Frank Ryan bought you whiskey in a brothel in Madrid
Flight of the Conchords
ATP - The Nightmare Before Christmas
Being Human for a while
More pointless list bollocks
Twitter / adactio
adactio: @mattb Nicely done with rev="canonical". Don't forget to add it to the A element in the body as well as the LINK in the head.
adactio: Dammit! Just missed the Google Street View car driving up my street.
adactio: @cap They're not "forcing" anyone. People can make a decision. (and thanks for using a different account: appreciate it)
adactio: I removed the @MacHeist 3 Spammers. 12 people worth $000+ for just $00. AND I just got a feeling of disgust FREE! http://icanhaz.com/whores
adactio: Hanging my head in shame, having disappointed @drewm.
adactio: @rachelandrew Have a look around http://huffduffer.com/ and grab whatever you like the sound of.
adactio: @Natbat Nice one.
adactio: @yaili Thank you, thank you, thank you!
adactio: Wishing people would go to a little effort and create a fake Twitter account instead of spamming me with their @macheist crapola.
adactio: Admiring @kellan's work on short URL auto-discovery http://revcanonical.appspot.com/ (something I blogged about earlier today).
adactio: Congratulating @veen.
adactio: Back from band practice to find I've been arse-dialled by @Malarkey again.
adactio: @lhalff Best. Udon. Ever!
adactio: @Malarkey Mothman.
adactio: Back from the pub with the bitter taste of defeat in my mouth, having placed 6th in The Geekest Link.
adactio: Sitting with the team in The Caroline Of Brunswick.
adactio: Heading to The Caroline Of Brunswick for The Geekest Link. http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2297242/
adactio: Attempting to swot up for tonight's Geekest Link but overwhelmed by the broadness of the subjects.
adactio: Hacking on @huffduffer.
adactio: Sitting in i gigi with @joshr, @andybudd, @wordridden while some hippy at the next table does a tarot reading.
Delicious/adactio
Entity Code - A Clear and Quick Reference to HTML Entities Codes
A handy page for looking up HTML entities.
Welcome - Perch - A Really Little Content Management System (CMS)
Drew and Rachel's little CMS looks very nice indeed.
Meme Scenery - Waxy.org
There's something haunting about this: the physical settings of internet memes with the protagonists removed.
Incredibles - The Chairs
All the chairs in Pixar's The Incredibles.
Ficly - A better, shorter story
Ficlets is back ...as Ficly. Take that, AOL: this site is just too good to roll over and die.
USA, Canada and the EU attempt to kill treaty to protect blind people's access to written material - Boing Boing
I feel a rant coming on...
Introducing Typekit « The Typekit Blog
Jeff's got something up his sleeve that will help the cause of web typography.
Hypertext Style: Cool URIs don't change.
Eleven years old and more relevant than ever.
Google Web Elements
Standalone embeddable widgets from Google that you can drop into any web page. The maps widget finally frees the maps API from the tyranny of coupling a domain with an API key.
Twitter Status - Phishing scam
And this, boys and girls, is why the password anti-pattern is bad, m'kay?
Babbage and Lovelace Fight Crime T-shirt from Zazzle.com
I'm not sure I can resist ordering one of these T-shirts featuring crime-fighting duo Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace.
Tom Taylor : Projects : Clarke
A sweet little Skyhook/FireEagle desktop app from Tom. It updates your FireEagle location every five minutes by pinging Skyhook's API to triangulate your position. A small piece, loosely joining two small pieces.
Nice Web Type Suggests: Graublau Sans with Lucida sanserif
A great example of @font-face in action: comparing Grablau Sans Web with with Lucida Grande.
Space Invaders
The classic arcade game, recreated using the JavaScript/SVG library Raphaël.
Dinky pocketbooks with WebKit transforms | Natalie Downe
This is just brilliant! Natalie has taken the Flash-based Pocketmod and reproduced it using HTML and CSS (including CSS transforms).
YouTube :: Videos by adactio
Andy Budd on a Segway
As Andy said, it's hard not to look like a knob riding one of these things.
Hiya Andy, I've posted a couple of quick thoughts over here: http://adactio.com/journal/1227/
I'll probably post more once I've played around with Jaiku a bit more.
This is important. Sit up straight.We'll be playing on the 11th at Headhunter's at 10 PM. This is the first gig for the latest and greatest incarnation of the Fireball Show, and we want to fill the cl...
What's a Fireball Show?
I guess I owe you all some sort of explanation."A Fireball Show" is an old carnival term from the 30s. It refers to a carnival show filled with scams and fake attractions, designed to bilk an ho...
adactumblr
WiiSpray Teaser on Vimeo
WiiSpray Teaser on Vimeo
"There is an easy formula for doing it wrong: publish attention-getting bullshit and pull stunts to..."
“There is an easy formula for doing it wrong: publish attention-getting bullshit and pull stunts to generate mindless traffic. The entire quote-unquote “pro blogging” industry — which exists as the sort of pimply teenage brother to the shirt-and-tie SEO industry — is predicated on the notion that blogging is a meaningful verb. It is not. The verb is writing. The format and medium are new, but the craft is ancient. Obsession times voice is a pretty good stab at a simple formula for doing it right.”
"We need to prepare for the day when N of the URL shorteners go out of business. When that happens a..."
“We need to prepare for the day when N of the URL shorteners go out of business. When that happens a large part of the web will die. It will not be a good day.”
"So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter,..."
“So maybe instead of getting your company on twitter, paying marketers to mention you are on twitter, and paying people to blog about your company, forget all that and just make awesome stuff that gets people excited about your products, hire people that represent the company well, and when your stuff is so awesome that friends share it with other friends, you may not even need “social media marketing” after all.”
Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
Slagsmålsklubben - Sponsored by destiny on Vimeo (via Vimeo)
"Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism. For a century, the imperatives to..."
“Society doesn’t need newspapers. What we need is journalism. For a century, the imperatives to strengthen journalism and to strengthen newspapers have been so tightly wound as to be indistinguishable. That’s been a fine accident to have, but when that accident stops, as it is stopping before our eyes, we’re going to need lots of other ways to strengthen journalism instead.”
"It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem..."
“It makes increasingly less sense even to talk about a publishing industry, because the core problem publishing solves — the incredible difficulty, complexity, and expense of making something available to the public — has stopped being a problem.”
"Unsolicited tip for media company c-levels: if your reaction to this crate of magic is “Hm. I wonder..."
“Unsolicited tip for media company c-levels: if your reaction to this crate of magic is “Hm. I wonder how we’d go about suing someone who ‘did this’ with our IP?” instead of, “Holy crap, clearly, this is the freaking future of entertainment,” it’s probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page.”
"Individuals publishing online are cutting to the source of raw information, doing their own legwork..."
“Individuals publishing online are cutting to the source of raw information, doing their own legwork and analysis, overrunning the central editorial expertise of the traditional newsroom with superior speed, maneuverability, and general unconcern with the consequences.”
"Anyhow. Take it as you will, but remember that the web is not you and it’s not me. The web is just a..."
“Anyhow. Take it as you will, but remember that the web is not you and it’s not me. The web is just a braindead platform for moving information around, but it’s not your actual friends. And, while it’s insanely understandable to tire of all the horseshit and look-at-me stuff, I must advise you: never miss an opportunity to meet the faces behind your favorite avatars. Especially when they’re all in one place? Wow.”
"The main reason I don’t allow comments is that I want to inspire debate. I think people do their..."
“The main reason I don’t allow comments is that I want to inspire debate. I think people do their best writing when they’re forced to defend their ideas on their own turf. It’s one thing to leave a comment on someone else’s blog, but quite another to put your argument in front of your own readers. It forces a level of consideration that, without fail, results in a higher quality exchange of ideas.”
Gervais + Elmo = Hilarity on ‘Sesame Street’ (via...
Gervais + Elmo = Hilarity on ‘Sesame Street’ (via AssociatedPress)
The History of Comic Sans at ROFLThing NYC (via ROCKETBOOM)
The History of Comic Sans at ROFLThing NYC (via ROCKETBOOM)
"Bring business cards, but don’t be a douche about them. We all know how to use Google. We can find..."
“Bring business cards, but don’t be a douche about them. We all know how to use Google. We can find you later. Better to be genuinely memorable than contribute to the epidemic of pocket spam.”
"Many who build technology think that a technology’s feature set is the key to its adoption and..."
“Many who build technology think that a technology’s feature set is the key to its adoption and popularity. With social media, this is often not the case. There are triggers that drive early adopters to a site, but the single most important factor in determining whether or not a person will adopt one of these sites is whether or not it is the place where their friends hangout.”
"So, let’s stop pretending, shall we? Any economy which charges ever less for ever more intrusive ads..."
“So, let’s stop pretending, shall we? Any economy which charges ever less for ever more intrusive ads will eventually be successful not in creating wealth but in driving the readers away, until the only ones left to heed the ads are all the other ads, the cell phones searching in vain for a target market among the cellulite.”
New Modest Mouse EP & Video Directed By Heath Ledger
Modest Mouse released their EP 'No One's First, and You're Next ' yesterday which culls b-sides as well as tracks from several 7" vinyl releases over the past year. Coinciding with this release, is the appearance of the video for King Rat conceived and directed by the late Heath Ledger. Ledger's vision, to bring added awareness to illegal commercial whale hunting, wasn't fully realized until after his death. Ledger was a partner in a film/music company known as THE MASSES, who took it upon themselves to complete the video true to the original vision and in honor of the fallen actor. The video can be downloaded from iTunes with proceeds from the first month going to the non-profit Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.
Enjoy.
New Pearl Jam Track "The Fixer"
Really solid track from a band that has been slowly coming back to me. BTW, check the video at YouTube for a surprise.
New Track From The National (MP3 Added)
The National traveled north of the border and dropped in on Canada's Studio Q recently. They played a few tracks including this new one. Given my absolute love for both Alligator & Boxer, I really can't wait for a new record.
Meh. We now have the first single off the new U2 record, No Line of the Horizon (due March 3), and still all I can muster is meh. Personally, I kinda think it sounds as if "Vertigo" had been recorded during the POP sessions. Maybe it will grow on me. I'm still holding out hope for the new record.
Download The New Neko Case Single & Help The Best Friends Animal Society
Anti- Records is offering up a free download of "People Got A Lotta Nerve," the first single from Neko Case's new album Middle Cyclone If that wasn't enough, they are also donating $5 to the Best Friends Animal Society for each blog posting the song and $1 for each iLike user who adds it to his/her profile.
Best Friends Animal Society operates Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, an enormous no-kill shelter in Utah. The Natural Geographic Channel series Dogtown is one part of the sanctuary. Middle Cyclone, set to drop on March 3 will follow 2006's critically acclaimed Fox ConfessorBrings the Flood. Personally, I could listen to both Fox Confessor and 2002's Blacklisted on an endless loop. Neko is equally comfortable and adept working in Alt. Country as she is in Pop or Rock. The new track is more in the vein of her part-time band, The New Pornographers, than the dark Alt. Country tinged Blacklisted. No matter what she is doing though, the beautiful voice and melodies are Neko through and through.
Congrats to Scott Ford on the one year anniversary of his little radio show. Tune in today at 1 pm PST for the live anniversary show. Hell, tune in anytime to the stream for good music.
1. Open iTunes 2. Click the Advanced tab at the top 3. Select Open Stream 4. Type in (or copy and paste) 216.155.131.180:8090 5. Hit return, welcome to the station.
Winamp Instructions
1. Open Winamp 2. Click the File tab at the top 3. Select Open URL 4. Type in (or copy and paste) 216.155.131.180:8090 5. Hit OK, welcome to the station.
New Todd Snider Out Now And It Is Free
Todd Snider celebrated his 42nd birthday last Friday by making his new album/EP, Peace Queer (due out October 14), available free as a digital download. Todd puts together a witty, but passionate, commentary of eight folk songs as few singer-songwriters of this day are capable. Guest artist like Patty Griffin (on a plaintive cover of CCR's "Fortunate Son"), Kevin Kinney, and Will Kimbrough all lend a hand. The following is Todd's description of the story told through the songs from a Cokie Roberts piece for NPR.
"It begins like the Iraq War began: by declaring victory and then plowing forward into the long night," Snider said. "We started our drive with an end-zone dance. Peace Queer is a six-song cycle, starting with a song called "Mission Accomplished." In six sentences, the record goes like this: Here's the kid being told everything's going to be great. Here's the reality of that. Here's that kid when he comes home a sad and banged-up and angry 'winner'." Here's the breakdown of why I think that's happening. Here's the guy in our culture that I think is causing that to happen, and it's not a president. And then here's what I think is going to happen to that guy. And then we roll credits."
Peace Queer is available as a free download through October 31 at Todd Snider's Store.
My New Favorite Show & TV On The Radio
In case you missed it, MSNBC premiered The Rachel Maddow Show this past Monday (9 p.m. ET weekdays). I can think of no one that I would rather have a show. She is tough, intelligent, witty, and best of all, unashamed to be a liberal. Wonky and wonderful. The thing I absolutely love about Rachel is that she will stand up to anyone, and she has the intelligence and insight to more than hold her own.
I have been a fan since the inception of Air America Radio when she co-hosted Unfiltered along with comedian Liz Winstead, and Public Enemy's Chuck D. Every Friday, they would devote some time to the discussion of music. They would choose songs to play and discuss or host musicians and bands. Their show was my first introduction to TV On The Radio. I was familiar with the band only by name. Fast-forward to today. I am counting down the days until the latest TV On The Radio record, Dear Science, drops on September 23. TVOTR has been at the forefront of indie music since they burst onto the scene earlier this decade. They defy boundaries mixing elements of jazz, a cappella, and fuzz rock to name just a few. Most impressively, the are able to replicate their sounds live. Below are two tracks; the first, "Wolf Like Me," is one of the standout tracks from the bands second album, Return to Cookie Mountain and the second, "DLZ," is one my favorites from the upcoming album.
Okkervil River landed on a lot of year end lists last years with The Stage Names. Today, Will Sheff and crew release The Stand Ins, a record mean to append the The Stage Names. It is Sheff again at the top of his game as a singer-songwriter and another beautiul offering by one of today's best bands.
One of the really cool things the band did in the run up to the release was to solicit other musicians to perform the songs and submit videos which have been posted on the Okkervil River YouTube Channel. I hope you enjoy one of my favorites, "Blue Tulip" peformed by Bon Iver.
Catching Up
Funny how things go. I had been in a real funk as far as new music goes (and really busy) so I really haven't bothered posting anything in a long time. Then, a few weeks ago I noticed that more recent and new stuff was getting queued up quite regularly. So I figured it was about time to jump back into this. Here are a couple of tracks from recent releases that I've been digging.
Albert Hammond, Jr. released his sophomore record, ¿Cómo Te Llama? in July. It is every bit as good as The Strokes in my opinion.
Muy Cansado! I'll be honest, I don't really know a lot about this Massachusetts trio. Their debut album, Stars & Garters, showed up in my mailbox a month or so ago, and I finally got around to giving it a spin. However, I can say that it is an exciting and impressive debut of driving rock filled with hook after hook. Personally, I hear a lot of different influences, but you really should judge for yourself.
SEATTLE—Members of the popular 1990s grunge band Soundgarden shocked critics and fans alike Tuesday, appearing together publicly for the first time in more than a decade after accidentally running into one another at the Northgate Mall Cinnabon.
The unplanned 15-minute reunion was the result of a number of unrelated events, including lead singer Chris Cornell stopping by the baked-goods franchise to buy a Caramel Pecanbon, drummer Matt Cameron taking a break from shopping at the nearby Banana Republic, bass player Ben Shepherd walking by and noticing his one-time bandmates in the food court, and former guitarist and Cinnabon daytime supervisor Kim Thayil working the 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift.
According to those in attendance at the packed fast-food venue, the highlight of the incidental Soundgarden reunion came when the rockers reconciled their differences and teamed up for the first time in years to finish off an order of Cinnabon Stix.
"At first it was pretty awkward and none of them seemed like they were really into it," said Al Helbling, 30, a Northgate Mall Sam Goody employee and Soundgarden fan. "But then the drummer comes in and right after that the bass player comes in, and it was like, 'Yes, Soundgarden is back.' It was so intense."
The former members of Soundgarden, who have not released an album together since 1996's Down On The Upside, reported that it was initially difficult to find common ground, but once they began exchanging ideas and riffing on which sugar-filled dessert they were going to order, the chemistry felt "as strong as ever."
While Shepherd told reporters he enjoyed seeing his old bandmates, he admitted to experiencing some last-minute doubts about going through with the encounter.
"I got all the way there, but then I just didn't know if I could do it," Shepherd said. "I had a huge lunch that day. And Cinnabon, that's some really sugary stuff, even if you have a sweet tooth like me."
Thayil, who joined the band shortly after it was formed in 1984, said some tension arose between himself and former front man Chris Cornell early on in the reunion, after Thayil scolded Cornell for entering the cinnamon-bun snack purveyor without a shirt.
"Honestly, I didn't even recognize Chris at first," Thayil said. "All I saw was this bare-chested guy entering the store, and that's unacceptable in the food-service industry. I hate to be the enforcer, but just because we were in a band together doesn't mean I can allow him to create an unhygienic environment."
The heated situation was quickly settled, however, when Thayil offered Cornell a complimentary 12-oz. CarmeLatta Chill. In turn, the 44-year-old lead singer responded by serenading Thayil with a version of the group's hit song "Black Hole Sun" in which he replaced the titular phrase with the word "Cinnabon." Cornell, former singer for the now-defunct group Audioslave, then stuffed his pockets with napkins, saying he needed them for a later solo project.
The two soon moved to a back table, where they joined Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron, the latter of whom said he was overjoyed to see his old bandmates, since he had to "kill some time" before Pearl Jam practice.
Although Tuesday marked the first time the group has fully reunited, the members of Soundgarden have had a few near-misses in the past 10 years. In August 2000, all four members were seen entering Seattle-area Arby's restaurants, but the reunion never materialized: Cornell and Cameron visited the Meridian Avenue location, while Thayil and Shepherd decided to visit the Michigan Street franchise. The afternoon did, however, mark the largest Temple of the Dog reunion to date, when Cornell and Cameron ran into the rest of the supergroup's members in the restroom.
After the success of the Cinnabon reunion, Soundgarden is reportedly planning a tour of the Sunglass Hut and Piercing Pagoda.
Here is a classic form the band's 1989 major label debut, Louder Than Love, to mark this historic event.
In case you missed it, Mudhoney, pioneers of lo-fi rock; as synonymous with Seattle as coffee, Sub-Pop, and rain; the Alpha and Omega of the grunge rock scene, blessed us with two releases in May. Here's what you get with The Lucky Ones, the 8th full length record in the band's scant 20 years: 36+ minutes of pure rock goodness split into 11 different sordid segments, songs if you will; though it has not been medically or scientifically proven, I am of the belief that tracks like "I'm Now" and "Tales of Terror" may enable the blind to hear and the deaf to walk; if nothing else it will make you want to get off your ass and move. Here's what you don't get: extended jazz-inspired instrumental noodling; If you are sexually active, condoms, not Mudhoney, (used consistently and properly) provide the most effective method of birth control available without a prescription.
In addition to a new collection of music, they re-released their seminal classic, Superfuzz/Bigmuff, as a Deluxe edition with a host of live and rare tracks. Anyone that loves rock music, lo-fi or not, should own this record period.
Damn the last 6 months have been crazy. I'll summarize: I made a new friend named Bill; I experienced the U.S. recession firsthand ; I got to see Radiohead live for the first time, and it was absolutely incredible. So enough of my bullshit, I'm going to highlight a few things that I didn't get to comment on over the next several posts. In the meantime. Here are two songs that I have been listening to incessantly.
Scott Ford, on leave from his latest tour of duty playing with The Gutter Twins, is back hosting his radio show each weekday from 12 pm PST to 2 pm PST (the show streams 24/7). The boys christened a new larger server with today's show. Tune in and call in to request a song, chat, or get some life advice.
Above: The Ryman Auditorium, Nashville. Below: A handful of songs that have been ringing in my ears. As always, support the artists. If you hear something you like, buy the record, CD, song, or whatever.
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Announce U.S. Tour Dates
The boys are coming to the states.
Via NCATBS MySpace Blog: Hot on the heels of the US release of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' fourteenth studio album, DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!! the band announce a return to North America for their first live dates in five and a half years. The tour, featuring their first appearances at the famed Hollywood Bowl and New York's WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden, is brief, eagerly awaited and expected to sell out quickly.
Look for most shows to go on sale this week.
Tue 16th Sept - San Diego, CA - 4th & B Wed 17th Sept - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl Sat 20th Sept - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theatre Mon 22nd Sept - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom Tue 23rd Sept - Seattle, Wa -Showbox SoDo Fri 26th Sept - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre Mon 29th Sept - Chicago, IL - Riviera Theatre Wed 1st Oct - Toronto, ON - Kool Haus Thu 2nd Oct - Montreal, QC - Metropolis Sat 4th Oct - New York, NY - WaMu Theatre at MSG Sun 5th Oct - Washington, DC - 9.30 Club
Radiohead's All I Need Video
The video, which premiered today, is a collaborative effort between the band and the MTV EXIT (End Exploitation and Trafficking) Campaign. Read more about the cause that brought these two entities together and about the video itself here.
If you haven't already done so, do yourself a favor and check out the Zune Arts site. I own and love my iPod, and Apple has historically done a much better job on the marketing end. That ain't the case here. Zune Arts brings together artists of various media to create short films. Previous films include the animation studio of PandaPanther set the score of The Black Angels' "Masks," and What Made Milwaukee Famous' "Hopelist" against the vision of the Chicago collection Vitamin. The latest pairing features Chromeo's "Fancy Footwork," puppet maker Adam Parker Smith, and the design studio of Three Legged Legs. The site has also launched a behind-the-scenes podcast series showing the creativity and collaboration required to bring the films to life.
TGIF
We had an unexpected wakeup call around 4:30 this morning.
These two couldn't be more different. First, some sugary pop goodness courtesy of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, followed by the return the psychedelic rock of The Black Angels.
Record stores across the nation will be joined by artists and fans to celebrate a dying phenomenon, the record store. There is just something so bland and uninspiring about perusing the racks of Wal-Mart/Target/Best Buy to find new or loved music. Growing up, I spent countless hours browsing my local record store collections, talking to other music fans, and picking the brains of the clerks. The argument used to be indie vs corporate stores. Now it is just keeping any record store alive. This weekend, take a visit to you local store. Enjoy some live music and support these stores. Visit the Record Store Day site for more information and to see what your favorite artists have to say in support. Find a store near you.
My local store, Grimey's, will be hosting a full day of music, giveaways, and special prices. The festivities will be held rain or shine; performance schedule as follows:
12:00 - Tim O'Brien 1:00 - Wild Sweet Orange 2:00 - Drakkar Sauna 3:00 - Ben Sollee 4:00 - Mike Farris & Roseland Rhythm Revue 5:00 - Dan Wilson 6:00 - Old Ceremony 7:00 - Space Capone
DJs will be spinning between sets. Plus they will be giving away stuff all day including music, tickets to see Lou Reed at the Ryman, and a Baby Taylor Guitar.
It is official, Eric Avery is finally ready to make Jane's Addiction whole again (if only for one night). The band has reunited on several occasions, including the recording of 2003's Strays, with different artists filling in on bass. Avery has declined to take part until now. The occasion is the upcoming NME Music Awards (the first to take place in the U.S.) during which the band will be presented the NME Godlike Genius award for their lifetime contributions (not sure if Navarro's stint hosting Rock Star will be included -though I offer no apologies for loving the show). The relationships of the four groundbreaking band mates have been on-and-0ff throughout the years, with each working collaboratively, solo, as well as in other capacities with other bands. You would seriously need a complicated organizational chart or ven diagram to explain it all. Avery had this to say of his decision.
"I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around," Avery said in a statement. "The reason I started to even consider this is because it's honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it."
The ceremony will be held on April 23 at the Goldenvoice El Rey Theater in L.A. (very appropriate indeed). NME will be offering a live stream of the awards via MySpace.
Now if I may interject my own commentary. Jane's is a truly special band in so many ways. Personally, they marked a significant transition in my music tastes. In the mid 80's I was something of a Metalneck. I had made the gradual progression from the Bon Jovi's and Cinderella's to the Metallica's and Megadeth's over the previous few years. I played in a band that consisted of bad metal covers and even worse original metal songs.
I credit Jane's Addiction with opening a new awareness and curiosity in me. I will never forget watching MTV and seeing the video for "Mountain Song" one night in the fall of 1988 as I was in my freshman year of high school. It completely blew me away. It was heavy, but it also had this "alternative" vibe, and the video was artsy (for the time). The following weekend I approached a wall of cassettes, my eyes darting back and forth between the "Heavy Metal" and "Alternative" sections in my local Camelot, trying to decide where this band would be found (it was in the "Alternative" section). I stood there for a while trying to decide whether I wanted to jump; this was no easy decision since I would not be able to buy another tape until the following weekend. I probably even put it back and picked it back up several times before finally deciding to plunk down my weekly allowance on Nothing's Shocking.
The album's opening track, "Up the Beach," starts with a repeated bass line as it builds into a soaring track with minimal lyrics. "Here we go... Home" sings Perry Ferrell. I had no idea at the time how true those words would resonate with me. But here I sit some 20 years later (Christ that's a long time) writing about it. I could write a thesis about the rest of the record, the duality of their follow-up, Ritual de lo Habitual, and the ultimate demise of the band as well as the creation and contributions of Lollapalooza until its sad decline and welcomed euthanasia. Instead, I'll leave it at this, Jane's Addiction beautifully combined the anger of punk, the aggression of metal, the technical prowess of art/prog rock and the sensitivity of the day's alternative acts. They also wrote great songs and managed to open at least one mind, though I suspect there are many more.
Sys-Con Steals Content, then Defames and Libels the Author.
Ulitzer proudly proclaims that they have more than 6,000 authors. Who are these authors? Well, in the case in point, the 'author' is Aral Balkan, well known open-source developer in Flash and Cloud App Development circles. The thing is, he has never written for Ulitzer, aka Sys-Con. When he called them on it, they then libeled him on their site.
Upcoming: adactio's Events
May 9, 2009: Open Hack 2009: London at The Congress Centre
We may have been struck by lightning twice at Open Hack 2007, but that does not keep us from hacking! Come and join Yahoo! on the 9th and 10th of May in London, England for 24 hours of learning, hacking, networking and fun.
Jun 25, 2009: @media 2009 web design and development conference at Southbank Centre, Royal Festival Hall
A highly relevant conference for trying times, @media ’09 is an invaluable guide to winning in today’s web design landscape.
What to expect
High-value, no-nonsense cutting-edge training and discussion for professional web designers and developers.
@media is consistently well-received and widely regarded as one of Europe’s foremost web events. It offers pertinent sessions covered by renowned speakers over two educational, inspirational and sociable days.
High-value, no-nonsense cutting-edge training and discussion for professional web designers and developers.
@media is consistently well-received and widely regarded as one of Europe’s foremost web events. It offers pertinent sessions covered by renowned speakers over two educational, inspirational and sociable days.
Speakers
Andy Budd Andy Clarke Simon Collison Douglas Crockford Jon Hicks Molly Holzschlag Jeremy Keith Dan Rubin Jason Santa Maria
Jun 25, 2009: Reboot 11 at Kedel Hallen
reboot is a community event for the practical visionaries who are at the intersection of digital technology and change all around us.
2 days a year. 500 people. A journey into the interconnectedness of creation, participation, values, openness, decentralization, collaboration, complexity, technology, p2p, humanities, connectedness and many more areas.
Applied towards us as individuals, citizens, teachers, culture workers, entrepreneurs, creators and change makers.
Every year has its own theme. Last year's: free. This year's: who knows?
Jun 15, 2009: UX London at The Cumberland Hotel
UX London is three days of education, inspiration and skills development in the heart of the city. Bringing together some of the leading practitioners in usability, information architecture and user experience design, this conference will be a mix of inspirational talks and practical half day workshops. UX London will equip attendees with the practical skills needed to do their jobs better, be they budding IAs, experienced practitioners or UX managers.
For the price of a single ticket, attendees will get to see some of the biggest names in the industry and choose from 12 practical, hands-on workshop sessions. These will be spread across three tracks (UX Fundamentals, Advanced Skills, UX Strategy and Management) and cover everything from the basics of web usability and form design, through to advanced topics like Agile UXD, interactive wireframe creation and UX meeting facilitation.
Clearleft has attracted some of the top speakers in the industry to present at UX London, and we’re still adding more to the line-up. Here are just a few who are already confirmed.
* Don Norman (Nielsen Norman Group, “Design of Everyday Things”, “Emotional Design”)
* Jared Spool (UIE Director, Spoolcast, Web Apps Summit)
* Jeff Veen (ex User Experience Manager at Google, Start Conference)
* Peter Merholz (President at Adaptive Path, UX Week)
* Luke Wroblewski (Senior Director at Yahoo, “Web Form Design”)
Twitter / saltercane
saltercane: Last nights gig with Caramel Jack was great fun, lovely folks that they are.
saltercane: If you're in Brighton, come along to see us downstairs in The Sanctuary tonight with Caramel Jack. Doors at 8pm.
saltercane: Making arrangements for this Friday's gig at the Sanctuary Cafe, Hove.
Hee Haw Sessions's MySpace Blog
Mark Geary + ODi + Gary Stewart
The Hee Haw Sessions - Friday 12th Sept 2008 - Santiago, Leeds
Mark Geary + ODi + Gary Stewart
The return of Mark Geary was a roaring success! This gig was significant for t...
Blind River Scare + The Random Family + Ali Whitton
The Hee Haw Sessions – Sat 14th June 2008 – Santiago, Leeds.
Blind River Scare + The Random Family + Ali Whitton
Having moved to London a couple of years ago to expand his musical career, Ali W...
Wilful Missing + The Epstein + Neil McSweeney
The Hee Haw Sessions, Sunday 4th May 2008, Santiago, Leeds
Wilful Missing + The Epstein + Neil McSweeney
Thanks to everyone who came out to Santiago on Sunday night. Many of our regulars were aw...
Gary Stewart Band + Loudmouth Soup + The Troubadors
The Hee Haw Sessions - Friday 1st Feb 2008 - Santiago, Leeds
Gary Stewart Band + Loudmouth Soup + The Troubadors
Thanks to everyone who came out to Santiago on Friday night, all 90-100 of...
Southern Tenant Folk Union + Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts
The Hee Haw Sessions - Friday 23rd Nov 2007 - Packhorse, Leeds
Southern Tenant Folk Union + Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts
Thanks so much for those of you who came out to The Packhorse...
Mark Geary & Ann Scott
The Hee Haw Sessions - Thursday 11th Oct 2007 - The Packhorse, Leeds
Mark Geary & Ann Scott
Read a gig review here written by none other than Gary Stewart:
http://blog.myspace.com/index....
About The Hee Haw Sessions
'The Hee Haw Sessions' is a bi-monthly club night in Leeds showcasing live music from the genres of Alt-Country, Americana, Desert Rock, Folk & Folk Rock.
We like our acts to be capable of playing...
The Hee Haw Sessions Top 10’s
The following are a list of musical things that Hee Haw likes in no particular order. This list will change from time to time....
Top 10 Gigs (in date order):
Pearl Jam @ The Point, Dublin 2000...
Vimeo / Jeremy Keith's uploaded videos
Jeremy Keith interview, part two
Recorded at the Voices That Matter conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
A live linkup between the London and San Francisco hubs during the head conference is only slightly marred by some technical difficulties with the sound.
Jessica demonstrates how easy it is to spatchcock a chicken. Basically, you just cut the spine out. The chicken will then cook lovely and evenly all over.
This is my first arduino hack. A simple processing script sends a random brightnesss value to an LED for a random length of time. The result is a flickering effect, much like a candle.
Here's a transcript from this clip of Aleks speaking on a panel presentation we did on portable social networks:
"I have nothing that's going up here. You'll have to come to see my talk tomorrow to see some pretty pictures.
But what I want to talk about right now is... so why is all this portability important? Well, I'll give you an example.
And I'm going to kind of go lateral here but I have a theory that online games like World of Warcraft or Everquest or Eve Online (that we were talking about before, Tom), those are a form of social network. They may not be articulated social networks in that you've got a blogroll or in that you've got friends or various things like that but they are social networks because they have embedded interaction between people. You may have people that you are a contact with, who are your friends in these spaces.
And what happens is that people migrate in a phenomenal way. If one or two people ...it's a beautiful tipping point example... if one or two people come into World of Warcraft and they go "Aw, this is absolutely awesome! You've gotta come in here!" And then you get everybody and their uncle coming into World of Warcraft, you get people like Joi Ito calling it the new golf; you no longer have to actually go out in the rain and go out on the green to putt with your boss. You can actually make these network connections and have these relationships inside this virtual environment."
