August 26, 2008, 6:28 am : The Hotness | v1.11
Chemical Brothers Geo-tagged Music Video of the Earth!
This interactive video/mapping mash-up launches on Sept 1 as part of the new CB best-of. Sounds very cool - send in a short clip now (2-20 secs) and geo-tag it via Google Earth.
August 23, 2008, 7:40 am : Reading Festival | Day 1 & 2
Filed Under: My PostsDiscussion: Comments Off
Day 2, August 23 | An exciting, long, ankle-withering day on the dirt. Started with Santogold, who I missed at Coachella - she was great, really good 80s-styled fun, then dove into Fight Like Apes, Louis XIV, The Audition, White Lies, Foals, Justice, Attack! Attack!, with a wee bit of Raconteurs (dull) and We Are Scientists (still struggling with them) before a big plate of spicy wedges and the Killers. The Reading Council has a very strict noise ban, so the Killers were just a little louder than the AM radio we had in our Toyota Corolla when I was 12. The incredibly drunk and tone-deaf dudes surrounding us were louder than the band, which came out and did note-perfect versions of all the hits. The best bit was ‘When You Were Young’ and ‘All these things that I’ve done’, with extra added ticker-tape! I sent a txt to a short-code on a poster which shouted ‘Exclusive Killers New Album Preview’. A few seconds later I got a return txt from ‘The Killers’ and from the message I’m assuming that their new album is called ‘Stay tuned for more previews and updates’, since that is all that was in the message. When are bands who live and die by interacting with their fans going to learn that the deeper and more personal connection they make with me, the more I’m going to love them? In the Killers’ case, that day is still to come. Maybe I should send them a return txt and let them know that I’d be happy to help them out? As we were leaving the rain started to sprinkle down, now turning into a steady pour. Off to put on my Wellington boots and hit the last day of the Reading Festival for 2008.
Day 1, August 22 |
I feel like I am still in Day 1 mode, since we arrived less than 24 hours ago from London. Straight into the bands after a quick bag drop. Saw MGMT, Vampire Weekend, QOTSA, Wombats, Babyshambles, a bit of the Fratellis and Dan Le Sac v. Scroobius Pip. Highlight so far has been Babyshambles, not really a fan, but it was the best act on at same time as Rage Against the Machine. I saw Rage at Coachella last year and they still haven’t made any new music! I half expected Pete Doherty to come out late, puke and faint but I am obviously reading too many tabloids since coming to London. The band was tight, sounded great and was fun to watch, especially since the tent was half full! Scrambled over to catch the end of Dan Le Sac, which was intimate (eg: Half Full) and loads of fun, when not being drowned out by Rage on the main stage. On my way over for Day 2, will post pics and more typing tomorrow. Onward!
August 21, 2008, 7:04 am : The Hotness | v1.10
The Polaroid Project
Another reason why Jonathan Harris rules. 3 Photographer, 150 Polaroid shots and a bag of tools, models dressed like grandmas and some very cool art.
Jonathan Harris Portfolio of Coolness
They are all here, along with some blurb. Be inspired! Make ads out of this stuff!
Mate Steinforth
Motion artist, this stuff is so cool it makes my tummy hurt….
Space Collective
From their site blurb: “Where terrestrials exchange cool ideas”. As a terrestrial, I concur that these ideas are indeed cool, wrapped in a groovy site. Me wish all blogs done look dis good!
Normann Online Catalog
Great product site, beautifully designed, fab photos and cool stuff .
Mechanical Love | Documentary
Can you love a robot? “Mechanical Love” is a documentary on the interrelationship between robots and humans. The Kraftwerk boys need to get the folks in this movie to upgrade their robots, which I still LOVE, but are slightly out of date, well as far as robots go, that is.
August 7, 2008, 6:14 am : The Hotness | v1.9
Mogulus
Create your own broadband ‘television’ network. The blurb (ahem): “Create live, scheduled or on-demand, throw your channel out to a single player widget. You can mix multiple live cameras, video clips and overlay graphics in the Mogulus Studio and even get your own branded channel page with chat on mogulus.com.” Sounds pretty cool to me. Still light on content, a cool channel opportunity waiting for an idea.
Viewzi
The latest ‘new Google’, labelled as ‘bolder, richer and more fun.’ It certainly is more fun, like the iPod flipping gallery meets, er, Google. Add this and Cuil to your search prefs and be the first on your block to ‘Viewzi’ yourself!
Glide
No, not the dental floss, the groovy new all-in-one OS for all your computing and devices’ needs. The tech description can be a little geeky, so check out this webisode of G4’s Attack of the Show for the rundown. Thanks to N8 for the tip.
August 2, 2008, 2:14 am : Lollapalooza 2008 | Friday Aug, Saturday Aug 2, Sunday Aug 3
Filed Under: My PostsDiscussion: Comments Off
Day 3| Sunday Aug 3
Sunday cooled off considerably, to the point of being pleasant and breezy, rather than a death-march from one stage to the next in the blazing heat. The highlights of the last day of Lollapalooza were certainly later in the day for me: Girl Talk rocked the place - a skinny white dude in knee-high socks, satin shorts and a tank top blasting a mashed-up rocking set with the biggest worked-up crowd I’d seen at one of the side-stages. I’ve posted a funny clip of a girl who climbed a tree and spent the entire hour-long set bouncing on, or humping the tree, depending on what music Girl Talk was blasting.
Of course, my highlight of the day was Nine Inch Nails. I had a break position to view (right by the soundbooth), the night got dark a little early with the clouds and Trent Reznor and co played new stuff and instrumentals the first half and then beat the living snot out of the crowd the second half. I really dig the digital effects and faux interactivity of their set, with LED videos interacting with the movement of the band, especially when Trent ‘played drums’ on a giant screen. This is where I hope outdoor performance goes, and as usual NIN are leading the way and finally getting recognised for it. On the advertising side, winning Gold at Cannes this year for the promotional work for Year Zero will hopefully encourage more performers to hire companies like 42 Entertainment to bring some fresh, weird thinking to the way you package and promote music business. The last batch of pics (ahhhhhhh….sniffle) are here.
Day 2| Saturday Aug 2
The heat has pulled back slightly, a nice wind coming off the Lake and some decent bands on today. Highlights have been The Gutter Twins. I wasn’t a big Afghan Wigs or Screaming Trees fan, but Gutter Twins were really rocking and looked great too. Mark Lanegan must have had his hands glued to the mike stand - I’m pretty sure he didn’t move once during the show. After a quick detour to check out the Barney’s Co-Op sale and the Jeff Koons show (both were pretty spectacular in their own way…), I caught Foals, Devotchka, Toadies and then did the mad dash between Rage Against the Machine and Wilco. I should have just gone to Wilco and stayed - the Rage crowd was full of dudes my age, off the leash for the night, getting very aggressive and hammered. Not that I have anything against aggression and beer - just not at a tribute show! I saw Rage last year at Coachella and they STILL haven’t put out a new record. I ask, are they sticking it to the MAN, or their FANS? By the time I got to Wilco, they must have played War on War (fave Wilco tune) or left it out of the set (hopefully the latter). Jeff Tweedy and Co. had on amazing cowboy-style Nudie suits, which were great fun, just like Wilco. It was an on-form set and I shot about 5 mins of video of them performing a work in progress tune. New pics from the day uploaded here, including lotsa random crowd shots. Watch for the idiot buying a hash pipe with about 5 people taking his picture.
Day 1| Friday Aug 1
The First day of any festival can be a mixed bag if it is on a Friday. People arriving, lots of folks at work and lots of new bands (or struggling old ones) on the bill. This is easily the best Friday I’ve had in ages, with a few discoveries like Free Sol, Holy F*ck, Louis XIV putting rocking sets to crowds still small enough to get right to the front (and roast in 90 degree + heat). I check out the know bands I know I’m supposed to like (but haven’t bothered beyond a couple of songs) like Grizzly Bear, Mates of State, The Kills and Black Keys. I stood through Bloc Party (who seemed either nervous or bored, probably both) and then got the wind knocked out of me by Radiohead. To quote the first band I saw today, HOLY FUCK! I haven’t seen them for ages and they were a blast, especially the sun set, their groovy planet-friendly lights (mostly LEDs) and they rocked the crap out of the place for 2 hours! I’ve seen alot of rock show, with some pretty spectacular staging, but the one of the most wonderful has got to be a warm night, surrounded by some groovy not-too-wasted people, listening to ‘Everything in its right place’ and ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ back to back, with a spectacular fireworks show out over the Lake. The crowd was so quiet that Thom Yorke asked if we were still out there. I’ve loaded a clip into YouTube, which doesn’t do it justice, but captures a little moment that touched my heart, right through my extremely sweaty shrt. Made it back to hotel, rode up in the elevator with the drummer from the Raconteurs. I didn’t want to say something dumb cuz I skipped their set to see Bloc Party, which was a dumb move. It did get me an awesome spot surrounded by short people for Radiohead, but I thought that whole story might take longer than six floors, so I just said ‘Hey’. He said ‘Hey’, back. Lots of other muso types lurking around and looking skinny and cool. It is pretty easy to tell them apart - we the normal people are the ones with the sweaty shirts and sunburn (that would be me) and the rockers are the ones who don’t sweat and smoke like a MF! Photos from Day 1 are here.
