Thoughts of a Chilled Out Entertainer
July 14th, 2008 — Music and Technology
Radiohead’s latest video, “House of Cards” was released online today. They describe it thusly:
In Radiohead’s new video for “House of Cards”, no cameras or lights were used. Instead, 3D plotting technologies collected information about the shapes and relative distances of objects. The video was created entirely with visualizations of that data.
It’s got an eerie beauty. Check it out for yourself above.
April 1st, 2008 — Adventure and Technology
To mark April Fools’ Day this year, instead of playing some joke that would invariably backfire (see here, and its’ results here) I’ve decided to introduce you all to a fool so complete in his ridiculousness, it’s a wonder I’ve not mentioned him here before.
Many of you will of course recognize the name Ricky Gervais. Ricky, and his friend Stephen Merchant, are the creators of the original, UK version of “The Office”. Well, before they were on TV, Ricky and Steve did a radio show for Xfm in the UK. It was then that they met a man who would become the subject of much fascination and ridicule. That man was Karl Pilkington.
I was first introduced to Karl via the first of the “Ricky Gervais Podcasts”, which were originally offered as free downloads from the Guardian newspaper back in 2005. It quickly became apparent why Ricky and Steve decided to include Karl in their conversations. The thoughts and ideas that came out of Karl’s mouth were astonishing. For example, here’s Karl’s thoughts on Noah and the flood:
“If i was him (Noah) i would have gone, “Hang on a minute, ive just seen somethin that looks a bit like this, let it drown”, have a bit of a clear out, but he was messin about savin everythin”
(Podcast Series 1, Episode 5)
The podcasts are chock full of those types of wisdom nuggets. They are an absolute riot. They are in trouble of being no more.
According to RickyGervais.com, “Karl refuses to do any further podcasts because he is ’sick of people moaning’.” He apparently reads lots of message boards and forums, and is tired of people thinking that he can’t possibly be as daft as he seems on the shows.
Well, Ricky is here to tell you that he can. He’s decided to start a blog to continue the legend of Karl until the return of the podcasts. It can be found here:
Ohh! Chimpanzee that Monkey News!
So, please join me in celebrating April Fools’ Day by delving into the world of Karl Pilkington. I can guarantee that you’ll be glad you did.
January 9th, 2007 — Technology
February 2nd, 2006 — Technology
I’ve been singing the praises of Mozilla’s Firefox browser for a while now, and yet again, they’ve lived up to the hype. A security vulnerability was discovered earlier this week, and by last night, they had an update available for download.
Get the latest version, complete with the latest security patches, here:
November 30th, 2005 — Music and Technology
from RollingStone.com:
Until recently, Deadheads could download countless live recordings of the band for free from third-party sites, including the popular Live Music Archive (archive.org), which once hosted nearly 3,000 Grateful Dead shows. All of the downloads were pulled last week at the request of Grateful Dead Merchandising (GDM), the group that handles official products for the band and is overseen by its surviving members…
…Deadheads have answered in protest. In an online petition, fans have pledged to boycott GDM — including CDs and concert tickets — until the decision is reversed…
…GDM recently began selling live music downloads through its online store. The sudden lockdown could be a simple non-compete strike, or it could foreshadow a long-rumored deal with iTunes that will make the entire Grateful Dead live vault available for purchase…
…Fans were incensed that the policy change applies not only to official soundboards but audience recordings as well.
Now, I have no problem with them pulling the soundboards, as those are the best recordings of the shows, and there is an obvious market for those. They are ultimately the band’s property, as they were recorded using the band’s sound equipment. However, high quality audience tapings should stay up there, if purely for archival purposes. The boycott seems a bit much, but then, apart from my Skull & Roses iPod skin, I haven’t given GDM a dime in five years. Perhaps that’s the problem right there. 
UPDATE 12/1 -
from cnn.com:
After the Grateful Dead angered some of its biggest fans by asking a nonprofit Web site to halt the free downloading of its concert recordings, the jam band changed its mind Wednesday.
Internet Archive, a site that catalogues content on Web sites, reposted recordings of Grateful Dead concerts for download after the surviving members of the band decided to make them available again.
Band spokesman Dennis McNally said the group was swayed by the backlash from fans, who for decades have freely taped and traded the band’s live performances.
“The Grateful Dead remains as it always has — in favor of tape trading,” McNally said.
He said the band consented to making audience recordings available for download again, although live recordings made directly from concert soundboards, which are the legal property of the Grateful Dead, should only be made available for listening from now on.
Isn’t that exactly what I said yesterday? Damn I’m smart!
November 30th, 2005 — Technology
Dave alerted me to the release this morning. Check out his site for an excellent review and a link to download.
