Gareth – Page 716 – The Designer Monologues

January 27, 2006April 19, 2010

Friday Music

It’s getting difficult to do these — with as much time as I’ve been spending on the novel recently, I’ve been listening to a TON of music. Trying to keep these Friday Music posts down to a reasonable size, rather than just hitting you with everything that’s floating my boat right now….

Here’s a rarity for you Queen fans out there. In 1983, Brian May had a jam session with Eddie Van Halen and a few studio musicians. They recorded it, and the result was a hard-to-find EP called “The Starfleet Project.” The main track on the EP, which I give you here, is a re-working of the theme song of an early-80s UK kid’s show, Star Fleet, which May watched with his kids. So you have two of the best guitarists in the world, jamming along to a sci-fi TV series theme, with wonderfully over-the-top lyrics like: “Send a message across the sky – Alien raiders just passed Gemini.” Love it. Here you go: Brian May + Friends – “Star Fleet.”

I haven’t heard the original version of this song, but I love the remix, so here it is: Test Icicles – “What’s Your Damage (Alan Braxe and Fred Falke Remix)” That synth hook is just too good.

This is some nifty stuff. It’s part of the soundtrack to the recent Takeshi Kitano remake of Zatoichi. The composer mixes modern electronica with Japanese folk and, in this case, taiko drumming. Suzuki Keiichi – “Festivo.”

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any mash-ups, and I’ve recently found this one, which I like quite a bit. It’s a mash of the Beatle’s “For No One”, Scissor Sisters’ “Take Your Mama”, George Michael’s “Freedom” and Aretha Franklin’s “Think.” DJ Earworm – “No One Takes Your Freedom.”

Grime is a musical genre out of the UK, which is similar in many respects to hip-hop, but has its roots in the UK Garage electronica scene. Garage MCs mostly just engaged in crowd-pumping chatter during sets, but some started laying hip-hop-style full-length rhymes over the fairly dark electronica, usually with ragga-influenced vocabulary, and often at what would be considered breakneck speeds for US MCs. One of the tops in the genre right now is Lady Sovereign, a short 19-year-old white girl from northwest London, whose flow, as the hip kids say, is SICK. She has an EP out called “Vertically Challenged”, and her debut album, “Straight Up Cheeky” is on the way. Lady Sovereign – “Ch Ching”

When I first heard this song, the piano hook completely….well, er….hooked me. This is a track from the album “Rocinante” by Ester Drang…and any group that is willing to name their album after Don Quixote’s horse is cool with me. Ester Drang – “Valencia’s Dying Dream.”

This is some really good electronic pop out of Venezuela, which I’ve been playing over and over again: Todosantos – “A Veces.” Spanish speakers — help me out here: I know the group name translates as “All Saints”, but what about the lyrics?

More international hip-hop for . This is Alliance Ethnik, a group of French MCs, who have recorded this track with Cheb Mami (the Rai singer who most Americans know for his backing vocals on Sting’s “Desert Rose”). Alliance Ethnik feat. Cheb Mami – “Parisien Du Nord (Remix)”

I picked up the new album, “Pictures” by genius electronica DJ Timo Maas, his first artist album since 2000’s “Loud”. Excellent stuff, as expected. He’s got another collaboration with Kelis on it, and others, including Neneh Cherry. My favorite track on the album, though, is this one: Timo Maas – “Big Chevy.”

So there you go. Enjoy!

January 26, 2006

I’m Glad I Publish PDFs…

…when I see something like coming out soon.

The SONY Reader (that’s the official product site, with specs):

Apparently they’ve managed to resolve the problems of screen-reading (low-res, flicker, backlighting, etc.), by something they call “e Ink,” which provides relatively high contrast, no backlight, no screen flicker and good resolution.

Plus, It also appears that SONY has ditched the digital rights management (DRM) for this reader (the previous one was proprietary). This one appears to let you choose from among different formats, allowing you to read downloaded web pages, PDF files, and more.

Once things like this start becoming as regular as iPods, being a PDF publisher is going to be a Very Good Thing indeed.

January 26, 2006

More Impeachment Fodder.

So, today at his Press Conference, Frutex Minimus Caesar flat-out admits to breaking the law: Official transcript from the White House here.

The segment in question (bolds added for emphasis):

————
Q: “Mr. President, though — this is a direct follow up to that — the FISA law was implemented in 1978 in part because of revelations that the National Security Agency was spying domestically. What is wrong with that law if you feel you have to circumvent it and, as you just admitted, expand presidential power?”

THE PRESIDENT:” May I — if I might, you said that I have to circumvent it. There — wait a minute. That’s a — there’s something — it’s like saying, you know, you’re breaking the law. I’m not. See, that’s what you’ve got to understand. I am upholding my duty, and at the same time, doing so under the law and with the Constitution behind me. That’s just very important for you to understand.

Secondly, the FISA law was written in 1978. We’re having this discussion in 2006. It’s a different world. And FISA is still an important tool. It’s an important tool. And we still use that tool. But also — and we — look — I said, look, is it possible to conduct this program under the old law? And people said, it doesn’t work in order to be able to do the job we expect us to do.

And so that’s why I made the decision I made. And you know, “circumventing” is a loaded word, and I refuse to accept it, because I believe what I’m doing is legally right.”
————

Scary shit. He flat-out admits that there is a law, that it “doesn’t work” for what he wants to do, and that’s why he “made the decision.”

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, PEOPLE: HOW MUCH MORE EVIDENCE DO YOU NEED???

The President just admitted on national TV that he broke an existing law. Why the hell isn’t anybody doing anything?

Oh….and another thing—they could have done this legally, under a bill that was before Congress in 2002. But they opposed it:

Even as warrantless U.S. eavesdropping was being conducted, the White House opposed easing rules on the issue in 2002 to avoid public debate. The Bush administration told Congress they opposed lowering the legal standard for intercepting the phone calls of foreigners who were in the United States, even while the administration had secretly adopted a lower standard on its own.

Uncovered by a blogger, buried on the back pages of the Washington Post and the L.A. Times. That’s all the media attention it will receive, I’m sure.

What the fuck is happening to this country?