superunknown album, which has a huge number of tracks more powerful and intense than "Black Hole Sun", this song really cemented Soundgarden in the public consciousness. In a testament to how the grunge angst viewed the world around them, the video highlights and overplays every glossed-over and plastic (read: fake) aspect of modern society. So here it is...in all its MTV glory of the 1990s, "Black Hole Sun"! Below it is a bonus guitar cover of "Black Hole Sun" by Peter Frampton!

Weird Wednesday: South African Pigeon Faster Than DSL!

2009-09-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

This week on Weird Wednesday, I'm looking at a story that would make Comcast squeal with delight. In fact, even I can relate. I got tired of how slow our local DSL can be and we've made the switch to cable internet. It's cool. In South Africa, however, an IT company became so tired of the national telecom's inability to maintain its connection that they ventured a pigeon could get data between two points faster than DSL.

And damned if they're weren't right! In something akin to a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the IT company loaded a 4GB memory card onto a carrier pigeon and sent him off on his merry way. Sure enough, the pigeon data got to its destination some 40 kilometers away faster than the same data could be downloaded via the internet. For the record, the pigeon got there in two hours!

Cory Doctorow over at Boing Boing did a little math to help illustrate the point of how pigeons are faster than South African internet over traversable distances.

A random web-page promises that a carrier pigeon can bear loads of up to 1.7 oz or about 48.2g. My postal scale says that my 64GB SD card weighs 2.05g. Which means that a pigeon could carry 23 64GB SD cards, or 1.472 terabytes. I think that even the best commercial ISP in the world would be hard-pressed to deliver 736GB/h between two customer DSL end-points.

I love it! More proof the over technical world we live in isn't as reliable as we dream it is. Can you see it? Some post-apocalyptic world where some computers work, but the networks they used to run on are long gone. Carrier pigeons will thrive as they shuttle the world's data from point to point. It's like something from a rebooted Mad Max film!

Tech Tuesday: Cheap Solar Power Using Your Hair!

2009-09-15T06:47:00.000-07:00

Every now and then some piece of technology comes along that seems to have the potential to completely revolutionize the world. This week, I'm looking at solar panels. Yeah, they've been around a while and they have been getting smaller and more efficient. For example, my mom brought me back a solar powered keychain from Montana that flashes my name. Solar panels, however, aren't getting cheaper! My understanding is that there's one element of a solar panel that's apparent very difficult to produce, and, therefore, make them much more expensive!

Last year I heard a story about an Australian girl who was able to create cheap solar panels that you basically printed out on an inkjet printer and then cured in a toaster oven. Cheap, mass-producable, great for third world countries...I figured it wouldn't be long before the revolution began. Well, I'm still waiting and still paying a fair bit on the old power bill.

Perhaps the revolution will start soon. The Daily Mail in the UK ran a story recently about a teenager in rural Nepal who's invented a solar panel that uses human hair instead of silicon to conduct the electricity. Apparently, Melanin, which gives hair its color, is also a conductor and the panel invented by Milan Karki and four of his classmates can produce 9V of power for about $38 in parts.

Now, it appears as though the Melanin in the hair doesn't last forever. After a few months, the conductivity of the Melanin wears out and you need to replace the hair, but seeing as how my wife gets a haircut about every few months, I think we have a nice coincedence that will help revolutionize the power industry!

And, for what it's worth, you won't see any of the major companies picking up a technology like this without raising the cost to the consumer. The revolution in energy will start with the common people in remote places like Nepal and Namibia and Zaire! It will start in people's backyards and it needs to start soon!

Fresh Start Monday: Illy - Full Tank

2009-09-14T06:18:00.000-07:00

Melbourne MC Illy, part of the Obese Records family, is out with his first full length album Long Story Short (which you'll get the low down on Friday as Full Review Friday returns!). Illy first popped up on my hip-hop radar when his track "Pictures" started getting regular rotation on Triple J. Honestly, and my apologies to Illy for this, I thought it was a new Urthboy single. Truly, their voices sound pretty similar.

Fresh Start Monday, however, is bringing you his first single from Long Story Short, "Full Tank". It's a song about the journey, the road trip, and the rites of passage making said trip. As a fan of the open road myself, I love this track. It conjures up images of piling into the bus with a bunch of friends and meeting up with the club and heading out camping or to shows!

"Full Tank" is just a hint of the awesomeness that awaits you on Long Story Short. Melbourne's a hot bed of great MCs who are currently putting out some classic songs! Definitely do a little research and check Illy and the rest of them out. Start over at Obese Records and go from there!

Foodie Friday - Za in San Francisco

2009-09-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

This week's entry should be titled something like "The cool things you find in San Francisco while looking for ice cream"! Last weekend my wife and I, along with her sister, set out for the city at the last remaining Swensen's ice cream shop. We all have great memories of them from down here in the South Bay, but they're all gone now!

We also remember them serving food, so when we found the original Swensen's (since 1948) bereft of food and bathrooms, the guy behind the counter recommended the pizza place just down the street. And there it was! At 1919 Hyde Street, with cable cars trundling past, right in the middle of Russian Hill, was Za! Pizza/Art, the neon sign advertised! Looked like a neat enough place. And if they had bathrooms, we were sold!

Inside Za, it looks like the crossing of an artsy coffeeshop, minibar, and pizza joint. That's about what Za is, minus the coffee. The guys running the place are incredibly friendly and as we sat down to peruse their menu, we totally got the vibe that this was a traditionally neighborhood pizza place. Anyone else that came in was greeted by their first name and conversations struck right up! The smell there is awesome and we quickly decided that we were having pizza for lunch. The decor is really cool, featuring local artists and lots of decorated skateboards. This little installation featuring the Western Addition neighborhood is particularly cool!

Ah, but how is the pizza? In a word, great! In two words, really great! It's rare that I find an independent pizza place. Mostly, I get stuck with your Round Tables and Papas John! Za is a fantastically refreshing change! The crust is uber-thin, the ingredients fresh, and they even blot their pizzas so they're not as greasy! Amber was blown away by this fact! When our pizza came out (pepperoni), they actually were so insistent that it had spent a little too long in the oven that they offered to make us another one on the spot. Now that shows commitment to quality! Honestly, the pizza looked fine and it tasted great. I had burned pizzas worse on my own and still ate them. Not only were they so concerned about the quality of the pizza that they offered to make us a new one, but they didn't even charge us full price for it when I went to pay! I was bowled over and would never have expected that kind of care and passion for one's business.

Za is good quality pizza at a great price, but it's the staff and the atmosphere that really set this place apart from anywhere else. I suppose now I have a little more reason to drive to San Francisco every now and then!

Throwback Thursday: Stone Temple Pilots - Plush

2009-09-10T07:14:00.000-07:00

This week's throwback is going somewhat classic. Stone Temple Pilots hit the scene post-Pearl Jam and Nirvana. Unfortunately, their sound was so similar that I can clearly remember laying in bed one morning as a teen listening to Live 105 (which was then an awesome station! Today, not so much) and hearing STP's first single "Plush". I thought to myself, Oh, Pearl Jam's got a new single out. Cool. Ha! Little did I know, it totally wasn't Eddie Vedder's gravelly voice on that track.

It was Scott Weiland (the one in the gold fuzzy sweater), frontman for STP, a man who easily could have gone the way of Kurt Cobain and Shannon Hoon. Scott's been notoriously in and out of rehab over the years, but he's held his own. He's managed to come through it and keep on keepin' on! Despite addiction's cold grip, you can't help but admire his fight. He could have easily given in to an OD and be simply remembered as one of those who should still be here.

So, here or not, let's remember Stone Temple Pilots as they were at the beginning. Plush.

Weird Wednesday: Bizarre Road Signs

2009-09-09T07:40:00.000-07:00

As someone who has a small collection of road signs (honestly, ranger sir, that Danger Steep Cliff sign was doing no one any good at the bottom of the cliff!), I love an unusual road sign. That kind of sign that was once put up with the greatest of intentions and surely made sense at the time, but now it just boggles the mind.

So this week I have two resources for your signage entertainment. First is a Flickr group for Outrageous Signs. From Slum Tours of Mumbai to Fresh Picked Candy Corn to County Road Ends at Water (duh!), this photo group has some pretty unusual signs (see inset). However, there are many completely usual signs. For example, the Lower Cullen Road sign is completely normal. I don't care if all the Twilight fans are squee'ing themselves wet over it, it's just a regular roadsign!

This week's other entry is a bit more tongue-in-cheek! From the folks over at Urban Prankster comes a series of crosswalk sign hacks in which people have created stickered overlays for your normal "Push Button to Cross" signs. Truth be told, I love this concept. There are at least four buttons at each intersection, multiplied by the number of intersections in a given city, carry the one, divide by the square root of cheesecake, and there's literally billions upon billions (thanks, Carl Sagan) of chances to make the local pedestrians laugh. I'm a particular fan of the "Reboot Universe" sign. I'd push that one a few times over.

It's just a little too bad that Urban Prankster doesn't offer a downloadable template for visitors to create their own signage.

Tech Tuesday: Heads Up Display in Your Eye!

2009-09-08T07:52:00.001-07:00

I dig science fiction. However, I feel like we're coming to a point where what writers come up with in their novels are becoming reality much more quickly than it did, say, in the 1930s! How many stories have your read (or shows you've seen, lazy bums) where someone has wacky cybernetic vision in which they can interface with either targeting systems or get background info to scroll on whoever it is they're talking to.

Sounds cool, right? You can have a discussion with your sweetie and she references something you don't know much about. So you can search it up and actually have something worthwhile to contribute to the conversation! Take it to an extreme and you can sit there and update your Facebook status while you're in class! Or you can search up answers to that test you didn't study for last night.

Hopefully, there will be some kind of reflection of what you're search in your pupil so teachers know when you're not paying attention. But how far off is this technology? Probably quite some time, still, but we are headed in that direction! However, the article at IEEE Spectrum (very technical for you serious techies) says "these lenses don’t give us the vision of an eagle or the benefit of running subtitles on our surroundings yet. But we have built a lens with one LED, which we’ve powered wirelessly with RF. What we’ve done so far barely hints at what will soon be possible with this technology."

Ah, the joys of scientific reporting. We have one LED! Cool! Soon we'll do some really awesome things! And, having read the full article, I am a little dismayed to know they've tested these contact lenses on rabbits. I could go drag my soapbox out of the closet and go on about animal testing, but that's a whole other blog I could write. In the meantime, watch out for those with cyborg vision!

Fresh Start Mondays: Billy Talent - Rusted from the Rain

2009-09-07T08:08:00.000-07:00

When I first heard Billy Talent's "Rusted from the Rain" I thought to myself Holy crap! A song that really isn't afraid to rock! And then I thought Wait, who is this Billy Talent guy I've never heard of and why is he so pompous as to have the name Talent?

Thankfully, Billy Talent is the name of the band, not of any one member. In fact, Billy Talent was formerly Pezz, but had to change their name due to a lawsuit from an identically named band in America. Oh, Billy Talent is Canadian, by the way, and has been around since 1993! Don't hold that against them, lots of great bands come from Canada. And they at least took their name from literary roots (good for them!), namely Michael Turner's Hard Core Logo.

Regardless of my not hearing of them for the past 16 years, "Rusted from the Rain" is an awesome song full of driving guitars, headbanging jams, and easy to learn lyrics! The video for it (below) naturally features the band rocking out around lots of metal while the storytelling aspect follows a homeless guy collecting junk and ultimately building a carousel for the local kids. Fantastic idea, in theory, but I wouldn't let my kids play on a junkyard carousel run by a homeless guy.

Foodie Friday: A Look at Locavores

2009-09-04T08:10:00.000-07:00

This week's Foodie Friday heads into original territory (at least for this blog). I have been fascinated by the idea of locavores recently. If you're not up on new eco-friendly terminology, a locavore is someone who commits to buying and eating foods completely from within their communities. My understanding is that this does not include the McDonalds down the street, but instead all their local farmers markets and they make sure the foods they buy from their supermarkets are grown locally.

But how do you define locally? Neighborhood? Area code? City limits? Backyard?! I think that's my first concern about people who tend to jump onto eco-trendy concepts. I mean, take it to an absurd extreme and we could talk about eating galactically local and, boy, that bunch of bananas from Argentina is suddenly right next door! An article on PBS.org about becoming a locavore suggests that "many locavores start by trying to eat within a 100-mile radius from their homes". I generally prefer my dining room, but to each their own! Honestly, a 100-mile radius sounds reasonable. For me, that means anything just south of Santa Rosa to the Gold Country and down to just below Monterey (and I guess out into the ocean) is fair game! For someone in the Sudan, let's say, it might still only encompass one town.

The grammarian within me, however, wonders if locavore is really even the correct term. Herbivores eat herbs (well, vegetables and fruits, but okay), Carnivores eat meat (from the latinate root for meat), Omnivores eat everything (in other words, they're basically goats), so part of my brain insists that Locavores eat the locals (somewhat zombie-esque, I admit). Eating locally, it makes more sense to call them localvores. Perhaps it's an issue of splitting hairs, but when the reports of cannibalism start pouring in, remember this blog!

I need to make it clear right now that I have nothing against locavores or even the idea of supporting local growers. I have a big problem with large companies who don't treat their workers fairly or pay them well. I have a big problem with companies who try to sell themselves as clean and eco-friendly when it's all just a marketing ploy. When it comes to locavoring (can I make that a verb? Sure!) I have a problem with people who just try to fit in. Yes, those people who will drive down in their luxury SUVs, buy a Starbucks coffee, perhaps a bunch of flowers, an over-priced piece of art, and a basket of under-priced strawberries and go home feeling good about themselves for supporting local farmers. Simply put: go big or go home. If you want to be a locavore (or anything, for that matter) commit yourself to it and make it happen!

However, a dilemma still exists. This is one I've heard Anthony Bourdain speak to while commenting on how Alice Waters is pushing the Obama administration to support local organic foods in our school systems. Organic, locally grown food is generally more expensive than the fruits and veggies from Chile that Safeway keeps advertising. I'd argue that the stuff you'd find at the Farmers Market is often much cheaper, but let's run with the idea that it's ultimately more expensive. The dilemma is this: how are the poor and under-paid of the world to become locavores? Before you say, "Grow a garden...duh!" let's also keep in mind that they probably haven't the land to grow geraniums, let alone a whole sustainable garden. Once again, we return to the fact that to do good for the world takes more money/effort/time and so fewer people actually go that route. It is nice to see that some groups are making a concerted effort to provide better access to healthier and more local food in our schools. There's no doubt that good food leads to better mental acuity which leads to better learning. I still don't think we'll see major change on that scene until it's a federally mandated policy.

One last point when it comes to locavores: for them, the world is shrinking. No, not in that sense of how the internet is connecting everything, but more in the sense of old feudal England when a person is born, lives, and dies all within about a 15 mile radius. As soon as technology allowed it, those people raced out across the planet discovering, conquesting, and (unfortunately) screwing up most of the planet! Now, suddenly, it seems like a segment of the population is shrugging off the idea of "let's go everywhere and experience everything" and staying local, eating local, growing local. It's truly not a bad idea, conceptually. However, a few generations of living like that and what becomes of mankind's desire to explore and learn and think of something greater than the area immediately around them? Can locavores go to space?

Throwback Thursday: Yothu Yindi - Treaty (Filthy Lucre Mix)

2009-09-03T07:10:00.000-07:00

This week's throwback is a personal favorite of mine. I was first introduced to Yothu Yindi while watching a PBS travel show about Australia (shortly before I went there in the summer of 1993) and was instantly stunned by the awesome blend of traditional aboriginal music and rock. It was so unlike anything else I'd heard before!

While I was on the People to People trip to New Zealand and Australia, we visited a sort of aboriginal dinner theatre and their finale was set to this remix of "Treaty". After getting back from that trip, I sought out every CD of theirs I could find. That would be three, for the record. And their albums are themselves a blend of traditional aboriginal songs and their flavor of rock. It's really neat stuff if you can search up a little Yothu Yindi.

Here's the video for the Filthy Lucre Mix of "Treaty":

Weird Wednesday: Post-Rapture Pet Care

2009-09-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

This week's Weird Wednesday takes a look at what is either the most comforting business plan to come around (because I love my kitties and want them well-cared for should anything ever happen to me) or the most brilliant way to grift a little money off one's belief! Yes, there is now a company designed to care for your pets should The Rapture happen and you're whisked off to heaven, leaving no one to feed Kitty Fantastico that evening.

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA (sorry, rest of the world) is active in 20 states (not California, sadly) and promises that for "$110.00 we will guarantee that should the Rapture occur within ten (10) years of receipt of payment, one pet per residence will be saved. Each additional pet at your residence will be saved for an additional $15.00 fee. A small price to pay for your peace of mind and the health and safety of your four legged friends." So, were I a God-fearing anything, for $125 my two cats would be taken care of if The Rapture were to happen before 2019. Now, $125 from just one person might pay for a couple months' hosting of the site, but factor in 20 states worth of actual believers and it could be a decent chunk of change! And if The Rapture doesn't happen within the next 10 years, well, the average subscriber is only out a little more than $100!

Does anyone else see this as a total scheme and simultaneously see it as totally brilliant?! Their site also claims that "Our representatives have been screened to ensure that they are atheists, animal lovers, are moral / ethical with no criminal background, have the ability and desire to rescue your pet and the means to retrieve them and ensure their care for your pet's natural life." I, for one, am glad that they're screened for atheism. I don't want the person in charge of my pets' well-being suddenly whisked off to heaven! Geez!

Eternal Earth-Bound Pets, USA also claims that "at this time we are not equipped to accommodate all species and must limit our services to dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, and small caged mammals." So skip the horse farm, the alpacas, and the goldfish. The post-Rapture earth just won't be equipped to handle them.

I really think that I love this concept because it has a little fun with the fundamentalists. And a little exploration of the site finds both Brad and Bart working either side of the Mississippi. I am tempted to contact them and see how sales are going. But, at that rate, I could just locate them on Twitter and ask them there!

Maybe I should start a service that will care for someone's World of Warcraft character should The Rapture occur?

Tech Tuesday: Great Altoids Tin Hacks

2009-09-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

I love when items not originally designed to perform a certain task are hacked and repurposed to perform said task. For example, the picture on the left here is of an Altoids tin that has been converted into an MP3 player. Looks like minty goodness, but sounds awesome!

An article over at Oobject has a list of what they consider the 15 best Altoids tin hacks. Some of them seem a little common as far as hack ideas go, others are pretty darn unique!

The MP3 player seems an obvious choice, as does the iPod dock, the mini LED flashlight, and just about any robot. But the Altoids tin mouse is pretty cool as well as the 35mm camera and the "pintoid" camera.

I've yet to take the dive into hacking Altoids tins into useful everyday items, but I do keep a small one in the bus for fuses and a larger one in my work bag for flash drives and a set of headphones! My 2 gigs of portable space have never smelled so minty!

Fresh Start Mondays: Parlez-vous Francais - Art vs. Science

2009-08-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm not generally one to get behind the massive party jam of the summer, but seeing as how it's still winter down under and how this song hasn't gone massive in the States, I'm hugely supportive of Art vs. Science's breakthrough track "Parlez-vous Francais"! They first captured my attention with their song "Flippers", a song that gained them lots of attention at triplejunearthed.com and later on the radio station itself!

"Parlez-vous Francais" has all the earmarks of a song that will worm its way into your head and start feeding on your psyche. In a good way, of course! The beat is spot-on, perfect for bobbing your head to. The lyrics are easy to learn and, therefore, become both easy to sing along to and easy to keep trapped in your head. And when you translate the chorus (Si vous plait, my cherie, a la tombe la chemise!) it works out to "If you understand, my dear, take off your top!". Pardon my French if I didn't spell that right, I took Latin in high school.

Check out the video below. But be warned it has battling mimes, do not try these mimes at home without supervision (or a web cam on).

Foodie Friday: Twist Cafe & Bistro in Campbell

2009-08-28T07:26:00.000-07:00

This week's culinary excursion takes us, well, back into downtown Campbell. Truthfully, for as small as downtown Campbell is, it harbors a great deal of cool restaurants (not to mention the best Sunday Farmers Market)! Most people tend to regard French cuisine as the pinnacle of food excellence. While I'll readily agree that the French some mean food, I think many people also think French equals fancy.

Enter Twist Cafe and Bistro (247 E. Campbell Ave) opened by Dominique and Eileen Faury in 2003, with their goal of putting a bit of a, well, twist on both French and American cuisine. During the morning and afternoon TWist Cafe takes center stage, but enter dinner time and they open up the other half of their restaurant: Twist Bistro takes over.

The fare is great and the portions are very good. Things are moderately priced there for breakfast and lunch; two people can get out of there for about $20. I haven't tried dinner at the Bistro, but their menu is a little higher than that of the cafe. Typically, Amber and I wind up at Twist on Sunday mornings when we head down to the Farmers Market. She frequently gets the French Toast (who better to make it than the French?) and I get the Breakfast Burrito with bacon. Seriously, that burrito sates me just fine through lunchtime and I don't need to eat again until dinner. Their breakfast menu also includes crepes of all varieties!

Their lunch menu is equally varied with a number of American dishes with a little French flare. There are sandwiches like a French Club (served with turkey breast or Ham on a baguette with lettuce, bacon, tomato, avocado, and tarragon mayo) or the Beef Tri-Tip Sandwich (served on focaccia bread with Harissa mayonnaise, braised onions, tomatoes, and lettuce). I've tried the Frog Dog (no frog parts, don't worry) which is a sizeable hot dog with cheese and a side of fries. My only complaint about the Frog Dog was that it also came with mustard (not advertised on the menu) and I can't stand mustard. However, in an effort to try new things, I muscled my way through the mustard and still enjoyed the meal overall.

Twist truly has a fantastic menu with many familiar dishes that all have a nice little, well, twist to them! The owners are tremendously welcoming and friendly, plus the constant mix of French music is a nice diversion from the pre-packaged music you find at most restaurants. They have dishes for the herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores in all of us. Twist Cafe & Bistro in Campbell is very worth the trip!

Throwback Thursday: Frente! - Bizarre Love Triangle

2009-08-27T07:54:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, kids, there was once a time when bands other than Panic at the Disco (who has now dropped the !) used an exclamation mark in their names. That's right, I'm talking about Frente! Unfortunately, Frente! didn't garner much fame in America outside of their cover of New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle".

Together, the band had two albums, Marvin the Album and Shape, neither of which went particularly high in the charts and so the band that first formed in 1991 had disbanded in 1996. Oddly, I've not been the only one to experience throwbacks to the 1990s. In early 2005, the band reformed for a series of shows along Australia's east coast. Then promptly disbanded again.

Let's remember how things once were, shall we?

Weird Wednesday: The Cardboard Tube Fighting League

2009-08-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Are you inspired by those grand battle scenes from The Lord of the Rings? Does the intricacies of the SCA interest you? But are you too lazy to get into medieval garb.... Have you played too much World of Warcraft and want to find some way to get outside and enjoy that odd shiny thing in the sky like everyone keeps encouraging you to?

Well, welcome to the Cardboard Tube Fighting League! Yes, now you too can find a use for those leftover tubes your Aragorn posters came in and the box your newest desktop computer arrived in! I'm really not sure how to describe the intense silliness inherent in this system! I remember being maybe eight and battling my younger brother after the high of Christmas has worn off. But we never crafted samurai helmets and battle armor and actually took the time to care about anything more than beating the snot out of each other with cardboard tubes.

The gallery over at Entertainment Web has images of combatants ranging from those eight year olds (one in a Spongebob-looking box) to adults who clearly have every episode of Xena on DVD to a grandmother out battling for glory! It's insane! It's crazy! It's somewhat infantile, but probably great to watch!

My one hope for all this cardboard-induced warcraft...I hope they recycle afterward!

Tech Tuesday: The Electric Unicycle

2009-08-25T08:18:00.001-07:00

I have always loved the idea of the unicycle, the skill it takes to ride one, and just the general uniqueness of them! Me, I have no sense of balance while on a bike. I couldn't begin to ride a bike with my hands off the handlebars. One, sure, but not both!

As far as two-wheeled transportation goes, there's always the Segway. However, the Segway carries with it a sense of "I'm too good for walking" and, me, I'd rather just walk at that point. Besides, I fear Paul Blart, Mall Cop killed any hope the Segway ever had of being cool.

Enter this fantastic Slovenian invention, the EniCycle! It has all the gyroscopic stability of the Segway (yay for klutzes like me), it's electric (yay, environment), and it looks industrially cool (yay design sense)! There are currently only two prototype models and any hope of it going into production hinges on investment. So if you happen to be a venture capitalist who accidentally ran into my blog, contact this guy! This is a really need mode of transportation!

And here's video of it in action:

Fresh Start Mondays: Bob Evans - Hand Me Downs

2009-08-24T07:36:00.001-07:00

I have coffee brewing in the background, but here in the foreground is a fantastic track from Bob Evans. There is something about life down under that beckons solo artists to pick up a guitar and hit the road. I mean, how many solo folksy pop artists can you name in America? Not many.

Bob Evans's style lies much along the same lines as Josh Pyke (whose Chimney's Afire album is reviewed elsewhere on the site). It's a man, his guitar, and really the rest of the instruments are somewhat secondary--save for the occasional harmonica solo--but it's a sound worthy of a rambling drive through the countryside or just mellowing out with friends on the patio. Oddly, the very start of the chorus reminds me of the chorus from Urthboy's "We Get Around" and I wonder if a bit of a mashup's in order!

The video is an entertaining semi-stop-motion adventure with living clothes! Yes, all those hand me downs have come back to life and take over! They're dancing, the dresser dances, they're smothering Evans, and just leaving him awash in a sea of clothes. The video's cute and appeals to the second-hand shop lover in us all.

Foodie Friday: Chacho's in Campbell is Open!

2009-08-21T07:42:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, after I'd written my La Fiesta review naturally, I got word that Chacho's in Campbell was finally open! Well, between myself, Amber, and her sister Andrea, there was no question where we were going for dinner before going to see North by Northwest at Sundown Cinema!

Regardless of the fact that a very vocal and somewhat belligerent bunch of born again Christians were occupying the corner nearest Chacho's, our focus was on the new restaurant. For seven in the evening, the place was doing well. Most of the tables were occupied and as we settled in at our table, the line to order was growing in waves. The menus at Chacho's are displayed on widescreen TVs turned on their side. It's a neat touch, but I found it funny that in addition to the Super Burritos, Tacos, and drink menus, we also saw that new updates were ready for Windows.

Amber and I both ordered Super Burritos, she with chicken, I with carne asada, two drinks, and a order of chips and salsa. All that came to $14. Not bad at all! Chacho's was only two days into operation, so they were still ironing out some bugs. For example, their registers weren't up and running just yet, so they could only take cash and were totaling up orders with a desk calculator. Their drinks were only available in a medium-sized cup and the alcohol wasn't available just yet. I'm sure, a week down the road now, they've got these glitches smoothed out. I, however, was still enamored with the decor! I love this place just for that fact. Victorian wallpaper on the ceiling, lowrider bike on the wall, lots of Latin culture iconography, even an autographed picture of Cheech & Chong!

As for the food, it's good solid taqueria food. It didn't blow me away or knock my socks off, there also doesn't seem to be a signature dish just yet, but the food was good. The burritos are a great size and very filling, though I'd have liked to know ahead of time that there was guacamole on it (it wasn't on the menu). Andrea got Chacho's Nachos and those were damn good! As you can see, they're well loaded with beans, cheese, pico, jalapenos, and a dab of guac! We're all very eager to head back sometime soon to see how well they mix a margarita.
Overall, Chacho's is a great place for good Mexican food. The real draw is the decor and the atmosphere. Their patio is great if it's a mild evening in Campbell and you enjoy people watching. I'm sure Chacho's will do well in Campbell and may handily benefit from any overflow traffic from Aqui's just one block down.

Throwback Thursday: Information Society - Think

2009-08-20T07:52:00.000-07:00

Information Society, a band mostly known for that "Pure Energy" song you probably haven't heard in a while, actually has six albums, a handful of EPs, and numerous compilation contributions. Not only that, but the band formed in Minnesota in 1982! Not quite what you'd expect for a synth-pop group, right? I guess you also wouldn't suspect they'd wind up on a musical trading card (see image).

Minnesota never struck me as a hot bed of synth-pop with a heavy sampling addiction, but stranger things have happened! "Pure Energy" was my first introduction to InSoc and I must have just been at an age where they really cemented themselves in my psyche because I've followed them throughout all their albums. Yes, even that lame album where lead singer Kurt Harland left the band and was replaced my a much darker clone. Okay, I deleted that album, but was pleasantly surprised when Kurt returned to record 2007's Synthesizer, an album that was really itself a throwback to their earlier albums. It's fantastic. But today's Throwback video is from their Hack album (1990). "Think" was probably the song that absolutely locked me in as an InSoc fan and the video features the "Hack Car" which I believe can occasionally be seen around the SF Bay Area from time to time.

Just to round out this throwback, let's play "Where are they Now" with the primary members of Information Society (courtesy the fine folks at Wikipedia):

Paul Robb cites his influences in earlier albums as hip-hop and house music, and he was integral to the early operations of Tommy Boy Records. He went on to release solo material under the Think Tank name and was half of Brother Sun Sister Moon who later became known as Luminous. In addition to his ongoing work with Information Society, Robb is a composer for TV and film whose credits include Orgazmo, South Park, and Clio Award-winning commercials.

James Cassidy is a professor of soil Science at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.

Kurt Harland Larson lives in San Francisco, CA with his wife and son, and is the Audio Director at Slipgate Ironworks, a game studio subsidiary of Gazillion Entertainment. He remains the lead vocalist for Information Society and is also the lead singer of an unrelated project called 415 Sound Covenant.

Weird Wednesday: The Panzer Bike

2009-08-19T09:43:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure about you, dear reader, but when I saw Monster Garage build a motorcycle out of a Peterbilt truck, I was pretty impressed. It had mad amounts of horsepower and just made so little sense, it was great!

Well, the folks over at Neatorama recently posted a story about a motorcycle shop in Germany that built a ginormous motorcycle (and sidecar) out of a Soviet tank engine; a diesel V-12 engine with 620HP! This bike is beyond insane! It's beyond anything I ever could have imagined...honestly, it's something I'd expect Hagrid to ride! The damn thing is nearly 5 tons! Now, take a peek at the picture here from their website. To give you a sense of the scale of this thing, the front of the sidecar is actually the hood from a Soviet-era truck!

Now, nothing I say here is going to do this ride justice. It really needs to be seen to be believed.

Tech Tuesday: The Color Picker Pen

2009-08-18T09:05:00.001-07:00

There are some days when I'm not working in Photoshop that I really wish I had the tools I use in Photoshop at my disposal. It's not just during time when I'd like to crop someone out of the picture or use the eraser tool to remove an unnecessary apostrophe from a sign, but sometimes I find something that has the perfect color and I want to replicate it.

I could take a picture of it, load it into Photoshop, and hope the camera's done the object justice. Or, I can buy the Color Picker Pen. This Korean invention can sense any color you hold the pen up to and the custom mixes the ink inside the pen! And here I thought a pen with an FM radio in it was awesome! The number of uses for this pen boggles my design mind. I've not always been into graphic design, but my current job has required me to flex that muscle and a tool that can help me do on paper what I'm only used to doing in Photoshop and Illustrator has infinite possibilities!

Link via [Design Boom]

Fresh Start Monday: Lisa Mitchell - Coin Laundry

2009-08-17T09:13:00.000-07:00

As I sit down to have my coffee, refreshing as it is, I'm here to bring you a taste of Lisa Mitchell. She's a former Australian Idol contestant (what, you thought it was just American Idol?) who has done darn well for herself. At a mere 19 years of age, she's poised to release her second album and from it comes the delightful track "Coin Laundry".

It's one of those super simple tunes that some over here might easily dismiss for its playfulness and its quirkiness. Personally, I find it adorable and remarkably easy to sing along with (in the car...where hopefully no one's watching me in traffic!). The video for "Coin Laundry" is below and it's about what I expected, but I'm a little confused by her grooving in the laundromat. Perhaps she's expecting the inevitable remix of "Coin Laundry" to use the same footage.

Foodie Friday - La Fiesta in Mountain View

2009-08-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

I was raised on good, traditional Mexican food. What? You mean Taco Bell and Chevy's isn't traditional Mexican food!? Well, darn! Okay, so I was raised on very plain food. When I actually got a taco, I wanted just meat and cheese on it. Lettuce, salsa, sour cream, guacamole had no place on my food! I haven't been terribly adventurous in food for most of my life.

That's changing. Thanks, in part, to my wife Amber and her ability to get me to try new restaurants and new foods! Last summer she introduced me to La Fiesta in Mountain View (240 Villa St near Calderon). On my first trip there, I tried their flautas, figuring it was a safe bet and that I wouldn't get anything on it I wouldn't like. Amber got something called Grandma's Special--it's basically a chicken dish served in a sea of this amazing orange sauce--if internet rumors are correct, it's a sauce based in guajillo chiles--along with rice, beans, and tortillas. I was hesitant at first--I mean, it's bright orange!--but once I tired a bite, I was sold! Grandma's Sauce is incredible!! It's so rich and creamy with a hint of after-heat (just enough to get you breathing quickened) that I couldn't get enough!! Grandma's Sauce comes on just about anything you could want it on: burritos, enchiladas, even nachos! It's what La Fiesta is known for most and trying to find parking during prime time on a weekday is evidence of this little restaurant's popularity!

For me and Amber, La Fiesta has become a regular fixture in our eating out repertoire. We've visited so much so in the past 14 months, that we've gotten to know some of the staff well enough to be on a first-name basis with them and for them to know what we want as soon as we sit down. That's not to say we're not willing and able to try new things. Lucy, one of the staff we know best, has introduced us to Puya sauce, her own creation, which is a much spicier and smokier sauce compared to Grandma's. They have it featured on tilapia on their menu, but I'd venture a guess that you could easily get it on chicken or beef if you wanted.

La Fiesta has a fantastic menu and more margaritas than you can shake a bottle of Sauza at! We recommend the Jalisco Margarita, and they also have a full compliment of Mexican beers! The decor is cute and colorful. I'm not sure any two walls are the same color and the paintings on the wall are over the top in sort of a traditional way. All these elements come together to make you feel very welcomed and, well, festive! The place is often busy during dinner time and there will likely be a wait, but don't let that deter you! My only complaints ever have been the size of their parking lot (bring the compact, leave the SUV at home) and the fact that I rarely get a refill on my soda without asking, but that's not the end of the world.

I've debated blogging about La Fiesta because I would love this place to remain our secret, but I keep bringing friends here anyway and raving about Grandma's Special, so I might as well share it with the world!

Throwback Thursday: Urban Dance Squad - Deeper Shade of Soul

2009-08-13T07:27:00.001-07:00

This week's Throwback might even be more obscure than last week's. Maybe. I honestly don't remember where I first heard Urban Dance Squad. It had to have been radio because that's all I had at the time, but I do recall having the cassette single back in the day.

While these guys look something more like rejects from a Red Dwarf convention, their sound was something a little different. Admittedly, they have a little bit of that Fishbone vibe and they seem to speak a language all their own...and that just fascinated me! Somehow this has been one of those songs that's stuck around and has found its way into my iPod.

Weird Wednesday: The Land of Missing Bookmarks

2009-08-12T09:57:00.001-07:00

I suppose it was inevitable that the internet would bring you a site about the bookmarks that people leave in books they either check out from the library or donate somewhere. Now, if only they had a site for all the missing socks from the laundry (shh, there probably is one!).

Now, it's not just proper bookmarks like that Samwise Gamgee bookmark you bought at Barnes & Noble for $3.95, it's everything from notes to recipes to postcards and advertisements! It's really kind of neat because it's not just all those bad prom pictures from the 80s. Some of these things go back into the seriously antique book market!

Check out Forgotten Bookmarks here!

Tech Tuesday: Homebuilt Chinese Helicopter

2009-08-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

What does a Chinese farmer do after a grueling day out in the fields.... Kick back with a beer? Help his wife with the dishes? Play Mah Jong? How about build a helicopter out of wood and a motorcycle engine?!

That's exactly what 20-year-old Wu Zhongyuen did using just "what he remembers of middle school physics lessons and 'relevant knowledge [found while] surfing the Internet via my mobile phone.'" Yes, using just memory and a cell phone he built a helicopter that's reportedly taken him to 2,600 feet! Really, it apparently works!! Unfortunately, the Chinese government has declared it unsafe and has grounded him for the time being. Full story at dvice.

Fresh Start Monday: Simian Mobile Disco - Audacity of Huge

2009-08-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a little dancy/electronica to get your Monday started. London-based Simian Mobile Disco have a new album on the way and their first single "Audacity of Huge" is just stuck in my head for half the day! It has a slightly early Information Society feel to it and that's probably half the reason it sticks with me so easily.

Foodie Friday: Early Buzz for Chacho's in Campbell

2009-08-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

You may notice that I've nothing musical to discuss today. I've run out of album, to tell the truth. So I am substituting Foodie Friday for Full Review Friday. It'll be good, trust me...I like to eat as much as I love listening to good music!

Today I want to start some early buzz for a place opening up in Downtown Campbell that I full expect to rock! Chacho's occupies the space right between Cardiff Lounge and the Back Store in downtown Campbell. From the outside, it's a pretty unassuming building with a little patio and a roll up garage door (as evidenced by the cell phone pic I snapped while driving by yesterday). Inside, however...wow! Amber and I walked to the Starbucks across the street earlier this week and saw that Chacho's looked open! We had to go check it out.

They weren't open yet, per se, but the owner was there with his family getting a few things squared away before they had inspectors in. Peter, the owner, was a really nice guy and came out to talk to us about the place. I'm excited that they have both recipes and cooks who have worked for many years in restaurants of their own down in Mexico. Peter even let us come in to take a peek at the place...and the decor is awesome!

First, their menu board is all digital. Four widescreen displays set lengthwise will contain their menu and a constantly rotating display of images of the food. Very cool. One wall has a sweet lowrider bike mounted up there...there's a display of authentic Mexican wrestling masks (even one I swear I recognize from Italian Spiderman)...there's a huge amount of just awesome art (yes, we're talking that kind befitting the hood of a lowrider) adorning the walls...and lampshades painted in the style of Loteria cards! The whole place just has an excellent vibe and is festively colored. I am tremedously excited for their opening (in a couple weeks, I've been told) and I really hope the locals come check out and support this place!

Throwback Thursday: Whale - Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe

2009-08-06T07:58:00.000-07:00

Oh boy...today's entry for Throwback Thursday is a doozie. If you actually remember Whale's "Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe", then you, my friend, truly know your obscure 90s tunes! Odd groups and artists have been known to creep out of Scandanavia and this song is no different!

Do I have any idea what it's about? Hell, no. Should you probably turn your speakers down a little before playing the video? Yeah, probably should. Will I return to a slightly more normal song next week? Yeah, probably will.

In the meantime...here's Whale in all their hobo humpin' glory!

Weird Wednesday: The Yoga Farm

2009-08-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Now, I have nothing but love for Yoga. In fact, I've come to the realization that I really need to do it more as part of getting my butt in shape and into a healthier place in life. However, for all the wonderful benefits that yoga provides, I'm not quite sure how well all that comes across while on a farm.

Let me rephrase that last part...I'm not quite sure how well all that comes across while on a soundstage cheaply designed to look like a farm with a puppet cow-head and rastafarian rooster. Yes, that is the bizarreness unleashed upon us by Yogi Oki Doki and his rag-tag bunch of mercenaries...I mean, his darling batch of pre-pubescent yogis-to-be!

I know what many of you are thinking: this seems right at home on PBS at about five-thirty in the morning! Well, that space is saved for Sit and Be Fit (oh, if only I could!). I get the feeling that Yogi Oki Doki (real and less-cool name Max Thomas) would be right at home on Public Access around three thirty in the morning...typically on Mondays.

But the kicker is the video! It's...well, it needs to be seen in all its yoga glory!

Tech Tuesday: Listening to the Satellites

2009-08-04T07:55:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest, there's something about radio transmissions that fascinate me. At any given moment, hundreds and thousands of radio waves are just passing through the air--passing through you--on their way to anyone who's listening.

I would venture to guess that the most you probably listen to is AM or FM radio. It's a very narrow spectrum of the band out there. It's not even the interesting stuff! While I run a CB radio in the bus, there's not much chatter in the Bay Area. Sometimes I can pick up skip (signals sent by higher-powered base stations that bounce off some part of the atmosphere and thus travel further than line-of-sight transmissions) from as far away as Michigan, Hawaii, and Monterrey, Mexico! Even then, I'm better off on a ridge top than down in the valley.

You can go a step further than all this fun and listen to Ham radio via satellite repeaters! And when it seems as easy as the set up the gal in the picture (who I'm told was a Project Runway contestant), then I'm duly intrigued! Knowing me, I'd go trying to build something like this, but then...I think I already have something that fits the bill. I picked up a World Band Radio similar to this one over at Radio Shack, but made by the fine folks at Grundig. It comes with a huge antenna that plugs in like a set of headphones would and then coils out to, like, 12 or 14 feet long!

I can stick it up in a tree or hang it across a room or somewhere so I can use its full length to receive transmissions from all over the place! It's got AM/FM and Shortwave, so I can scan up into some unusual wavelengths. I never did catch a satellite on this radio, but then I also didn't know which frequencies to look for. Regardless, it's a fun activity hearing what else is out there.

Oh, but I'd be careful traipsing around your metropolis with one of those wild antennas...someone will either mistake you for a terrorist or a crazy person trying to contact aliens.

Fresh Start Mondays: Bluejuice - Broken Leg

2009-08-03T07:49:00.000-07:00

I was first introduced to Bluejuice through their track "Vitriol" which also has an awesome video that must been seen. It's a very addictive tune!

Well, Bluejuice is back with a new track from an upcoming album. "Broken Leg" follows that same addictive tune format and I've spent many nights waking up with its lyrics in my head. Enjoy!

Full Review Friday: Downsyde - All City

2009-07-31T08:10:00.000-07:00

Perth, WA's Downsyde released their latest album All City last October, so this review is understandably late. Regardless, the album has been on my review list for some time and I felt it only right to give them their due. And I feel I have to thank Downsyde for showing me what really sets Aussie hip-hop apart from its American counterparts (if you're a regular reader of my reviews, I've been trying to pinpoint this difference for over a year!). See, All City is a good album. Is it mind-blowingly amazing? No, not so much, but it is an album where I enjoy each track on some level. So as I've been listening to it while commuting to work and back these past couple days, I struck on something: each of the tracks has a distinct 60s R'n'B or Classic Rock hook to it. Big horns, plinky pianos, and even some Janis Joplin influence!! I think this is what clues me in on grooving to Aussie hip-hop way over American stuff.

The other thing that makes All City such a listenable album is that Downsyde doesn't take themselves too seriously! Posing as everything from an Ocean's 11 style heisters in the videos for "Fortune and Fame" and "Lifespeed" to hip-hop superheroes on the track "Super Heroes" where they save the day when "whack rappers start rappin'", you get the feeling that the group is here having fun and just enjoying the scene while they're here. And that's good because, all too often, hip-hop artists see themselves as tough street hustlers even when they've never had that life experience.

Regardless, All City is a good album full of very groove-able tunes. Below I have both the videos for "Fortune and Fame" and "Lifespeed" seeing as how they're trying to build a multi-part story out of them.

Download This: "Master MC"

Throwback Thursday: Letters to Cleo - Here and Now

2009-07-30T08:12:00.000-07:00

There is and was something about this song that just sucks me back into the 90s. Is it the cuteness of Kay Hanley? The backward golf caps? The frayed jeans? That kind of DIY-feel to the video that was inevitably copied by every other video in the 90s? The random shot of hands holding a couple salamanders? I dunno! But today's Throwback Thursday entry is probably one of my fave songs from my high school years.

Maybe it was the pig-tails. Anyway, I was thinking about this on the way into work today and trying to determine what sets grunge apart from emo, its modern-day counterpart. Both are reflections of youth culture at the time, both are typified by artists complaining about the world around them, both are rather passionate movements...but I feel like grunge at times focuses on some of the simpler pleasures in the world (take the "Just living on a Sunday morning/Got my toast and my tea and I'm warm" line from this song) and emo focuses more on the self and how the feelings one feels at any given moment are the most important and intense feelings in the universe. Just my thoughts...I'm no philosopher.

Weird Wednesday - The Beaverputer

2009-07-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't want more taxidermy in their homes? Well, most people, probably. But for that slim percentage who really enjoy looking at animals frozen in some bizarre pose while they sit in the corner and gather dust and generally just look creepy, there is hope for a more productive future with your stuffed friends.

Enter, the Beaver Computer! Oh, I know, it lends a whole new way to surf for porn (yes, tis a beaver joke...let's move on). But it probably also qualifies as the fastest beaver in the world (doubly so because it's dead!).

Really, how can I describe this experience without making lots of beaver jokes. I probably can't, but the article at Instructables has "29 Easy Steps" to show you how to take grandma's old beaver and convert it into a computational marvel. Granted, you probably could perform this "case mod" to just about any properly-sized taxidermic specimen. Personally, I'm waiting for the Jackalope External Hard Drive!

The instructions go something like this: get a beaver, hollow out the beaver, fiberglass the inside of the beaver, and stuff it full of computer bits. Then you get wonderful instructions like Spandex Your Beaver and Turn Your Beaver On! Wow, now all those lonely taxidermy nerds who can't get dates can at least tell their friends that they turn on a beaver every night!

I do wonder, however, if the Beaver Computer comes with an actual mouse!

Tech Tuesday: The Electronic Tattoo

2009-07-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, I realize I originally was going to create YouTube Tuesday (or YouTubesday as I desperately wanted to call it), but then I realized I didn't have much time to wander YouTube looking for something neat or bizarre to show all of you.

I did, however, find lots of neat science and tech articles via two of my fave sites: neatorama.com and boingboing.net. And that's where I discovered this amazing bit of sci-fi magic turned semi-reality.

How many movies have you seen set in the future where some character has a wrist computer or something literally embedded in their arm that allows them to interface with computers (and presumably program their DVR)? Well, I'll be damned, but they've finally developed it!

A guy named Jim Mielke has developed this interface that runs on blood and is Bluetooth compatible! It runs on blood! Holy crap! Look, I'm not going to do it justice because I am still so boon-doggled over its implications, so I'll quote from the site.

"The basis of the 2x4-inch "Digital Tattoo Interface" is a Bluetooth device made of thin, flexible silicon and silicone. It´s inserted through a small incision as a tightly rolled tube, and then it unfurls beneath the skin to align between skin and muscle. Through the same incision, two small tubes on the device are attached to an artery and a vein to allow the blood to flow to a coin-sized blood fuel cell that converts glucose and oxygen to electricity. After blood flows in from the artery to the fuel cell, it flows out again through the vein.

On both the top and bottom surfaces of the display is a matching matrix of field-producing pixels. The top surface also enables touch-screen control through the skin. Instead of ink, the display uses tiny microscopic spheres, somewhat similar to tattoo ink. A field-sensitive material in the spheres changes their color from clear to black, aligned with the matrix fields.

The tattoo display communicates wirelessly to other Bluetooth devices - both in the outside world and within the same body. Although the device is always on (as long as your blood´s flowing), the display can be turned off and on by pushing a small dot on the skin. When the phone rings, for example, an individual turns the display on, and "the tattoo comes to life as a digital video of the caller," Mielke explains. When the call ends, the tattoo disappears.

Could such an invasive device have harmful biological effects? Actually, the device could offer health benefits. That´s because it also continually monitors for many blood disorders, alerting the person of a health problem."

The only disadvantage I can see to this device is in winter. You're all bundled up, a call comes in, and you need to take off three layers in short order before the call goes to voicemail. Imagine typing out a text message on your arm!

Fresh Start Monday: Liam Finn & Eliza Jane - Long Way to Go

2009-07-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Better than a strong cup of coffee after a long weekend, it's Fresh Start Monday! Your first look at some cool new song I can't get out of my head.

Ah, Liam, I knew your father well! ;) Yes, I am a big Crowded House and Neil Finn fan. Now his son, looking a little Joaquin Phoenix-esque in the video, is blazing his own musical trails.

"Long Way to Go" is an infectious little tune. Part-pop, part-folk, and oddly drum looped when played live. Yeah, you need to see the video to understand that one. Either way, I'm looking forward to more stuff from Liam Finn!

Full Review Friday: Little Birdy - Confetti

2009-07-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

Is there something in the water in Perth, Western Australia? Maybe, but I'll leave that expose for the papers out there. There are, however, a good number of great bands creeping out of the far west. Among them is Little Birdy, a quartet fronted by the adorable Katy Steele. While adorable is an apt descriptor for Katy, don't let that fool you. She's got a set of pipes on her that are hard to match! Triple J's Zan Rowe recently related her story of watching Little Birdy perform in the studio. Zan was two rooms away behind sound-proof glass and could still hear Katy's singing!

Confetti is the band's third full-length album and is chock full of this 60s/70s almost Motown vibe. There's a mix of lush loungy tracks as well as soulful slow-burners. The sound is very organic and really strikes a great balance between the instruments and Katy's vocals. At one moment they can sound sweet and simple--almost innocent--and the next her vocals just fill the room!

I've become familiar with the first two tracks on Confetti, "Brother" and "Summarize" because they received quite a bit of airplay before the album was released. They are probably still my two favorite tracks as well because of that. The album opens very strong with those two and then you can see the mood of the album swing into a few of the more soulful tracks. This album isn't so much one to drive to, at least not during commute hours, but more an album worthy of playing when you have a group of friends over for dinner, drinks, and socializing. It's that good balance of enough up-tempo work to keep your interest, but not so much that it overwhelms the experience (though that also depends on your volume settings, too).

Download This: "Summarize"

And here's why...the video for "Summarize":

Throwback Thursday - Cracker "Teen Angst"

2009-07-23T08:22:00.000-07:00

When Cracker's "Teen Angst" first reached my ears by way of a (then awesome) Live 105 FM in San Francisco, circa 1992, I was instantly sold! It's got all those great earmarks of an early-90s DIY/Grunge/Semi-acoustic rock song! That, and it just kicks ass. Even today I will rock out to this track! Really, their whole self-titled album is really good. But for today, we throwback to 1992 and Cracker's first single "Teen Angst".

A Tweak to the Format

2009-07-23T08:17:00.000-07:00

Had a random thought on the way in to work today and thought I'd try it out...

Disclaimer: This idea may fall flat on its face. So let's enjoy it while I can maintain it!

I'm going to blog 5 days a week! That's right, the overall posts may be shorter, but I think the content variety will be good.

Here's what's coming to, well, this blog starting today!

Fresh Start Mondays - A quick reaction to a new song out there
You Tube Tuesdays - I find something (anything, really) on YouTube and share it
Weird Wednesdays - Some bizarre bit of news or art from around the web
Throwback Thursdays - Vintage Video Viewing for your (alliterative) needs
Full Review Fridays - The Full Album Review Feature

So let's get this started!

I've RickRolled Myself!

2009-07-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Sort of... After hearing this mashup as background music on Triple J a few days ago I had to find the link. And after rambling on the other day about Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit", this seems like the perfect thing to post today.

Enjoy...

Deviation: A Bit on Sematics

2009-07-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

A slight left turn from the music scene today. My other big passion is old VWs, buses in particular. Everyday I enjoy taking a little time to check the classifieds on www.thesamba.com and see how the market is doing, so to speak. Right now, I am thinking a vintage bus is a better investment than stocks or even a house! Seems like that bubble has yet to burst...the 1967 camper I bought for $2300 in 2003 could probably fetch between $8-9000 today!

But in nearly every classified ad I see people using the same terms to describe different things. Frankly, as an English major (and one who has been doing a heap of editing lately), it drives me up the flippin' wall! See, this is why an XL to one company is an XXL to another and don't even get me started on women's sizes...I almost think we need to reform that before dealing with healthcare or state budgets!

Anyway, here's a short list of terms I've found used in ways they ought not be used in selling VW parts/cars.

Example: 1961 fully restored custom Beetle. Okay, here's an easy one. To restore a car means to put it back to the way it would have been on the day it rolled off the dealer's lot. In other words, original! Stock height, stock motor, correct colors inside and out...you get the idea. So a restored custom...well, it's an oxymoron used by a moron! It's a custom Beetle that's been finished. It's not a project. This is a turn-key car that you can just drive and enjoy. But it has not been restored!

Example: 1966 Barndoor Bus. Unless VW decided to market retro cars during a time before retro had meaning, someone's either created a frankenbus or the seller doesn't understand the term Barndoor as it applies to buses. See, Barndoor buses were built between 1950 and March 1955. They have these huge engine lids (and no rear hatch) which somehow inspired the term Barndoor. Yes, I know that's less how barns actually open and more how garages open, but I didn't coin the term. People way out of the loop on VW terms see the cargo doors on a bus and think "Yeah, that's how a barn opens" and think they've struck gold. They haven't; they've struck a strong vein of criticism from the bus community.

Example: New Old Stock (NOS). Even this term is a bit of an oxymoron in and of itself. Perhaps it ought to be called "Like New Original Stock". NOS is any part (regardless of age) that is most likely still in the original packaging and has never ever ever ever been used or installed on a car. Really, I mean never! The moment you pull that part out of the box and put it on your car even if you just want to see what it looks like, it's no longer NOS and probably worth 60% of what you want someone to pay for it.

Example: Original Reproduction. Okay, I understand what a seller is trying to say when he uses this term--that the reproduction is based on the original part--but it's still an oxymoron and a misnomer. I think the only way you can truly have an original reproduction of a part is if VW made it, then quit production, only to start it up again. Even then, I'm not sure that would be accurate.

Also: Never call them bumbers, they're bumpers. Semiphores are semaphores (unless you've cut a semaphore in half, thus creating the semi- aspect). A passanger seat probably won't go where the passenger sits. Technically, a motor is not an engine. Hella is actually a company that makes headlights and turn signals, not just a Nor*Cal slang term.

And the Hottest Song of All Time is...

2009-07-15T08:28:00.000-07:00

Triple J radio recently completed their celebration of 20 Years of the Hottest 100 (a yearly event where listeners vote for the hottest 100 songs of a given year). Their goal this time was to determine the Hottest 100 Songs of All Time! I posted a couple weeks ago which ten songs I would submit to the list. Honestly, I think only “Alive” by Pearl Jam appeared both on my list and theirs. What was their #1 song of all time?

Yes, as a child of Grunge myself, I am pleased and amazed that Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” was voted #1. Since then, I’ve ventured out into a re-exploration of all those classically grunge albums I listened to in high school (1990-1994). Nirvana’s Nevermind album was released in 1991 and I can clearly remember hearing “Come As You Are” at a local eatery while I was hanging out with friends and playing (I think) air hockey.

Looking back at Nevermind, there is something truly different and ground-breaking about that album. Suddenly, Seattle was the center of new music and Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and a whole host of other bands were thrust—flannel shirts and torn jeans—onto center stage.
This past week I’ve relistened to everything from Pearl Jam’s Ten to Nevermind to Green Day’s Dookie and Soundgarden’s Superunknown (I threw in Silverchair’s Frogstomp for good measure) and I can say with certainly (and 15 years’ hindsight) that Nirvana’s sound on Nevermind was just more raw and aggressive than anyone else’s! Despite their commercial success, Nirvana’s simply voracious domination of their instruments comes across so much more “I don’t give a fuck if commercial radio likes us” than anyone else. Even Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and especially Stone Temple Pilots sound more polished than Nirvana did.

What does it all mean? Well, first, that we lose the good ones young. I remember seeing INXS live on the night that Kurt Cobain killed himself (and sadly we know what became of Michael Hutchins, too). Second, that I will always identify the music of that era with a really good time in my life. Hell, we’d just come out from under the fluffy pink shadow of New Kids on the Block and Debbie Gibson…bubble gum was swapped out for hard, rock candy and, damn, was it good!

Separated at Musical Birth?

2009-07-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

Below are two men whose work and music I truly admire: Kram (Mark Maher of Spiderbait) and Donovan Frankenreiter. I've reviewed Kram's album here before and will soon work my way through Frankenreiter's three albums. But could these two have been separated at birth, or what!?

Phrase - Clockwork

2009-07-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Melbourne-based Phrase came back this summer with his new album, Clockwork. No, it's not an homage to Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (but you will get those hits if you're searching the internet for Phrase's work).

I'm going to go out on a limb and declare Clockwork possibly the most Australian hip-hop album I've heard to date. The albums opens with and is punctuated at times with the sounds of some swagman telling stories by an open fire and more than one track opens with a huge Coooeee!! (Ahem, Americans, "Cooee" is what you yell when you're lost in the outback...not the restaurant...the actual wilderness.)

The album opens very strong with tracks like "Burn It Down" (throwing off the shackles of the hip-hop stereotype where every artist wants to be rich), "Clockwork" (addictive track!), "Spaceship", and "Skylight" (which not only features Kram, but also has the most awesome video tribute to Journey to the West).

Then the album slows down for a few tracks. Things get kinda deep, dark, and introspective. Songs to lost love, passed friends, and times of trial rule the middle of the album. But the album comes back strong in the end with some good energy tracks and some great guest stars (like my personal faves Bliss N Eso!).

Clockwork really is a good album. If you can dig some tracks and slow down and mellow the mood for about 15-20 minutes before getting back to the energy, you'll love the album!

Download This: "Clockwork"

Here's his video for "Skylight":

My Picks for the Hottest 100 of All Time

2009-06-23T10:48:00.000-07:00

So my favorite radio station on the planet, Triple J, is celebrating 20 years of their Hottest 100 Songs of the Year by having everyone vote on the Hottest 100 Songs of All Time. Now, by “all time” I suspect you could technically vote for Mozart, Beethoven, and those cavemen who first smacked rocks together rhythmically. I’m not going to vote…mostly because I’m not in Australia and because my few votes won’t amount to a hill of refried beans (mmmm, beans!) in the end. I am, however, going to torture you with my list of ten (you’re supposed to submit ten songs and then all the submissions generate the top 100) and hope you reply with what your top ten songs of ALL TIME are!

1. Bob Marley – Redemption Song
2. Midnight Oil – River Runs Red
3. Crowded House – Weather With You
4. Pearl Jam - Alive
5. R.E.M. - Stand
6. Public Enemy – Fight the Power
7. The Clash – London Calling
8. The Cure – Lullaby
9. Information Society – What’s On Your Mind?
10. Joe Strummer & The New Mescaleros – Johnny Appleseed

Granted, if I spent a week going through everything in my iTunes and 30+ discs of mp3s, I might have a different list, but based on taking ten minutes to wheel through my iPod…here’s my list. Some of these were no-brainers for me, some changed as I went through the list. Regardless, here they are!

Hilltop Hoods - State of the Art

2009-06-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

It's been three years since Adelaide-based Hilltop Hoods released The Hard Road Restrung. It's been three years that's allowed me to collect the entire Hoods catalogue and actually learn quite a few songs by heart, but late last year the Hilltop Hoods announced they would release their long-awaited new album (and first album under their own label, Golden Era Records) in mid-2009. In November 2008, the only hint we received of the new album, already titled State of the Art, was the track "Here Come the Girls".

Fast forward to late May 2009 and the first official single, "Chase that Feeling" hits the air. The excitement for State of the Art's release was palpable. For me, my favorite Aussie hip-hop group was about to put out new material and I was stoked! I wasn't sure what it would sound like, but the only thing I knew was that it wasn't going to have the jazzy lounge sound found in "Here Come the Girls".

State of the Art doesn't have "Here Come the Girls" on it at all, actually! And having listened to the whole album non-stop for about a week now as I drive from job to job and home again, I've come to the conclusion that State of the Art is possibly the most hard-hitting, intense, and tightly-written album the Hoods have ever done! They've created a darker album with themes of death and elements of the state the world's in today permeate a majority of the tracks. The album still has upbeat groove tracks, but those stars tend to glitter early in the album and the whole second half just gets darker and more introspective.

Is that bad? God, no! They're still great tracks and they certainly set a powerful mood leading up to the album's "whimper not a bang" ending in "Fifty in Five" where Suffa MC belts out fifty years of human history only to ask over a waning piano rhythm "And as we walk into the sun/Can you believe what we have become?". The ending of this album is so powerful and so intense that you get the sense something has impacted these guys enough to shift how they view the world.

What I find really impressive about State of the Art is that they've worked references to other parts of the album into many of the songs. Nearly every song mentions the term State of the Art in one form or another. Lyrics in one song become the title of the next song ("Chase that Feeling"/"She's So Ugly"). Elements in an early song on the album play out completely as its own song later in the album ("She's So Ugly"/"Hillatoppa"). The album is still chock full of great R&B samples and hooks and features guest appearances from Trials (of the Funkoars) and New York's own Pharoahe Monch. The Hoods even go so far as to sample themselves on "Chris Farley"; a sort of "What a Great Night" but with a little more death imagery.

All of these references and cross-references help give the album this incredible feeling of coherence. At times, the shift in mood (namely from "She's So Ugly"'s downbeat aggro vibe to "Still Standing"'s lilting reggae feel) is awkward, but the ease with which you can get into any track on the album quickly erases any awkwardness. And probably my favorite track on the album is "Parade of the Dead" in which a zombie invasion plagues the city of Adelaide. Yes, if you ever wondered if people can rap about anything, they can! The power with which the Hoods paint this dark night in which all normalcy goes straight to hell speaks to every jarring and disconcerting zombie flick in recent memory. God, how I hope they make a video for this track (and how I seriously feel it ought to be animated instead of live action)!

Download This: "Fifty in Five".

And here's a track-by-track breakdown from the boys themselves:

Comic #1

2009-06-01T09:12:00.001-07:00

School is keeping me busy enough that I haven't had time to review any albums, but I kept kicking around the idea of starting a web comic. Sadly, I can't really draw worth a darn. But I love dingbats...so with much love and thanks to the Geek Bats font, here's my first web comic. I have other fonts and other ideas in the pipeline, so expect more than these two guys.

Heck, I have to give these two names, don't I? And I have to give the comic a name, too! I'm open to suggestions in case anyone's reading this!

Office Life and Vintage Computing in Music Videos

2009-05-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

So I realise it has been a few weeks since I've posted a review. A couple reasons exist for that sad state of affairs: one, school has me busier than a bee in Spring; two, my rattle trap of a laptop died this week and I'm only now getting back on my feet with a new system (and getting used to Vista); three, work has been keeping me unusually busy, too.

The good news is that I do have some really good albums to review in the near future. I'm excited to bring those to you! But this week, while I wait for a few things to load on my work laptop, I wanted to bring to light a trend I'm finding in music videos: that of office life.

Now, this trend pertains specifically to Aussie bands (do I really review other bands lately?) and more specifically to Aussie hip-hop. There is some fascination going on not only with the perceived boring duldrums of working all day in a cubicle before a glowing screen (very Orwellian, that image), but also with vintage computing! In the examples I'm going to show below, watch for the early Macs and even earlier 5.25" floppy drive-era computers! I mean, I knew other parts of the world were a little behind the states when it comes to computers, but I didn't suspect Australia of that problem.

First up, Muph + Plutonic's video for "Heaps Good". Not only office life, but the white shirts, skinny black ties, and overusage of post-it notes.

Next is TZU's video for "Computer Love". Does anyone else remember when we even used floppy disks? It wasn't that long ago, was it? Anyway, dig the ASCII animation. C'mon guys, to the ROFLcopter!!

I'll be reviewing Phrase's full album Clockwork soon, but here's his video for the single "Spaceship" and again with the white shirt, skinny black tie, and early Macs!

Lastly, the Hilltop Hoods have a new single "Chase that Feeling" which I wouldn't have expected the video to be set in an office, but they made it happen! Odd choice of the mime look, but I'll run with it.
Darn those Hoods! They've disabled embedding, but check out the link and enjoy the new track!

Ash Grunwald - Fish Out of Water

2009-04-10T10:15:00.000-07:00

I’ve a confession to make: I really rather enjoy blues music. I’m not sure where that love came from. I don’t specifically recall being brought up on it as a kid (it was more a Beatles and Beach Boys house). I do know that my brother is some kind of vintage blues aficionado who has gone out of his way to locate rare recordings of completely unheard-of artists and burn them to CD (sadly, that book of CDs was stolen out of his car last year). I also know that there’s something about a gravelly voice, slide guitar, sinful bass line, and harmonica that draws me like a moth to flame!

Enter Ash Grunwald (above) who, apart from being a mere 11 days older than me, sounds nothing like he looks! And that’s just one of the awesome things about him. His most recent album Fish Out of Water is full of that rich, classic blues sound! I bet if I played this album for someone who didn’t know he’s a dreadlocked white kid from Australia, that listener would think I was laying down some Muddy Waters-era artist. And maybe that’s what makes the blues enjoyable, there’s an earthy quality to the music and an easy relate-ability to the topic. Much in the same way that Blue King Brown (see previous review) is all about activism and social justice, Ash Grunwald’s blues are full of down-on-their-luck characters and men who’ve been vexed by crafty women out to steal their mojo (listen to the completely enjoyable “Mojo”).

Grunwald also manages to mix a bit of good solid rock into some of his tracks. Most notably, “Breakout” carries that terrific slide guitar feel but still just makes you want to thrash your head and sing along throughout the chorus. Truthfully, I fell so in love with that song that I found a way to make it my ringtone! If you like the blues or if you really just need something new and different from what you’ve been listening to, check out Ash!

Download This: "The Devil Called Me a Liar"

Here’s the video for “Breakout”:

Blue King Brown - Stand Up

2009-04-08T09:08:00.000-07:00

I’ve yet to review a Roots/Reggae album, so to open a new quarter at school (and likely a new day I’ll be posting music reviews), I’m going to take a look at Blue King Brown’s 2006 release Stand Up. For the longest time, I had BKB’s track “Come and Check Your Head” as a free download. I knew the song and the style BKB has very well. Mix two parts Santana with two parts Bob Marley, mix in that rootsy vibe you get from those socially conscious folk who decry military action but still wear militant-esque garb and you’ve got a sense of Blue King Brown.

Now, truly I’ve nothing at all against socially conscious folk who want to change the world. In fact, I’ll sit right here and cheer them on. They’re definitely doing more for the world than I am! I grew up listening to lots of Bob and Ziggy Marley, plus a few other random reggae groups, and that music will always hold a groovy, funky place in my heart. BKB adds to that vibe a very big drum circle influence. There were times while listening to Stand Up that I expected their percussion section to just break into an eight minute solo. And that’s cool, really it is! But it’s also easy for all their songs to sound fairly similar if you’re not paying attention and just have it on in the background.

What comes across most in BKB’s songs is their activist nature. And that spirit is also very powerful on the band’s website. Nearly every song on the first half of Stand Up has some reference to fighting for one’s rights and not giving up and not giving in and being strong in the face of overwhelming odds. It honestly got to be a little redundant for me. Stand out tracks include “Come and Check Your Head” as well as “Water”. Sadly, “Samoa’s Song”, though heartfelt, doesn’t feel as though it fits with the rest of the album.

Blue King Brown is a group filled with passion for what they believe in and steeped in social activism. I’ve also heard that their upcoming album was recorded in part at the Tuff Gong studios in Jamaica. If you’re in Northern California in June, check them out as they’ll be playing the Catalyst in Santa Cruz on Friday June 19th and Slims in San Francisco on the 20th!

Download This: "Come and Check Your Head"

Here’s a taste of Blue King Brown’s “Water”:

Muph + Plutonic - And Then Tomorrow Came

2009-03-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

With nothing really new to review this week, I decided to look back on albums I've had for a while that I haven't reviewed yet. If memory serves me, Muph + Plutonic's "The Day Off" (from 2006's Silence the Sirens) was one of the first Aussie hip-hop tracks I downloaded from Triple J. It was groovy, it was catchy, and it was something I could relate to while working retail in a bookstore.

Late 2008 saw Muph + Plutonic in the studio again, this time creating And Then Tomorrow Came. Looking back at Silence the Sirens, the idea of tomorrow seems to be a bit of a thread through some of their songs. So now that tomorrow has arrived, what does the future hold for this duo from Obese Records? Surely time will tell, but let's take a look at And Then Tomorrow Came.

One of the things I've always loved about these guys is that they enjoy a bit of Soul and R&B hooks. All the tracks of theirs I've experienced before this album--"Heaps Good", "The Day off", and "Walking Tightropes"--all have this groovy, jazzy feel you can groove to. Tomorrow has those tracks, "Size of the Soul", "Flithy Rich", "Number 45", and "Don't Worry 'Bout Nothin'". All of these are great tracks and ones that really exemplify what I've come to expect from Muph + Plutonic. But I think that Tomorrow really marks something of a darker tone from these guys. There's a sense of anger in "Damn Truth" and sadness in "Yesterday's Basement". Even the album's lesser tracks "Wrong", "Today", and "Show Me Your Face" have almost a sense of melancholy about them. They're not depressing by any means, it's not as though we're diving into The Cure territory, but the mood is not something I think of as being uniquely Muph + Plutonic.

The album's likely shining star is "Beautiful Ugly" a fun, bouncy track with a fantastic horn section--not just that, but a real horn section (the same guys you'll hear in "Size of the Soul")--that really gives the track an added layer of depth you just can't get from a sample. And regardless of mood or tone, Muph + Plutonic enjoy their wordplay and I think that might be one aspect that really sets Aussie hip-hop off from its modern American mainstream counterpart.

And Then Tomorrow Came is a good album and worth a listen, but I might suggest downloading 2006's Silence the Sirens first--I think that better typifies Muph + Plutonic's sound. And the best part is that Obese Records has finally released their catalogue on American iTunes! Now you can get all of Muph + Plutonic's albums without having to send away for the physical CD from down under!

Download This: "Filthy Rich"

Here's a bit of the making of "Size of the Soul":

And here's the video for "Beautiful Ugly":

Seth Sentry - The Waiter Minute EP

2009-03-20T09:02:00.000-07:00

Really, what is it about Aussie hip hop that truly sets it apart from American hip hop? I’ve written an entire article exploring that topic and I still don’t think I know the answer. I have, however, discovered a new artist (thank you triplejunearthed.com!) named Seth Sentry. His single “The Waitress Song” got airplay on the station just this week and it’s become one of those rare songs that I instantly fall in love with!

The song’s about his infatuation with a waitress in a local diner that has crap food, lame coffee, and long waits even when the café’s empty. What makes it awesome is that fact that it’s almost folk-hop. Sarah Howell’s describes Sentry’s work on “The Waitress Song” as if “Josh Pyke did hip-hop.” And she’s right! It’s very mellow and groovy with simple guitar and drum loops that bespeak a lazy afternoon in the sunshine, a respite inside a café while the work continues to busy itself outside.

His debut, The Waiter Minute EP, is five tracks of some radically different hip hop. It opens with “Simple Game”, a track about man’s incessant and unending yearning for cash (and how that’s not how we ought to live). Track two is the aforementioned (and endlessly playable) “The Waitress Song”. “Warm Winter” follows and is a powerful track about terrorism and where the line between a government’s right to protect itself and an individual’s civil rights blur. Track four is a low-key yet scathing breakup song called “Train Catcher”. And the EP finishes with “Strange Lot”, a nihilistic track about the emptiness of the daily grind and the desire to break free of that.

The Waiter Minute EP is a terrific glimpse into what we can hopefully expect from Seth Sentry as he career flourishes into 2009 and beyond. And this could be a generalization, but one thing I have seen that sets apart Aussie from American hip hop is the quality of the rhyme. Perhaps it’s an old school convention, but it seems like the Aussies really enjoy the wordplay and how the words sounds together and against each other. American hip hop (at least of late) seems to focus on repetitive sounds (lots of Urrrr’s and Izzle’s and Eeeezy’s). I’m not even sure if the idea I’m setting forth here holds water, but it’s at least an observation I’ve made.

Regardless, Seth Sentry is a fantastic up and coming MC who surely will be putting out some great work in the years to come.

Download This: "The Waitress Song"

Here’s a quick hit of “The Waitress Song”:

Kram - Mix Tape

2009-03-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

Kram, aka Mark Maher of Spiderbait, has gone solo (albeit temporarily) in a big way! His first single "Silk Suits" has been getting great airplay on Triple J and, having heard a couple interviews with him as well as reading one in my first ever Jmag, I knew I had to grab Mix Tape as soon as it came out.

Boy, was I glad I did! Mix Tape may just be my official album of Spring! While I am tempted to draw some obvious parallels to surfer-turned-rocker Donovan Frankenreiter (right down to the long 70s hair and beard), I'm going to be good and focus just on Kram's work.

While some albums love to come out and charge hard for a dozen tracks, not even giving you room to breathe between tracks, others are so mellow and easy-going that you don't even notice the album's on. Mix Tape walks that brilliant line between the two. It's a soul surfing album! It's got a great bit of groove and funk, see tracks like "Good Love", "Live a Long Time", and "Get to It", it can just rock out as it does with "Silk Suits", or it's got this great mellow vibe by which you can sit out at the beach (or in traffic trying to get to the beach) with songs like "Turn a Light On", "Satellite", and "Burnin Sands".

But at some point you just needs some harmony; see the ultra-short track "Harmonies". Or perhaps you ask yourself "When was the last time anyone did a good drum solo?", then "Thank You Mr. Ludwig" will answer that nicely (yes, it's just one pretty wicked drum solo).

I will be the first to admit I tend to truly enjoy albums that have something of a coherent thread and pacing from start to finish. Mix Tape doesn't have that, but like a mix tape I would have made back in high school, it has a well-balanced mix of tempo, genre, and influence. Truthfully, this is a great album to play in the car on the way home from a busy day at work. You can groove to it and it mellows you out at the same time.

I'm sold! Kram's Mix Tape just gets better every time I hear it. And if that wasn't enough, he revealed in an interview with Zan Rowe that he originally recorded so much material that a second album will be out later this year. Needless to say, I am stoked!

Download This: "Burnin Sands"

Here's the video for his first single, "Silk Suits":

Josh Pyke - Chimney's Afire

2009-03-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Josh Pyke's second album, Chimney's Afire, is a fantastic balancing act between indie, folk, and pop. Well, perhaps just folk and pop because the album has a bit more polished sound than you'd hear in most indie releases. Regardless, Pyke's song stylings are that wonderful mixture of simplified instrumentation and catchiness that really cements his songs in your mind. In fact, I almost fear that they're catchy and cute enough at times to become to default go-to for anyone crafting a romantic comedy over the next year.

But just as beautiful as his musical composition are his lyrics. In the same way a poet always uses the most perfect words in his craft, so does Pyke in his lyrics. My first exposure to Chimney's Afire was the single "The Lighthouse Song".

And I've been getting urges late at night
To walk and walk for days and throughout lights
Through people's houses, picking food from plates
Through people's gardens, picking locks on gates

So we are moving to a lighthouse, you and I
While seas drown sailors, we'll be locked up safe and dry
And though our doors may knock and rattle in the wind
I'll just hold you tight and we'll not let those fuckers in

The song as a whole is just so fantastically haunting that I've concocted an entire post-apocalyptic short story to it. I just need to actually sit down and write it! But the end of the world wasn't exactly Pyke's theme to this album. According to his website, he actually comes from a bit of a sea-faring family and the ocean and nautical themes figure throughout Chimney's Afire (which itself is something whalers would shout when they'd harpoon their targets and blood would come spouting out of the whales!).

The album is so richly delicate with lovingly crafted songs that I'm tempted to call this more of a folk album than pop, but pop-ular it is! At least three singles have graced Triple J's playlist recently: the aforementioned "Lighthouse Song", "Make You Happy", and "The Summer". "Make You Happy" is a terrific love song and one I recently introduced my girlfriend to (I will show her that not all Aussie music is weird). "The Summer" is more a reflection on a time and place we miss and wish to return to. Right now, it's the perfect song to hear toward the end of winter and beginning of spring. His imagery of sleepy seaside towns and lazy afternoons with laundry out on the line never fail to relax me.

Chimney's Afire is a wonderfully crafted album and completely one to mellow out to. I highly recommend it and am sure it's an album I'll still be listening to many years from now.

Download This: "The Summer"

Here's the video for "The Lighthouse Song":

The Prodigy - Invaders Must Die

2009-03-12T07:50:00.000-07:00

The Prodigy is back and in a big way! Their new album, Invaders Must Die, has landed with all the power and impact of one of those bunker-busting bombs! See, I was first exposed to The Prodigy during the era of "Firestarter", "Smack My Bitch Up", and "Breathe". That defined classic Prodigy to me. That was also an era I think of as before techno music broke into a hundred million different sub-genres. At most I felt there was techno, trance, house, and ambient...though I'm sure those in the know knew of many more blends in the late-90s.

Fast forward twelve years and my god, Invaders Must Die hits the air and I'm instantly back in 1997. It's like putting on a good pair of shoes you haven't worn in a long time or having that taste of something you've not eaten in ages. There's this reawakening of the senses and your mind unearths this flood of memory! Invaders is that classic Prodigy sound. That good old fashioned techno album that you can play from one end to the other and just jam to! There's no doubt they've gone back to that "old school, but cutting edge" sound.

I'm not sure there's a track on this album I don't like. That's rare for me to say about anyone's studio album. The Prodigy have created something amazing and powerful here, but at the same time they've done something new. It's looking at 1997 through 2009's glasses (and not those silly ones you see on New Year's Eve). Simply put, this album must be heard. And what I love most is that they totally go on to surprise me with the last track "Stand Up" which is a far jazzier and swinging shout-out to the 60s than I ever would have expected from these guys. Some might find that an odd way to end things, but it just makes me love 'em more!

Download This: "Invaders Must Die"

Here's the video for the title track, "Invaders Must Die":

Pardon the German adverts for an interview that are on the video, but now that I've watched it from end to end, how cool is it that Noel Clarke of Doctor Who fame is in the video! Go Mickey!!

Revisiting Girl Talk

2009-03-10T20:25:00.000-07:00

Having utterly fallen in love with Girl Talk's Feed the Animals album, I figured that his two previous albums Unstoppable and Night Ripper would be just as amazing.

Here's the quick and dirty of it:

Unstoppable: Girl Talk's first album comes across as a pitched-up house-y remix album rather than a glorious symphony of mashups. Gillis has no problem consistently name-dropping Girl Talk throughout the album. I found Unstoppable completely stoppable.

Night Ripper: Girl Talk's second album shows a bit of maturity from its predecessor. If Feed the Animals is the adult album, Night Ripper is the teenage version of Girl Talk. The mashup stylings are there, the name-dropping is gone. It's a good album and has many of the earmarks you'll find in Feed the Animals.

Taken together, it's easy to see the journey Girl Talk has taken to become the most amazing mashup artist out there. From the Unstoppable infancy to the growing pains of Night Ripper to the upright and articulate Feed the Animals, it's an interesting tale to follow.

Howling Bells - Radio Wars

2009-03-05T18:13:00.000-08:00

What actually makes an album great is completely subjective. Different elements will always appeal to different people in different ways. And I don't think I could come up with a different way to use different that many times. Radio Wars, the new album from Sydney-based Howling Bells, is a deep almost-melancholic indie release that echos elements as far back as Siouxie and the Banshees and Echo and the Bunnymen. I almost hesitate to make comparisons to the Smashing Pumpkins' later sounds (without the droning guitars and lead singer, tho).

Radio Wars, which was also the featured album on Triple J this week, is a decent album, but not one I feel should be listened to all in one go. I suppose if you're just having a down day or need a little bit of electro-emo (god, how I hate the term emo, but I use it here as a mood-setting emotion) music to mellow out to, give the album a turn on the playlist. But truly, the album has three truly stand out tracks: "Treasure Hunt", "Let's Be Kids", and "Into the Chaos"

I will admit radio has spoiled me on "Treasure Hunt" and "Into the Chaos". Both tracks have gotten good airplay and have firmly embedded themselves in my mind. So I'm biased toward these two, but they are strong tracks with evenly-balanced levels between the music and Juanita Stein's vocals. And perhaps that really is Howling Bells' ace in the hole; Juanita Stein's vocals really pull at your ear and suck you into their kind of dark vision of the world.

And now that I've used the phrase "dark vision of the world", let me point out the very nostalgic and enjoyable track "Let's Be Kids". It's that song we all can relate to. That desire to be a kid again where the responsibilites of life and the world were few and that sense of innocence was still something tangible. It's a beautiful track and nicely framed in the center of the album.

Is the album awesome? No. Is it good? Yeah! But Radio Wars is an album that has to fit a mood and if you're not in the mood, the album won't speak to you.

Download This: "Into the Chaos"

Haven't found a video for "Into the Chaos", but here's a version of it live:

Jackson Jackson - Tools for Survival

2009-03-04T15:07:00.000-08:00

I've taken the time lately to venture out and just grab whatever catches my fancy on the radio. For a while now I've heard Jackson Jackson's "All Alone" on Triple J and figured it was time to check out the whole album.

Now, Tools for Survival might not help you if you're stranded in the wilderness and have to scrounge for grubs. However, if you have the actual CD it can be used to reflect light and signal a passing plane!

Now, when I downloaded the album, it dropped into my iTunes with a Hip-Hop genre listing. And that just didn't seem right. Granted, Melbourne MC Phrase is featured on the album's second track "The Devil in Me", but the rest of the album isn't hip-hop at all. Regardless, Jackson Jackson is a side project for Harry Angus (great name, btw!) of the band Cat Empire. Oddly, even Wikipedia lists Jackson Jackson as hip-hop, but I still stand by my disagreeance with that label.

The fun bit about side projects is that the artist gets a chance to stretch their experimental limbs and venture into new territory. The downside is that sometimes you get an album that doesn't really have a coherent feel to it. Tools for Survival runs that line closely and just barely leans toward incoherence. The first six tracks hold together strongly with "Love Man", "The Devil in Me", and "All Alone" really standing out. "All Alone" delves into that moody electro mood typical of groups like The Presets. Very enjoyable!

Track six, "Atlantis", starts a bit of a dreamy digression into the weaker tracks of the album. "Take Me Back" comes across as a throwback to the almost waltzy beat of songs from the 50s. "Dreaming" and "Till the Heavens Fall" round out the odd atmospheric digression. And then the album's title track lands with an opening befitting some Zen relaxing CD I own. Strings and sitars and a very buddhist feel open "Tools for Survival" and the song itself tells a fascinating story of the world not being right and going off into the mountains to create a new society.

I found myself trying to decide if it was the world or the group going off into the mountains who was the antagonist of this song. Was it something utopian or something utterly Jonestown-like? I'm still not sure, but the grandiose almost Bollywood feel of the track was a great choice on which to end the album. However, the iTunes release came with a bonus track that throws off that balance presented by "Tools for Survival".

Overall, I like the album. Certain tracks will definitely get more play than others, but Jackson Jackson is worth checking out.

Download This: "The Devil in Me"

Here's the video for "All Alone":

Bliss N Eso - Flying Colours

2009-02-19T18:31:00.001-08:00

Flying Colours is an album I'd have reviewed very differently had I written it after just the first or second listen. I discovered Bliss N Eso while listening to Triple J at work one day. They'd played the track "Eye of the Storm" which samples "Paper Aeroplane" by Angus & Julia Stone. I was impressed mostly because Bliss N Eso had sampled a song that came out only a year ago. Most hip hop outfits tend to sample anything from the 60s through the 80s or maybe 90s. But to sample a song released in 2007 struck me as pretty damn cool!
So I downloaded the album and gave it a spin (do mp3s spin? I guess the hard drive does...anyway!) and really found the album to be the most American-sounding Australian hip hop album I'd ever heard. And at the time, it put me off. The album seemed almost too aggressive and filled with enough pot references to make them seem like an American group!

Blessedly, I took a little time off from trying to get into the album and listened to some other stuff. When I came back to Flying Colours, I found a much more vibrant soundscape! The album, from start to finish, is a trip into a world somewhat TimBurton-esque filled with some heavy atmospheric feel. But the lyrics these guys crank out are so intricate and alliterate and filled with pop-culture references! DJ Izm is just insane with the scratching, working up masterpieces reminiscent of Mixmaster Mike's work with the Beastie Boys. The samples Bliss N Eso use to pepper their tracks with range from the oddly haunting to the bizarre, the hilarious, and the obvious (yes, I do mean the quote from Stewie Griffin on Family Guy).

Flying Colours truly takes you into a world of their own design. Here songs wander from the aggressive (Woodstock 2008) to the deeply soulful (Bullet and a Target) to the jazzy nightclub ($5 Steak) to the environmentally pensive (Sea is Rising). What I had discovered upon further listenings of the album is a group who truly believes in the positive message that music can create. I'd seen an interview with the group on YouTube (and I'll post part of it here) where they traveled to Africa to work with a group called Schools 4 Schools. What came from that, in part, was the track "Bullet and a Target" which features the Zulu Connection Choir. The video for that track was also filmed in Africa and it has to be one of my favorite songs on the album.

Ultimately, Flying Colours, if you haven't heard it, is an album so worth the listen and make sure not to judge it on a first listen. Let successive listenings take you deeper into the world they've created.

Download This: The Whole Album! :D No? Okay, then "The Sea is Rising"

Schools 4 Schools Trip: Day 4

Bullet and a Target video

BeerStrong!

2009-02-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

My thought is that someone was at a party one night where everyone was drinking beers from the same 12 pack and wanted to remember which beer was his. But how to do it!

And then genius strikes! He was wearing one of those obnoxious rubber band bracelets that every cause under the sun has bought for 50 cents and sold for five bucks. Those self same bracelets my cat loves to chew on until it's in tatters.

Enter the Beer Bands:

According to the release on them you can Choose from: bombed, blitzed, trashed, pickled, hammered, loaded, polluted, ripped, sauced, tanked, wrecked or wasted.

And I'd imagine that at the end of the night you can wear whichever band best describes your immediate state of sloshed-ness!

Link via Cool Design Ideas Blog.

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals

2009-01-22T18:35:00.000-08:00

Have you ever sat there and asked yourself what it would sound like if Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana, MC Hammer, Ludacris, Twisted Sister, Huey Lewis and the News, and a couple hundred artists got together for a jam session? I know you have and it probably sounds about a tenth as good as Girl Talk's fourth album Feed the Animals. Chicago-based Greg Gillis is Girl Talk. How he came up with the name, I really don't know, but I am pleased to report Girl Talk is not some podunk Spice Girls cover-band. Girl Talk is one mad genius with a laptop and the ability to create the most incredible mashups.

Now, your average mashup has at least two songs of a relatively similar beat structure which are then (naturally) mashed together. A few songs out there have three songs or four smashed together, but Feed the Animals's fourteen tracks feature over 300 samples! Pulling from artists between the 1960s through today, Girl Talk has assembled the Sistine Chapel of mashups!

It's difficult to thoroughly explain the beauty in the complexity of his arrangement. It's genuinely a symphony of the music of the modern times. I want to say it's like taking all the oddball, multi-colored pieces of LEGO left in a box and making a replica of David with them. On futher thought, it's not quite that...because LEGOs are meant to fit together! Feed the Animals is like a statue of David (which looks really really good!) made from LEGO, duplo blocks, playmobil pieces, Lincoln Logs, chewing gum, K-Nex, and one stylin' Big Wheel!

It's all stuff that you would never expect to fit together until someone's gone and built it. Then you see that it's awe-inspiring! To think that Kelly Clarkson's "Since U Been Gone" and "Wish" by Nine Inch Nails would ever be complementary is groundbreaking. Put Salt-N-Pepa's "Push It", Dee-Lite's "Groove is in the Heart", and Nirvana's "Lithium" together at just the right places and it's just amazing! And to peruse the list of samples at the album's page on Wikipedia shows the listener just how many samples are in there. I still go down the list and find myself saying "Wait...that track is in there?"

Download This: The Whole Album! No, really...the whole thing!!

My words just will not do the album justice. While there are no official videos for the album, BunnyGreenhouse on YouTube has assembled some pretty impressive videos to go with some of the songs. Here is track three, "Still Here".

Are ya feelin' lucky, sleepyhead?

2009-01-15T20:40:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Paul at The Somewhat Ambitious who himself ultimately linked it to GeekStuff4U, the Danger Bomb Alarm Clock is now at the top of my "I totally don't need it but so totally want it" list (really, it's a list I keep in my wallet). I used to be a complete morning person who could easily rise well before five in the morning and start his day. Of course, I'd also be in bed by nine at night! Trust me, that's changed! I still think of myself as a morning person, but getting up at six hurts and seven-thirty is a bit more humane.

The Danger Bomb Alarm Clock will randomly change which wire needs to be pulled each morning. Perhaps it's a red-wire Monday...then that pre-dawn stupor on Tuesday leads you to pull that red wire again. Oh no! The alarm's still going off! Such is the joy and thrill that is waking up each morning like a member of the bomb disposal unit! And with a near-$40 sticker price, it's a cheap way to get your morning started!

Pendulum - In Silico

2009-01-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

Perth, Western Australia is not the first place most people think of as a source of powerful drum n bass music you can simply lose yourself in. Perhaps Australia isn't the first place you might think of for good drum n bass. The average listener turns to the clubs of Europe for what's new in electronic music.

Pendulum, on the other hand, is a world away from the thumping clubs of Europe. Their brand of d-n-b is, in their own words, that "we want our music to be an escape. While technology continues to constantly advance production techniques and (arguably) sound quality, something has been lost in the process - that original sense of self-escape, the idea of leaving yourself open to experience something you don't necessarily find in every-day life."

Their latest album, In Silico, is just that; an album you can press play on and just sit back as the landscape passes by. On a first listen, I felt that too many songs used a very similar beat structure and often times I couldn't quite tell which track I was on. Further listenings have shown me that the guys in Pendulum meant to do that! That near seamlessness in the album allows the listener to not concern himself necessarily with the message of each song and just gel with the album as a whole.

Pendulum also subscribes to the voice modulation school of audio production. If I had to identify lead singer Rob Swire's voice on the street, I highly doubt I could. That's not a slight against how he sounds on the album. Each song has a fantastic raw element with science fiction elements across the boards! Their first single Granite features just the most head-thrashing beats and compliments a video that's uniquely entertaining and horrifying (see below).

In Silico may not be heralded as the greatest electronic music album of all time, but it does run the fine line between being faithful to its roots and being commerical viable. And there is no doubt they run that line at an easy 140bps!

Download This: "Granite"

The Grates - Teeth Lost, Hearts Won

2009-01-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Like a petulant child belting out her own songs, the quirky and coquettish Patience Hodgson of The Grates opens their 2008 release with enough energy to get even the most unsuspecting music fan’s head bouncing and feet tapping. Teeth Lost, Hearts Won is the latest offering from the Brisbane, Australia-based trio which also features John Patterson on guitar and Alana Skyring on drums. “Burn Bridges”, the album’s opening track and first single, features a chorus worthy of a college indie version of Oklahoma!.

Patience’s vocal range is a force to be reckoned with as the album moves from wildly upbeat tunes like “Carve Your Name” and “Aw Yeah” into more mellow and soulful songs like “Two Kinds of Right”. In one verse she can come across like a pouting heartbroken lover torn between two men and turn right around in the next, becoming a cannon of sugared confetti exploding across the sonic landscape!

The Grates’ sound has certainly matured since 2006’s Gravity Won’t Get You High. Teeth Lost, Hearts Won has a much more unifying element, something akin to seeing a Keith Haring painting as a whole image instead of a mixed pastiche of six-inch squares of the same painting jumbled up. Each song on Teeth Lost, Hearts Won can stand on its own as a good song, but when experienced from start to finish The Grates have knitted together a brilliantly playful and moving album which gracefully skirts the border between Indie and Pop.

From the bourgeoning Australian music scene, The Grates stand out as a tremendous splash of audio color. Check them out at thegrates.com and you can find their albums on iTunes as well.

Download This: "Milk Eyes"

Here's a taste of their music: the video for "Aw Yeah".

A Little Change of Pace

2009-01-14T19:59:00.000-08:00

So as part of my opening my own site (for my online portfolio, really), I want to showcase my writing more. I am going to be posting more reviews (music, movies, maybe TV, sometimes product). Oh, I'll occasionally have a non-review post, so if you come here solely for those, fear not.

The Gift of Giving

2009-01-13T07:41:00.001-08:00

Okay, I know 2008 was a rough year, but when I saw this holiday scene painted on one of my favorite local places to grab a cheesesteak, I had to snap a pic.
Yes, now bailout-themed holiday window dressings are all the rage!

What GPS Means For Everyone

2009-01-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

Daunting title, eh? You know I'm a fairly low-tech guy when it comes to my car and stuff (though I'm a complete geek otherwise!). So with all these cars coming equipped with GPS navigation (let alone your phone doing it, too!), I've realised that GPS will soon cause the world's population to completely be unable to read a map.

Yes, 2-D navigation will never break down on you! Can you see poor Harry, lost somewhere, yelling at his yellowed AAA map "Where do I turn?! I need to get to the drive-thru Starbucks!!"

Sad, I know.

But it'll happen. See, I'm convinced someday technology will totally fail us! It's really a rant saved for another post, but all our reliance on computers is gonna come back and bite us in the ass!

Anyway, have you seen the commercials for the Zoombak? It's this personal GPS unit and the commercial really pushes the marketing as a way for parents to keep tabs on their kids. Plug it into the car, turn it on, and you can sit at your computer and see where your kid's car (or your car that they're driving) is. When Sally gets to her soccer meet, you can get a text message that she's arrived safely. If Dylan decides to drive outside the range you've preset in the system, you'll get a text message! Oh, Orwell be Praised!

See, my problem with just plugging it into the cigarette lighter thingy in the car is that the kid could just unplug it (which likely sends you a text message). It's a sign I'm getting older that I've decided it makes more sense to install a 12 volt adapter in the engine compartment, plug the Zoombak in there, and not tell the kid!

But why stop there? We never stop there, do we? Let's just chip the little buggers at birth! Install sensors all over the place...doorways...trees...stop lights...wherever! And this way we can see if Timmy leaves class to go to the bathroom and how long he spends there! Hell, it can just be used to take attendance from now on!

Until the whole GPS network dies some horrible death inflicted by terrorists or a comet or whatever the heck's supposed to happen in 2012. Only then can Timmy sneak off to the bathroom for a smoke.

It's Not Easy Not Being Green

2008-12-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

For the first time in 32 Christmases, I found myself actually feeling guilty about all the wrapping paper used, boxes shipped, and the formerly living tree that wound up wrapped in plastic down in the dumpster.

My mom has the right idea. She uses bags (which fill half the living room) and then collects them at the end to reuse next year. But the size of the bags of trash I took down to the dumpster on the 26th were huge!

Now imagine all the people who did the same thing! That's an insane amount of trash.

Why do we do that? Why do we let ourselves get dragged into that tradition!?

Next year I'm going to try to convince Amber to let me make the outline of a tree on the wall using Christmas lights.

Tis the Season

2008-12-18T17:57:00.000-08:00

I used to work at Barnes & Noble. I was there through two Christmas seasons. I thought working at a bookstore, having to stay past 11pm some night just to get the darn place back into shape before frazzled customers tore the place apart again the next morning, was simply hell. My only saving grace was that I worked with really cool people at my store.

Oh, no. Hell hath a new face this year.

I now work in a company that has three employees (yes, that includes the boss). The company at which I work feeds a very niche market, it's probably the best store of its ilk out there (of maybe five in the country), it's got a large customer base and a strong e-commerce end. Truly, from the outside, you might think that the company had a massive warehouse and at least ten (or twenty) people working there.

Nope. Just three.

Now, I'm told that this year is slower than last year. Guess that's the case all over the place. But then we have days where we ship sixty-four boxes via Fed Ex, another dozen in the post, manage the store front, the phones, the emails, and all our other accounts. It's times like these where I wonder how the fuck we manage it all! My American working mentality tells me that there's no way three people can handle all that.

But we do! We did! How!?

I truly don't get it. Tis the season for heaps of orders, racing around, shouting out the status of this, that, and the other thing, but I already can't wait for the Christmas shopping season to be over! I seriously cannot wait for a week off with Amber!

Good Try, Scammer

2008-11-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it's fun to go through the email at work. Mostly it's inquiries and issues with orders or shipping or something like that, but then there's the occasional email that really looks like something my boss needs to address.

Then I open it.

Oh, look, there's unusual activity on my account. And they need all sorts of information like my social, my account number, my PIN. Oh, okay, sure! Wait, I don't even have a Wells Fargo account! But, say you did. First, if you're dumb enough to give away this information to anyone then you deserve to have your identity stolen! Second, let's look at this fax number. Now, the smart consumer knows (or at least researches) where the 408 area code is. It's generally San Jose, CA and its environs. Wells Fargo, well, their nearest headquarterly center is going to be San Francisco, the 415 area code! We don't have a Wells Fargo account at work, so this was an easy throw-away.

A couple weeks later, we got this one...
Oh dear, there's been odd activity on my Bank of America account and they need me to verify my details or else (!!) my account will be suspended! Wait, you can't do that, I need my money! Well, simply hovering your cursor over that link will show what that link actually is down at the bottom of your browser! See, that trustworthy-looking BofA link in the middle of the email? It goes nowhere near BofA servers!

Pretty sneaky, sis (I mean, scammers!).

Simply put, never send sensitive information via email. That's like running down the street waving your privates about, inviting people to take advantage of them. Sadly, the scammers are getting smarter and they know they're likely to snag the lamest folk in any bunch. Don't be lame. If you're not sure, just don't click on it.

And if you honestly, don't know if you have distant relatives in Nigeria who just passed away or if you're not sure if you have played the British Lottery, you probably haven't!

Obama Endorses Water Polo

2008-10-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

So the other day I was taking a walk around Los Gatos and passes a car that had a US Water Polo sticker in the window. I stopped dead in my tracks. It was the Obama logo...but it had a yellow water polo ball in the middle of it! Wait, that couldn't be! I thought Obama was doing something original with that O-logo dealy!

Of course, I'm trolling around Google Images and can't find an example of it now. That car probably isn't parked where it was, but I swear...take the Obama logo and put in a yellow water polo ball, and you have the US Water Polo logo!

But seriously, folks, I am ready for it to be early November. The election is already turning ugly and I know the hate is only going to grow as we get nearer election day. The other night I ran over to Taco Bell to get dinner for me and Amber and a lady came in wearing a "Palin Power" button. Now, I preface this next part by noting I was already in a crap mood at the time, but when I got my food and walked out past her, I had to grumble "Stupid button" just under my breath. And I hope she heard it! Alaska is a lovely state and I'm sure the folk there are nice, but Palin is a megalomaniac! She's insane, I swear it!

Driving home yesterday, I was passed by a very oversized dually (big diesel motor, yes) and the bumper sported both a McCain sticker and another sticker which showed an American flag over the name "McCain" and a white flag that read "Islamist Fascist" over Obama's name. And it pissed me off so much!!

First, can you even have an Islamist Fascist? Perhaps, but I'm not sure Islamic society would even support a fascist government itself. Secondly, how is Obama even remotely fascist? How is he remotely like Mussolini, for example!? Thirdly, can the redneck asshole in that truck even define what fascism is?! I kinda doubt it.

Anyway, all this hate is putting me in a sour mood. I'm just ready to have it be the morning of November 5th, no matter how things turn out (though, naturally, I want Obama to win).

What iTunes 8 Has Already Taught Me

2008-09-10T09:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my co-worker Warren watched via some virtually live blog as Steve Jobs revealed the new generation of iPods and the highlights of iTunes 8.

I was intrigued by the album art view and the concept of the genius function (which creates playlists based on probably some kind of tagging system) which, claims Apple, is designed to help you rediscover music you forgot you had and introduce you to new music of a similar ilk.

Okay, I figured, I'll give it a download. See what the hub-bub is about, bub.

So I did. And it's taught me quite a few things that seeing my library in list format couldn't. First off, you can actually toggle back to list view (thank god) and alter titles and album names you may have imported incorrectly.

I've realised that I've imported a crap load of mp3s that either need some kind of artwork or adjustment in album name or something similar. I guess I'm at least a little OCD when it comes to having things in order. I'm finding this is getting worse as I get older, so apologies 60 years ahead of time to whomever I'm living with at that time.

A few months ago I took an entire evening and made sure my whole iTunes library had at least a title, artist, album, and genre. Well, now I've learned that I need to spend another evening on the web and in Photoshop creating album covers for all my songs that had none previously! Some will be as simple as finding the band's album art out there. Others, well, I like mashups and they generally don't have album covers. So I'll have to get creative (or creatively lazy) and make my own.

And I'll also have to go back into list view and fix any song that came as part of a Billboard compliation or some other general Top 40 torrent. It's unsightly to go through my albums and know that a particular song was not released first as part of Now That's What I Call An Overused Title or some such album! Do I really need to fix it? No. No, I don't, but I want to. I feel like I need to. So in the midst of moving in with Amber, I'll find some time to get in there and make heaps of corrections.

I also learned I have some really random music (thanks, Steve, iTunes 8 did exactly what you hoped it would)! Now I also get to wonder why I have any Christina Aguilera (just one, I swear) or Kelly Clarkson (and she's the only American Idol *gag* artist I have) or, well, I really can't remember who else right now because they're just songs I wouldn't listen to now.

Now...if only I can get Triple J to correctly edit all the ID3 tags and images for their free music downloads!

About 24 Years Late

2008-09-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

I am two weeks away from turning 32. If there was any question up to now about whether or not I was really in my thirties, this birthday should answer that: I am in my 30s!

So why am I just now deciding that it's time for me to learn to skate? And I'm not talking about getting on some short board and cranking out wild, multisyllabic, physics-bending tricks on a half pipe. Naw, I know I missed that boat about 17 years ago! No, I'm talking about longboarding. Cruising down the avenues and parking lots of San Jose, Santa Cruz, Campbell, wherever. I just want to get out there and see where my feet can propel me.

My feet is my only carriage. -Bob Marley

So Amber just blew me away this year and got me my birthday present early: A gorgeous 46" brand spanking new Sector 9 Bamboo longboard! I mean, this thing still had the original tag on it and she'd found it on Craigslist no less!

I had spent nights on end just visualizing getting myself up to a good speed and cruising and carving in my neighborhood. I mean, I can see the physics of it, I can feel it in my mind, I can understand and break down the individual movements needed to accomplish something in my head. But dude, when I first got out on that board, I felt so unsteady and wound up just pushing off from the bus and letting gravity do most of my work. It was a little bit of a downer.

But I did some research and have learned that my trucks need some adjustment. I've tightened them some and will probably tweak with them a bit more until I can get reality lined up with my vision. I've decided that this is one dream I'm not giving up on again. I just wish I could find a place that's nice and smooth...and private! I really rather not bail in front of a crowd, but perhaps that's part of the whole package. Who knows?

Needless to say, I'm a newbie...I fully accept that! I'm learning. Yeah, skateboarding was probably I should have picked up back around the time I was eight or twelve or at least by the time I entered high school, but I didn't. I'm almost 32 and I'm gonna master that longboard!

BMW: The Ultimate Driving (like an ass) Machine

2008-08-28T08:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, this blog is not going to be one of those where I go on about how I drive an old VW bus and how I am so much better than these people who are in a rush and are complete asses about it. I can be an ass while driving...well, I can be somewhat passive/aggressive about it at any rate.

But what is it about BMW drivers? I have counted probably a good two dozen examples in just the past two weeks of BMW drivers acting like they have to get to their destination so now that they tailgate the snot out of the person in front of them. They change lanes without signaling. They cut their passing way too close to be safe. They love acceleration (understandably so, but not in evening traffic, okay?!). It's just frustrating to no end and I will readily admit that I love matching their speed in evening traffic and just not giving them enough room to get past the person in front of them. See, I can be an ass too.

My theory is that BMW markets themselves to people who really really wish they could drive on Germany's autobahn all day and who probably can't afford a Porsche. Now, I've observed quite a bit from my bird's eye view in the bus. Porsche drivers understand they have a really wicked sports car under their control. And they drive it like that. Sure, they'll lean into the accelerator, but they'll do it when it's appropriate.

Let's take the other major German luxury car into consideration for a moment: Mercedes. In all my observations, people who drive Mercedeses (Mercedeses? Mercedi? anyway...) know they have a serious luxury car and they want everyone around them to know that! So they don't race about trying to be the first one to the next red light. They're a bit more relaxed about their speed and such.

It seems like BMW (and their drivers) are kind of that middle child who's just getting that first jolt of hormones in junior high school. They're running around screaming "Look at me! Look at me! I'm gonna be ahead of you! I can go fast and be brash and fuck the rules and all that!"

Think about how boys were when you were in junior high school! Yeah, you see what I mean now, don'tcha?

Media Bias Against China?

2008-08-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

So the other day news reports broke about parts of the Olympic opening ceremony being computer generated. People were up in arms about being duped and cheating by the experience. Oh, those mean nasty Chinese and how dare they fake something! Pardon me while I roll my eyes.

I kind of had the feeling while I was watching the opening ceremony that those firework footprints weren't really real. Maybe the people who felt duped weren't watching closely or on a good TV.

Today I check Yahoo here at work and now the media is up in arms (where did that phrase start, anyway?) about how the little kid who sang while flying a kite all Hong Kong wire style was lip syncing! Now, I give the Yahoo article credit for being mostly fair about the coverage, but I really think that this whole deal speaks volumes toward how different our cultures are.

The opening ceremony used 15,000 people--none of whom had more than one role. It was one tremedous team effort. Everyone was working toward the same goal and the same production. I imagine that from their perspective, no one person's effort was worth more than another's. It's not like there was a Tai Chi solo...or a drum pounding solo...so what's wrong with one person singing and another presenting the image to the world?

See, in America, everyone would be clamoring for the top spot. Everyone wants to shine brighter and reach higher than the next person. You don't see lots of good proper team work toward something of that caliber! Could 15,000 Americans pull off a production of that quality, so insanely synchronized? No way! Eventually, someone would break the routine and wave to the camera, screaming "Hi Mom!"

So American media, lay off China's production and stop trying to convinced the lesser minds of America that they're all a bunch of cheats.

a collection of bytes

2008-03-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

At some point the amount of computer memory on this planet is going to exceed that of human memory. Perhaps it already has! This thought hit me last night as I was falling asleep and I was trying to do the math in my head as I drifted off. See, the human brain is equivalent to about 4 Terabytes of information (That's 4,000 Gigabytes).

So, let's see...4 Terabytes per person...roughly 6 Billion people on the planet (I know it's more now, but for argument's sake let's use this number)...

4,000,000,000,000 X 6,000,000,000 = 24,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes.

Now let's convert that to a storage number we can work with: Gigabytes.

Twenty-four trillion Gigabytes! That's huge! That's nuts! There's no way the computers have caught up with us...

Well, let's see about that. Figure about 35% of the population of the planet owns computers (now, that's just hard drives, no iPods, flash drives, peripherals, or super computers) and on average the typical hard drive is about 100 Gigabytes.

6,000,000,000 X 35% = 2,100,000,000 X 100,000,000,000 = 210,000,000,000 Gigabytes.

210 Billion Gigabytes. Not quite there, I guess. Perhaps my math is off by a bit...perhaps if we factor in the peripherals and the non-personal-computer segment...I dunno. To jump from 210 Billion to 24 Trillion is a big leap.

But it's coming, isn't it? There are already terabyte drives for sale at Fry's and it won't be more than a few years before a 4 Terabyte driven computer will be for sale...as much computer memory as human memory.

And to think there was a time when people thought we'd never need more than 512 kilobytes!