I was flicking through some random blogs when I came across these great images and video of the launch taken by Dane and Alicia in Florida, less than an hour ago.
Space Shuttle Launch
I was flicking through some random blogs when I came across these great images and video of the launch taken by Dane and Alicia in Florida, less than an hour ago.
Breakingnews.ie... ummm... when?
The space shuttle passes through the sound barrier during ascent. (Image courtesy of NASA.)
Taken from: "Stargazers to get glimpse of shuttle and Space Station."
"Astronomy Ireland predicts the shuttle should be seen about 18 minutes after its departure at around 10pm Irish time."
So did it depart at 10pm or 9.42pm? And it made no mention of where to look. I presumed Westerly, but I was outside for 20 minutes looking around like a total fucking n00b!
Squarepusher - Hello Everything
Bought this today. It's been on my list of "CD's to buy" for a while now, proving that downloading music illegally does pay off eventually. The other Squarepusher album on the list is his 1997 classic "Hard Normal Daddy".
Hard to describe this album, although one unimpressed listener described it as "Shitpusher". It's certainly fluffier DnB, than his earlier stuff, That earlier stuff of his might be more clever and tricky, but this album is far more melodic and listenable, and its still distinctly "Squarepusher" in style.
A live version of the first track from the album, "Hello Meow". When I first heard the track I thought it sounded a bit like something I'd do. Perhaps not the greatest endorsement of the album ever, but a nice way to explain why I like it so much.
Gavin's Blog, 3 Hates You!
Not sure if this is already known, but "Gavin's Blog[http://www.gavinsblog.com/]", is blocked by Three, god only knows why. I've also noted in the past that karlhungus.com (an Irish movie review blog) is on the banned list. If you try the old IP address trick you get a different error page where it asks you to enable cookies.
[Some other sites on 3's "banned list"]
Björn Gustafsson, Swedish Song Contest 2008
For everyones pleasure, nitro2k01 has gone to much effort to supply and subtitle the shenanigans Björn Gustafsson got up to during the finals of the Swedish National Song Contest this year. Björn was the one who announced the results of the Swedish vote during this years Eurovision.
The humor translates quite well and Björn seems to be a bit of an acrobat-comedian. A big thank you to nitro2k01 for this :D
Newstalk Transmitter Delay
Thank god for Newstalk, it's really given better choice to radio listening since it went nationwide. Incomplete reception coverage is annoying, but even worse than that is the delay between certain transmitters. It's not so bad when you're listening in a stationary position but when you're on the move like in a car our out walking, the cross-talk between frequencies makes coherent listening impossible, because it keeps jumping between the timeline of the broadcast.
Incedently, you see the hidden telemetry display of a Blaupunkt car radio in the above video. This type of head unit is found in a lot of modern Volkswagen automobiles. As you can see from the video, all you need do is to hold down the "Menu" key for this screen to appear.
Neural Actuator
I noticed that Komplett are listing OCZ Neural Impulse Actuator's now. They are priced at €199 and were mean't to be stock since the 5th of this month but they still haven't shown up.
I mentioned a similar item at the start of the year and the OCZS Neural Actuator seems to work in the same manner by processing the users brain patterns. The only thing that makes me a bit dubious is the description of how it works, "actions are interpreted from brain impulses and muscle movements in the forehead". Does this thing read your brain waves or just measure how much your frowning?
Obviously this thing is being aimed at gamers. In example first-person-shooters situations, you still use the mouse to aim but the NIA takes over movement and firing.I would find it interesting if the unit could be used to produce MIDI instructions. If not to produce notes like some kind of mind-theremin, then to act as an expression unit, like a breath-controller or expression pedal; think of a crescendo and it happens! It could be the ultimate control surface for soft-synths, letting you control various parameters as you play.
Even if it had no practical use, I'd still love to get one, if only for the novelty factor. It would have to work of course. It reminds me of one of my favorite childhood programs, "The Girl From Tomorrow", an Australian production. There was a device (fancy headband transducer) that would allow the wearer to do all kinds of magic stuff. I used to love that show, and that girl too :)
New Arrival
Not even a day old at this stage
This fellow plopped out on Wednesday morning last. Still no fixed name for him yet. The leg length was quite impressive :)
For the curious, here's what else plopped out[gore]. And a closer view[gore]. You could fry it up, put it between two buns and call it a burger I guess. Full of stem-cell goodness!
Swedish Voting - Eurovision 2008
I was falling around the place when I saw this last night, I thought the guy had gone mental, but then I find out today he was doing it on purpose. He's actually Swedish comedian, Björn Gustafsson, and he was just taking the piss. Not sure how it went down in Sweden but I loved it :)
There's a higher-res version on the associated youtube page, worth a look to see his eye movements and facial expressions. Funny shit :)
"yes... its true"
Eurovision - 2008
It's a pity the Lithuanian act (above) didn't get into the finals tonight. I could have done with another laugh. We always have youtube I guess.
I quite like the Turkish entry, "Deli" by Mor ve Ötesi (Purple and beyond). I've included an acoustic version below, that I found in my youtube travels. It's almost better than the original.
No idea who will win. I'll be interested to see how well France do. "Divine" is an extremely French sounding electronica pop song, in the same vein as Air or light Daft Punk. Hope it does well (for the sake of variety) :)
[UPDATE] lol that French song didn't sound too great live. And I'm glad I wasn't the only one that thought he looked like John Waters :)
Yeah baby, Turkey doing well :)
Olympus E-420... nice
A pocketable 10MP SLR, very nice indeed. Listed at GB£380, I wonder what actual prices will fall to.
Dimensions are 129.5 x 91 x 53 mm. Small but thick...
It's a pity I've no interest in photography anymore.
[DP Review]
What the fuck have they done to Ugly Betty
I tuned into a new episode tonight for the first time in over a a year. My my, what a goober its really become (some may argue it was always a goober, so I'll just say its even more gooberish now then!). They've turned Betty's brother into a total fag. Before, it was upto you what to make of him. I always saw him as having an almost intellectual interest in fashion without it being just because he was gay. At the very least, gay but without the ott campness. Now theres no doubt however. He's become a one-dimensional stereotypical homosexual. Makes it easier for hacks to write character developement I guess.
And as for Betty. America Ferrara has shed a bucket load of weight. She actually looks more like an Ugly Betty now. She's become quite manly (in the Betty garb at least, can't comment in reality). And while I don't like commenting on peoples weight changes (up or down) it's a right kick in the teeth, nonetheless, to those who saw her as a hero for "fuller" sized women.
I knew the program turned dire in the first season but I never thought it would get this bad. I think I'll have to stick with just watching Oireachtas Report instead.
And as for Betty. America Ferrara has shed a bucket load of weight. She actually looks more like an Ugly Betty now. She's become quite manly (in the Betty garb at least, can't comment in reality). And while I don't like commenting on peoples weight changes (up or down) it's a right kick in the teeth, nonetheless, to those who saw her as a hero for "fuller" sized women.
I knew the program turned dire in the first season but I never thought it would get this bad. I think I'll have to stick with just watching Oireachtas Report instead.
A Spaceman Came Travelling
Now they're saying god invented the aliens too!
The BBC have reported:
"The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out. Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space. The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article 'Aliens Are My Brother'."
And some of these aliens might be "free from original sin" too. Well obviously, apple trees aren't naturally indigenous to Mars you know.
But hang on a second here. I thought the bible said the Earth was unique. Is the Catholic church now saying that Mars might be a bastard planet god kept tied up in his celestial attic? A planet he shamefully spawned after a 10 second cosmic lust-bonk on a drunken night out... or is that bastard planet actually Earth!? I feel less special now.
Jesus dies for the sins of the xenomorphs
[Story via Skeptico, image via serenadawn.com]
The BBC have reported:
"The Pope's chief astronomer says that life on Mars cannot be ruled out. Writing in the Vatican newspaper, the astronomer, Father Gabriel Funes, said intelligent beings created by God could exist in outer space. The official Vatican newspaper headlines his article 'Aliens Are My Brother'."
And some of these aliens might be "free from original sin" too. Well obviously, apple trees aren't naturally indigenous to Mars you know.
But hang on a second here. I thought the bible said the Earth was unique. Is the Catholic church now saying that Mars might be a bastard planet god kept tied up in his celestial attic? A planet he shamefully spawned after a 10 second cosmic lust-bonk on a drunken night out... or is that bastard planet actually Earth!? I feel less special now.
Jesus dies for the sins of the xenomorphs
[Story via Skeptico, image via serenadawn.com]
HRH Crown Princess Victoria
I noticed that the last two posts had a Swedish theme running through them, so for no other reason than the sake of continuity, I'm putting a post up about Princess Victoria of Sweden.
To be honest, I knew little of her before this post, or indeed any of the other members of the Swedish Royalty. I've built up some knowledge now from reading around places like her wiki page and the official Swedish Royal Family site.
Some basic facts [via theroyalforuns.com]
Name: Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée BernadotteWho is she: She is the eldest daughter of the present Swedish king
Titles: crown princess of Sweden, duchess of Västergotland
Born: fourteenth of July 1977 in the Karolinska hospital (famous university-hospital in Stockholm)
Parents: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (born 1946) and Queen Silvia Renate (nee Sommerlath, born 1943)
Siblings: prince Carl-Philip (born 1979) and princess Madeleine (born 1982)
Religion: lutheran-protestant
Wouldn't you know it, anorexia raises its ugly head once again. In the late 90's she diagnosed herself with having the fat-disease and prescribed herself a dose of the anorexia's! She went from being perfectly perfect:
To this:
A few more to compare:
In the late 90's she spent some time in America to get help curing herself of the disease and now seems quite comfortable with her current body size. Doesn't help me pay the bills like, but its good for her. If you are into your Royal families and have an interest in the Swedish Royals in particular, then you can't do any better than Sofia's Royal Sweden blog [needs citation :)]. Tonnes and tonnes of stuff there about Victoria and co.
Well thats it for my string of Swedish posts. I think they might resurface soon enough though. Possibly with a much delayed review of Swedish folk-zeuhl group "Kultivator" and their sole album "Barndomens Stigar".
Finally, proving that I can tie almost anything in with anything else. How do I tie Princess Victoria in with Kultivator?
With a picture of her in a combine harvester of course :)
Phun - Physics Engine
I've spent the whole day using this, and I'll probably spend the evening at it too. Phun is a 2D "physics sandbox," created by Swedish Computer Scientist, Emil Ernerfeldt, for his Masters thesis. The idea was to design a fun interactive tool that allowed children (of all ages) to learn more about physics by direct manipulation.
Physics sandboxes aren't all that unique but this one is certainly worth investigating. Basically, you just draw what you want and hey presto, theres your 2d object, already interacting with the world. Just look at the video, it goes through most of what you can do with it. It's available for Mac, Windows, and Linux.
Get it at [www.phun.at] and prepare to waste your life :)
[via MAKE:Blog]
Anekdoten - From Within (Live)
I keep coming back to this Swedish band, their "From Within" album in particular. I reviewed that album ages ago but I'm still not sure how to catagorise them. Prog, neo-prog, stoner-prog, zeuhl!? Great stuff anyway. The girl seems to take keyboards quite seriously :)
Flashdance... incognito
Watch this first, its the best scene in the film. It's got the killer groove of "Its Just Begun" by Jimmy Castor as a backing, and its beautifully shot. No matter how many times I see moonwalking I still think its amazing. Take note of the last dancer.
That wasn't Jennifer Beal's ass gyrating during the Sembello's Maniac music. It actually belonged to french woman, Marine Jahan. But that wasn't Beal's only body double in the movie.
Look, most people know it by now, but there was a part in Flashdance where Jennifer Beal's dance double was actually a man. Some people don't believe it though so here's the evidence.
That looks like a man...
Yep, a man alright.
A man wearing tights...
... Tights that ruffle.
The break dancing segment, in the final dancing audition scene, is done by a male breakdancer, Crazy Legs. There you go.
Remember that breakdancer in the first vid? He was known as Frosty Freeze. He performs his "'Suicide" drop in that clip of Flashdance (where he amazingly falls on the flat of his back). The reason I'm posting this now is because I found out that he recently [03.04.08] passed away, and I thought it no better time than now to post about Flashdance and his involvement in the movie.
Tuning Into Victor Barry
When I'm out of Cork I still like to tune into Victor Barry at night on Red FM. I go to great lengths to get some decent reception.
"Radio, Free Moscow!"
[UPDATE] I think its ironic that the day I put this post up is the very same day Victor Barry decides to takes some holidays.
Waterford Crystal Dig-Out
Waterford Crystal's days are numbered. They've let go of 450 workers and are only biding their time before they drop the rest. Things are so bad that the government has offered them a dig out of €39m. That should keep them going for about, oh say, 6 months. Then they'll probably leave Ireland and set up production in the Czech Republic. Their shares (Waterford Wedgewood) are worth €0.01 each. Basically, things are real bad!
Now, what would you expect a company in their position to do? Continue to hock luxury products to rich American's, or sell-out and start producing cheap crystal tumblers for Tesco? Well, they didn't get where they were by making good marketing decisions...
I was at Ballet Ireland's Wilde Extravaganza in the Cork Opera house a few weeks back. Half the seats were empty. Cork would have the biggest draw outside Dublin for ballet performances, so it figures if half the seats of their Cork performance were empty, things couldn't be much better elsewhere. I open their tour program and what do I see but an add for Waterford Crystal's new Ballet Ribbon collection 2008.
It reads: "giftware with a sophisticated design that pays homage to the superior dance form.", I can't spell "pretentious vomit" quick enough in response. A dying crystal company supporting a dying art form.... believe me, I take no satisfaction in stating that. Waterford Crystal do produce the finest quality Crystal out there. If I ever wanted a crystal goblet, I'd definitely get a 'Waterford one, but I don't, and thats the problem: no one does.
Machine Pump
I think you'll like this one. It's been so long since I've used a Hammond Organ in an arrangement. Typically, as with most of my music, I was half way through messing around with just a little throwaway tune when I decided to turn it into a song.
There's an edited drum loop at the beginning and in the background, all the rest is me though. I hammered out a drum track, with just a few touches of quantising. I left the bass strong and gutsy. The Hammond is the centre piece. I played a little bit of a kind of scratchy muted guitar counterpoint, who's only purpose is to support the Hammond part. Spooky heavily-chorused feedback floats in and out through the piece.
Listen to it here --> Machine Pump.mp3
[Yes, Jon Lord and Ritchie Blackmore, for those still wondering]
Government Blogs
I spotted this on RTE One's 1 o'Clock news last week. I was sure it said "Government Blogs". I made a silly.
marycoughlan.blogspot.com
Irelands new Tánaiste, Mary Coughlan, has her own blog. The funny thing is, it looks a lot like mine.
http://marycoughlan.blogspot.com
Speaking of weird things. I noticed this google search result after searching for Mary Coughlan. The stub reads: "Donegal TD Mary Coughlan has been named Tánaiste by Brian Cowen this evening, she will take over the role from Mary Harney". There's no sign of such a statement on either the current RTE News page or the google cache version. So the question is, who's brain farted this one out and how long did it take to correct it?
You'll also notice a striking similarity to my blog if you visit the Garda blog:
http://gardai.blogspot.com
And then try Greg Lake's:
http://greglake.blogspot.com
Obviously, I've just registered these names myself recently. I did it in response to my grievance over all the good names being taken on blogger and they just pointing to empty inactive blogs. I'm very surprised the above three werent taken. Especially Greg Lake's since, ELP's other two members names, keithemersom.blogspot.com and carlpalmer.blogspot.com were both taken. Poor old Greg, nobody likes him :)
[UPDATE] It seems as if Blogger have taken a dislike to my new blogs, nothing new there really, since nearly all my new blogs (see right -->) were given the same treatment. The funny thing is though. You get to see the scary "This blog has violated our terms and conditions" warning from blogger for a few seconds before my redirect tags kick in and your whisked over here.
[UPDATE 2] Oooh the scary warning sign doesn't go away now.
Absolute Squarepusher
Squarepusher swigging vodka, then going nuts. Lots of cowboys in the audience. Love the random wind turbines at the end.
Jesus
I watched my copy of Jesus Christ: Superstar(2000) over the weekend. I bought it back in 2001. Since then I've watched it perhaps 50 to 60 times. "Watched", may be an overstatement, as many of those times it just played in the background; I haven't watched it in the last few years.
Quite an interesting production really, I'm glad they went in a different direction compared to the 1973 version. It does come across as being a bit homo-erotic at times though, which some found unsettling, personally I didn't give a fuck.
While watching it again, I began remember all the opinions people had about it. Many hated it with a passion while others loved it. Some were mad about individual performers. "Oh Jérôme Pradon, he's the best Judas ever! He's fucking better than the real Judas!"... the same sentiment seem directed at Tony Vincent who played Simon (He might be alright at playing Simon, but he's still a shit Freddie Mercury!). Poor old Glenn Carter (Jesus) came out the worst. Nobody I spoke to liked him. "Oh, he couldn't sing the micky off a leper!.... and he's a fruitcake... he's all into that new age space alien shit". I thought he was alright, no Ian Gillan, but fine for the production.
The one thing I never discussed with those who watched it, is Renee Castle's performance as Mary Magdalen, a pity really because she was fabulous (and is fabulous). Her voice is not only delectably smooth but wonderfully accurate too. There is unfortunately very little about Renee on the internet, barely even a picture. I've taken a few stills from the above video's time-line, just to even things up a bit.
I think a Gnostic Priest once said it best: "If I were Jesus, I definitely would!"
[Dont forget to check out the Japanese version of 'Superstar]
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