David Bowie has asked bedroom DJs to create a new track for an internet competition by bootlegging his songs. The British music star has given fans the right to create a new song by using computer music software to blend or mash up
two existing tracks. The winning song will be released as an MP3 and its creator will win a car
An international effort to dismantle major internet piracy groups has identified more than 100 people in the US and abroad involved in the theft of more than $US50 million in music, movies, games and computer software — nice to see they live in a little fantasy world where they believe this will make a difference
Catfish Hotel is a french cartoon well worth the huge download. As the title hints, it’s a hotel run by a cat who smokes a cigar.
The production is very slick, the characters are gorgeous, the colouring superb and just overall yummy.
Allowing a big-budget Hollywood movie team to film in sensitive areas of the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area is evidence the Carr Government is prepared to sacrifice irreplaceable areas of wilderness to commercial operators. The Carr Government has established many new wilderness areas but now appears to want a return on its investment and is opening the door to more commercial operations.
Greens MLC Ian Cohen said it is unacceptable that the production team of the movie Stealth will use explosives in sensitive wilderness areas in the Blue Mountains and called on Environment Minister Bob Debus to intervene
31 August is the release date for Invader Zim – Volume 2: Progressive Stupidity. Like the first disc, the list price on this release will be US$24.95, and the reported running time is 225 minutes. Also of interest is a shot of what they say was the proposed
cover art for Volume 2… before it was rejected by the brain donors at Nickelodeon
Film subtitles that can be tailored to suit small sections of an audience could go on general release at the end of 2004
- Grab the nearest book
- Open the book to page 23
- Find the fifth sentence
- Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions
I have an overflowing bookcase behind me, but the book with the pretty blue cover called to me: No Shitting in the Toilet by Peter Moore. Aptly enough, the fifth complete sentence on page 23 is:
But then I’m an Australian and our dollar’s about as useful as an Albanian lek.
Remember how online music stores were going to route around the music industry? The pigopolists have barely got their feet under the table and already demanding more. The Wall Street Journal reports that the major five labels think that 99 cents per song is too cheap, and are discussing a price hike that would increase the tariff to $1.25 up to $2.99 per song
If you’ve ever hit a crossword question asking for the collective noun for a particular group of animals, the Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Centre has a page titled Animal Congregations, or What Do You Call a Group Of…? that may help you.
Worth noting that the NPWRC page is talking through its arse once it gets to the non-American animals — a group of kangaroos is a mob, not a troop, as are sheep if you’re in Australia — so for something a little more worldly try; Scorpio Tales’ Collective Nouns, Fun With Words’ Collective Nouns, and OjoHaven’s Collective Nouns.
The Teletubbies and Tweenies are to be banned from promoting unhealthy children’s food, the BBC announced yesterday. The change follows intense pressure from food campaigners concerned that pre-school television characters are used to sell foods high in salt, sugar and fat
At the Tokyo Motorcycle Show, the official licensed model of the Akira motorcycle is displayed. This Kaneda bike is not a mere replica, but a full working model. On its cockpit is DVD-navi-system + trackball & ten-key + custom computer-controlled LED meters — all licenced by the author and the publisher of Akira. Though at the show only miniature figures are sold and real price or release date is unclear, you can check out the manufacturer for later info
Nice snapshot of the influence Nirvana (the band), has had on music: Searching for Nirvana
Whether you loved or hated them, they were a band to be reckoned with in the 90’s. Yeah Kurt went and did himself in and he’s a dickhead for it, leaving poor Francis Bean completely under the influence and guidance of Courtney Love, but the music is still a big deal.
My mid to late teens and also formative guitar learning years coincided with Nirvanas reign. Some how I managed to get through this decade without buying a single Nirvana album. Okay so I taped heaps of it off the radio, (yeah taped! Cassettes were still in vogue then!). I did however spend a lot of time with fellow aspiring musicians at high school playing and performing Nirvana songs.
Yes, school talent shows and formals were the appropriate place and time to grab your axe and start shredding away, while some guy in a beanie, (imaginatively dubbed beanie boy
), donned his best flanno and grinded the lyrics out in front of a highly pubescent crowd of angst ridden youth. In school uniform. Well they weren’t always in uniform.
You know a band has truly left their mark on a generation when their songs or riffs become part of the standard musician repetoire. In the 90’s, fumbling new guitarists learnt these classics or the easier parts thereof: Smoke on the Water
(Ozzie!), a smattering of Stairway to Heaven
, Enter Sandman
, The Unforgiven
(yes Metallica scores at least 2) and Purple Haze
. I’m sure there are others but I can’t remember all of them off the top of my head.
Then we begun to add some. No prizes for what would be considered the most played to death riff in the 90’s. Yep, Smells Like Teen Spirit
. Hands down. Followed in no particular order by: Polly
, About a Girl
, Come as You Are
, In Bloom
and yeah, basically the entire Nevermind
album. Then all of In Utero
. Then all their other albums.
You could be locked in a room with teen musicians you have never met and start banging out just about anything Nirvana and you would all bond instantly, or at least everyone knew the songs. It was fantastic. Other songs and riffs that had this effect (and still probably do with the right generation), are: anything by Pearl Jam, I cannot stress how much fun it is to play the intro to Alive
. That 8 or so fret slide at the beginning rocks. I defy any guitarist to tell me that doesn’t feel good to play and doesn’t rock. Almost anything by The Smashing Pumpkins, particularly from the Siamese Dream
album is also up there, Cherub Rock
is also another of those classic rock/grunge songs that just feels good to play, and was therefore constantly played in high school music rooms in the western world.
You cannot be an impressionable female guitarist in the 90’s and not like or play Hole. Yes, Kurt’s wife Courtney’s band. White trash femme rock topped off with a tiara. It was fantastic. All guitar playing Hole fans in the 90’s knew at least Doll Parts
, it’s shit easy and even easier to caterwaul along with. Miss World
and Violet
are also mention worthy and of course Olympia
.
The 90’s grunge scene was also subject to go all unplugged as soon as it had plugged in. The MTV unplugged performance Nirvana did was worshipped by all, and of course others followed such as Alice in Chains and Hole. Hole’s performance was particulary memorable if not for the dolls strung up by tule and the way Courtney straddled
her stool. If she opened her legs any wider she would’ve swallowed it. The cameras were quick to pan away, thank god.
Okay, one more tangent, remember the article I linked to way up top? Yeah, well they put The Darkness in the same grouping as Kylie and Australian Idol. No, this is wrong, very wrong. The difference, The Darkness are fucking good. Yes, okay it is a matter of opinion, yadda yadda yadda. I don’t know if they are manufactured like Kylie or Idol, but if they are, it’s not obvious and I don’t care. Yes they are 80’s cock rock and they’re incredibly good at it. Classic solid rock arrangements, structre, solos, vocals and rythyms. And costumes. Coupled with fucking hilarious lyrics, but somehow not straight away seen as purely comedic or bleedingily, obviously self mocking. Well in any case, they’re good in their own way but also in a classic way.
Canada’s Federal Court has delivered a blow to the recording industry’s bid to crack down on web sites which offer free music
on the internet for users to download. A Federal Court judge ruled in Toronto that ISPs could not be forced to name 29 people who had allowed their music files to be uploaded by other enthusiasts
The American Family Association is trying to orchestrate a campaign of complaints about an episode of That ’70s Show which had a big, grown-up wanking joke in it. To this end, they have provided a link to send the complaints to the relevant authority. Of course, anyone can use it, so Larry did:
Dear FCC Commissioners,
I want to say that the AFA does not understand the import of the first amendment. Furthermore, I am tired of people trying to protect me from things that they don’t want their children to see. I am opposed to censorship in any and all forms, especially the ridiculous crackdown that has recently been implemented by the FCC.
If you want to fulfil your mandate and improve the utilisation of the electromagnetic spectrum to the benefit of the people of the United States, then break up the broadcasting monopolies and encourage diversity in radio and TV programming.
Go on, give it a try, you know you want to — via Pagan Prattle
Alistair Cooke, the urbane and erudite journalist who was a peerless observer of the American scene for almost 70 years, died at his home in New York. He was 95. A veteran foreign correspondent and a successful and productive author, he was celebrated for his Letter From America, which was broadcast weekly by the BBC to more than 50 countries
Limited edition Emily Strange Epiphone guitar
I want one. You can win one now or buy one from the web site in April.
Check out the specs on the Epiphone site
A British theatre group is to hold an unprecedented casting call for its next production. The experimental company requires a dead body to take a leading role in its latest show. The consent of the donor of the body is being sought beforehand and the production team aim to treat the subject of death with absolute seriousness, challenging modern taboos about a condition that comes to everybody at some point. Called Dead: You Will Be
, the play requires a dead body to lie in state
throughout the proceedings
Shallow Grave actor Christopher Eccleston has been named as the ninth Doctor Who to front the cult BBC sci-fi show when it returns next year — via Die Puny Humans
Some of the highlights of this list of peculiar band names include:
- A Cat Born In An Oven Isn’t a Cake
- Baby Shit Brown
- Biff Hitler and the Violent Mood Swings
- Butthole Surfers
- Candy Striper Death Orgy
- Damn the Bad Luck
- Dead Kennedys
- Electric Blue Peggy Sue and the Revolutionions from Mars
- Goldfish Don’t Bounce
- Horny Mormons
- Jehovah’s Witness Protection Program
- JFKFC
- Lorne Greene’s Wet Nipple
- Mary Kay and the Cosmetics
- Not Drowning, Waving
- Stop Calling Me Frank
- The The
- The Very Idea of Fucking Hitler
- Vic Morrow’s Head
- Zulu Leprechauns
Great to see some of my favourite bands made the list — via Die Puny Humans
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