Gian Lorenzo Bernini

This guy is one amazing sculptor. His work seems to have such life to it, the little details are amazing.

"Abduction of Persephone"
Picture here

Oh, Now That's Just A Bit Much

I certainly made an effort to get a radio.blog going, but 3 failed hosting sites didn't help the cause. Luckily there's some ridiculous news I can comment about.

Recently, Hugo Chavez, the ever controversial Venezuelan president, took things a bit too far in his criticism of the United States. He is saying that Halloween is part of a White House plot to control American's with fear.

"Mr Chavez said Halloween was part of the US culture of "putting fear into other nations, putting fear into their own people".

"He also said Halloween was a 'game of terror.'"

.....
.....
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. . . . . ?

Ok, now that I've recovered. What a jackass. The only reason he is saying this is because people who are against him are doing little Halloween related pranks and I guess he can't take some criticism, so Halloween is evil now. He held onto to his government during a coup and he can't handle a critical pumpkin. Come on, free candy, that's all good.

He states that he is discouraging Halloween because it is un-Venezuelan, but I don't buy it and I'm I don't see how Halloween could possibly ruin Venezuelan culture.

[BBC]

Happening Today

I will definately have a radio.blog today, unless techical difficulties ruin it. I've got a decent line-up. Probably even 6 songs, which I don't think I've done before. If only I could get the songs to stop having those little pops.

Technical difficulties = server doesn't work.

Circle Square Triangle

So, I was checking out the NME website and they talked about this group, Test Icicles, yeah I ignored them. Then finally I took the plunge and listned to them. Conclusion is, these guys are gonna be huge. They've got a blend of screamo/hardcore and Bloc Party esque post punk. All kinds of bitches are gonna be going crazy for this group. Plus they've got a British black guy in their group and yes that automatically makes any band cooler. Are they good? Eh, they're alright, "Cirle Square Triangle" has decent rap breakdown. Still, huge man, they're gonna be huge.

Gleditsia triacanthos

A little post to fill the space. Currently radio.blog is on hold, I think I might have a theme idea but a lack of music to support it. I'll find out.

Fall, it's quite nice. You can bring out your sweaters and scarves. I myself enjoy the leaves. Not just the colors, but I like seeing them fall. The honey locust trees sprinkle these little yellow leaves into the air. All that deciduousness, quite lovely.

Brilliant

I ran across this group, The Captains. They're a 60's Japanese pop revival group. Apparently once The Beatles came over to Japan, all these Beatles inspired Japanese pop groups happened and made a genre called Group Sound(GS). Whatever it's surf/pop. Good stuff.



The Captains

Right On The Nose

Just got done reading an article in which Chris Martin(Coldplay) states that the band's lyrics need improvement. Hmm, perhaps it took a 3rd album, which sounded more like a remix of the previous than something new, to realize that.

"Martin claimed in a recent interview that he couldn't pick a favourite lyric of his because he didn't think they were very good."

Martin also said the music needs to change dramtically too, again he's right.

All is One, One is All

I love Full Metal Alchemist. Through the magic of torrents I've seen probably 8 episodes in the past 2 days.

Beats the Teapot Amp

A while ago I found a guitar amp that was built into a Teapot and I thought such an amp could never be topped. I stand corrected. I was searching for cool looking amps and I ran across this marvel. Oh yes, it's a guitar amp designed like an old school radio. Only issue is, it's $3,400, which is clearly ridiculous, but I can still dream. It's called The Horn Amp by Specimen Products.

Last.fm

Yeah, I've got one of those things. Currently only at 276 songs. Even though Editors is up there, I don't care that much for them, quite average.

[last.fm]

Classical radio.blog

Decided to go with a "classical" theme this week. None of the songs are actually classical, two romantic, one "modern". All pieces are for solo piano.

Seems like the website that hosts my radio.blog is going tremendously slow, so the radio.blog isn't really working. If anyone knows a good free ftp site please tell me. If someone wants to let me use their ftp, that wouldn't be bad either. For now try this radio.blog, it's really a great collection. Radio Nico

1. Johannes Brahms - Op. 10 No. 4: I never really got into Brahms, but I ran across this track and it is outstanding. An overwhelmingly beautiful peice. A melody changes, wanders, repeats but always manages to be the perfect notes. Roughly 11 minutes long.
2. Frederic Chopin - Waltz # 3 in a minor: A waltz but, at least in this version, the chords are never really in time. None of it is actually perfectly in time, but that makes it charming. Fairly sombre piece. It has it's upbeat moments though.
3. Erik Satie - Je te veux: I guess this would have been a "pop" song back in the late 1800's, not sure what the proper name is. A very upbeat song. This would be the soundtrack to a couple riding bikes in the countryside.

[radio.blog]

Fuccon Family

If you've got the time I'd highly recommend downloading these episodes of The Fuccon Family. The crazy things these mannequins get themselves into. Each episode is under 5 minutes. The website that hosts my files doesn't work sometimes, so if it says "connection refused" just try again later.

For Mac users, you may have difficulty playing the files due to the .avi format. I found this page which may help with that problem.
Avi Help


Just Moved In

A Marital Dispute

The Return

Mannequins

Like adult swim but with mannequins. I downloaded this Japanese show and it's about these American's that move to Japan, but they're mannequins. So funny. I'll be uploading 3 episodes.

The Next James Bond

After quite some time and countless rumours a new James Bond has been chosen. Daniel Craig has been picked to play James Bond in the next film of the series "Casino Royale". Honestly I don't think he looks the part. Looks too average to me. Dude in the glasses by the way.

radio.blog??

I've got nothing. I thought about themes, even themes related to guitar tones, but I couldn't think of anything I actually wanted to do. Giving up on that this week. Theme suggestions would be appreciated.

Another New Ipod

Yeah, they pulled a Degrassi and went there. Just as the massive hype around the Ipod nano has started to decline, Apple decided to release a completely revamped Ipod. This new Ipod features video playback. Itunes will offer music videos for download $1.99 and television shows, such as Desperate Housewives, also $1.99. Another new feature is improved battery life. The battery life has increased from 15 hours to 20 hours max. Third new feature is a slightly smaller and lighter design. Most important of all is it now comes in the more goth hue of black. So much cooler. It only comes in two sizes, 30gb($299) and 60gb($399), the 40gb size has been discontinued. If the sound quality is increased on these things, I'll have trouble not wanting one.

Pirate Ipod

Halloween is coming up and many people will don fantastically ridiculous outfits, but is Halloween just for kids, or people who enjoy being silly? The people at iAttire.net don't think so. They have decided to make Halloween costumes for Ipods. Turns out most of these costumes block the buttons and the screen of your prefered Ipod, so they're pretty useless. I still love this pirate get-up. It can be had for $39. Just a massive theme of ridiculous here.

Forgot

More so posting to remind myself, because I feel my radio.blog doesn't have any listeners. I did completely forgot that though, might be up Wednesday or Thursday.

You Only Live Once

I didn't make commentary on the first leaked Strokes track, but this one is a winner. "You Only Live Once" isn't the stylistic leap of "Juicebox", no fuzzed out bass or hard rock riffs here. The sound is much more dense and the rhythm section remains quite interesting. Julian Casablancas sound different too, pleasantly so. The song could have used a bridge, it sounds quite short, but it's still a great song. As far as the lyrics go, seems like a social commentary perhaps.

" A man don't notice what they got
Uh, women think of that a lot
One thousand ways to please your man, oh
And every one requires a plan, I know
And countless tired religions too
It doesn't matter which you choose (oh no)
One stubborn way to turn your back, oh
I guess I've tried and I refuse, oh"

Social Commentary?

I'm hosting the file for your pleasure.

You Only Live Once

Bear Neccesities

Alright, so I just heard Paul Banks say he would have sex while listening too "Bear Necessities" from The Jungle Book, as a matter of fact it would be his # 1 song for such an act. Also happened to mention his fetish was shacking up with empty bear suits, or similar empty animal suits.

The Pixies Sell Out

Here's three clips from the DVD made from footage of the recent tour. $20.

Full Songs

Includes:
Where Is My Mind? Audience does a superb job of singing along.
Monkey Gone To Heaven
Wave Of Mutilation

Fresh?

I really like the way these shoes look but I'm iffy about getting them. For some reason I think they wouldn't suit me, but I'm not sure. Do comment with your opinions.

Match Point

Match Point is a new film by Woody Allen. We might all except a good amount of awkward humor from Woody Allen but this film hardly seems to follow suit. It looks quite dramatic, absolutely no jokes in the trailer at all. Scarlet Johansson is in it and it takes place in England.

[Match Point]

PC World Top 100 Products of 2005

I honestly haven't heard of most of these but there's some great things in their that I love to use.

1. Mozilla Firefox - Take that Internet Explorer, you punk bitch.
3. Apple OS X Tiger - Love macs. One day, one day.
51. Flickr.com - Great site. In my opinion leaps and bounds ahead of Photobucket.
60. Wikipedia - We all love this website.

[PC World]

Theme?

I just threw this together really quickly. You could say maybe the theme is early 80s music, but the Teen Titans theme ruins that. I updated to radio.blog 2.4. It's better looking and the encoding seems improved. Nice little search feature too.

1. Japan - All Tommorow's Parties
A cover of The Velvet Underground song. I like it, hardcore VU fans do not.
2. Japan - Fall In Love With Me
Certainly has a "dark" feel to it. The instruments are constantly sliding and weaving, creating a sort of uneasiness. David Sylvian's voice is disturbingly seductive, there's something perverted about it, which I like.
3. Japan - Quiet Life
Slick, 80s dance music. A very chic, confident feel. Amazing bass work by Mick Karn, that man can work a fretless bass like nobody's business. I don't mind the sax either. I love the constant recurring lyric of "BOYS!"
4. Puffy AmiYumi - Teen Titans
In my opinion, best TV show theme song ever. A mix of pulsing 60s spy music and thick surf guitars, absolutely fantastic. T E E N T I T A N S, Teen Titans Lets Go!
5. The Jam - Eton Rifles
Anthemic punk song. Not really the Mod style The Jam became famous for, but still a quality song. It's got little unique that make it stick out from the crowd.
6. The Jam - Going Underground
A pop-punk track. I guess you could call it a misanthropic anthem, or "man, the public is stupid" anthem, whichever you like. Great bass work and some nice sparse, jangly guitar.


[radio.blog]

Post Secret

Pretty good update this week at Post Secret. Some are hilarious, some are depressing. I liked this one.