Is That It?

I think tickets for all three nights of Arcade Fire are sold out. So much for that.

It's A Miracle!

Courtesy, again, of Stereogum I'm listening to the best new New-Wave band I've heard so far. New Violaters may have a name that could sit nicely next to a roster of indie up and comers, but the sound isn't quite that. Whereas other acts have adopted a keyboard or two, few have fully embraced the late 70's early 80s movement in full. New Violators have a white funk rhythm that would be at home on "Let's Dance", a Manchester downtrodden attitude(when appropriate), and synth lines that might sneak into a John Hughes movie. That's not to say that they sound like a New-Wave pastiche. There is enough freshness to keep this band away from being pegged as merely New-Wave revivalists. The track "Runaway" has a verse that could have been on a "Young Americans" or "Let's Dance", and a chorus that sounds a bit Smiths but less pop, and without Morrisey's phrasing. There's also sassy background vocalists, which is always a good call.

Anyone know the New-Wave reference I'm making with that title?

New Violators

-3.00, -5.28

I was told of a more legitimate test of your political leanings. There are 6 pages of questions on issues from gay marriage to free trade. Then you're given a results page with your political leaning graphed, with chart coordinates, and a graph plotting famous political figures. I'd say my results are fairly accurate. I'm left, leaning towards Libertarian. Apparently, I'm somewhere near the political leanings of the Dalai Lama. If you're interested...

[Political Compass]

Hope You Have Plenty of Crypts

A recent report by Swedish researchers reveals some interesting things about eyes.

"The researchers looked at crypts (pits) and contraction furrows (lines curving around the outer edge of the iris), which are formed when pupils dilate.

It was found that those with more crypts were likely to be tender, warm and trusting, while those with more furrows were more likely to be neurotic, impulsive and give in to cravings."

"The researchers suggest that a neurodevelopmental gene called PAX6 could also play a major role.

It is known to help control the development of the iris in an embryo.

Previous research has also shown that a mutation of PAX6 is linked to impulsiveness and poor social skills."

"'It is surprising that this is possible. But it seems that the old aphorism that 'the eyes are the window to the soul' has some genetic basis.'"

[BBC]

?

Is my neighborhood going to look like this in October? I'll know by the end of the week, I hope. It's all still really scary.

Mammoth

Yesterday, Daniel Kessler did an interview on some BBC radio show. He didn't say a whole lot, but a few interesting bits:

-Officially signed to Capitol
-In the middle of mixing the new record, and should be done next month
-More keyboard parts, or songs based around keyboard parts
-The album does not have a title, but one song is called "Mammoth"
-Early Summer release

Intervention

March 11, 2007

In a supposed effort to save energy, daylight savings begins March 11th this year, much earlier than usual. It was April 2nd last year. On top of that, non-daylight savings lasts longer too; until November instead of October. What happens when we lose weeks and weeks of extra sleep? The terrorists win, because the terrorists don't sleep.

Sax Solo

Got this from Stereogum.

"Unnecessary solos: Five reasons to leave no riff behind:

1. Duran Duran - “Rio”
Nothing says "Suck it, Spandau Ballet" like a nasty sax meltdown. Forty-two seconds of bliss, starting at the 3:02 mark. It was only 1982, but as far as we we're concerned the decade ended the second the last notes fell on this masterpiece. They just don't make 'em like this anymore. "

No, they don't.

Hmm?

It's kind of an odd Valentine's Day. The weather wasn't so forgiving to anyone planing on leaving their house, so I have imagine some plans didn't go through. On a personal level, I've got this not so cool head ache right now. Either way, I feel compelled to make a Valentine's Day post.
I always thought the date idea of going to an Aquarium was pretty cute.

Stop Hatin'

Arcade Fire and Peter Bjorn and John have both announced North American tours. Unfortunately, in line with the current trend, they are not gracing this state. See title for response.

Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles

"Riding Alone For Thousands of Miles" is a 2005 film from Zhang Yimou. He is known for the films "Hero" and "House of Flying Daggers". This film, however, doesn't have much in common with the previously mentioned. It's a slow paced drama, about a man who has been estranged with his son for many years, and the things he does to try to regain a normal relationship.

This film really ruined me, I haven't cried this much while watching a movie in years. I also really wanted Chinese food during this banquet scene. Safe to say it was very good. I don't really have a knack reviewing films, but I think it's worth a watch.

This is also the sixty-first movie I've seen from Netflix. Not too shabby.

FInal Fantasy XII DS

Nintendo is releasing a special edition DS to coincide with the release of Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings. Currently it's only planned for Japanese release. Please release this in the US!

"Music wants to be free"

If you haven't heard, Steve Jobs recently posted an essay speaking of the problems with DRM, and how he would prefer that Apple sold all their music DRM-free. DRM stands for Digital Rights Management, a type of encoding online music stores use to limit piracy. The problem with DRM is that every single online music vendor uses different code for their DRM, which causes a compatibility nightmare. Let's say you want to get an exclusive record from Rhapsody music store, but Rhapsody downloads don't work with your iPod. This will probably lead a decent amount of people to just pirate the track, or album. It's obvious that this system doesn't really help anyone. Record companies prefer the idea of having DRM, in hopes that it will limit piracy, but it doesn't. In the end the consumers and the companies don't gain anything. Consumers are limited with the music they can buy online, and companies are limited with their customers.

Steve Jobs sums it up well.

"The third alternative is to abolish DRMs entirely. Imagine a world where every online store sells DRM-free music encoded in open licensable formats. In such a world, any player can play music purchased from any store, and any store can sell music which is playable on all players. This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat. If the big four music companies would license Apple their music without the requirement that it be protected with a DRM, we would switch to selling only DRM-free music on our iTunes store."

There is the argument that Apple would loose a big market share, because people would have less incentive to buy iPods, but here I turn The Economist.

"Apple can afford to embrace open competition in music players and online stores. Consumers would gravitate to the best player and the best store, and at the moment that still means Apple’s. Mr Jobs is evidently unfazed by rivals to the iPod. Since only 3% of the music in a typical iTunes library is protected, most of it can already be used on other players today, he notes. (And even the protected tracks can be burned onto a CD and then re-ripped.) So Apple’s dominance evidently depends far more on branding and ease of use than DRM-related 'lock in'."

To sum up, it's about time all music was DRM-Free.

[Steve Jobs]

[Economist]

Phantom Punch

I've got the feeling that I either posted about this before, or wanted to. Anyways, Sondre Lerche's new record Phantom Punch is pretty good. I've heard the two singles, "Phantom Punch" and "Say It All" and both are pretty good, especially "Phantom Punch". From what I've heard, and a few reviewers, this record in general "rocks" a bit more. I'm currently listening to the whole record through Rhapsody.

I also mistakingly thought Sondre Lerche was gay, he's not. Sorry. He's actually married to some Norwegian model.

Sweden Rules!

A short video of Björn and John, of Peter Björn and John, answering a question submitted by a fan.

Thoughts

Emo bands, keep taking yourselves seriously. It's working out. For example the new Fall Out Boy track, it's pretty likable.

Allow

Not Worth It

I happened to find a mostly frozen bottle of Cocaine energy drink in my house, and of course, I had to try it. I regret making that choice. You know those atomic fireball cinnamon candies, that kind of burn your mouth, but aren't too bad? Cocaine is like that, but in your throat, and fake strawberry flavored. It's pretty unpleasant. I've eaten fermented soybeans, which were pretty gross, but I'm inclined to eat that, rather than drink Cocaine. Don't try it, it's not worth it.

2 Year Anniversay!

This day, minus three, two years ago, I started this very blog. This was my first post of 2006. Let's look over the achievements of 2006.

Achievements

- 2 Questionnaires
That's one fewer than 2005. I think they were both alright. The second one was better.

-Increased Readership?
Maybe, someone from South Germany visited; in the area. I think someone from Kansas also dropped by a few times. I had probably had the most commenting this year, thanks readers.

-Embedded, non-youtube, video.
I was pretty excited about that, even though it was easy to do.

-Embedded Jams
I only used that twice, but it's still neat.

-Voting Promotion
I don't know if I helped anyone get their vote awn, but I tried.

-Tech Justice
I think that was a pretty funny post.

-2 Years!
I feel like I need to keep this up, for the sake of it. I felt like giving up on it a few times, but me and the blog worked things out.

Disappointments

-Radio.blog
I couldn't keep it up, because the server I was using revoked my account.

-Anniversary
I didn't remember it.

-Too Much?
I feel like I could have used more original content. A few too many pictures and youtube posts.

I would like to thank Liz again, for having been a reader the longest. Thank you to the questionnaire participants. Thanks Firefox and Opera browsers. Thanks BBC and other news sources. Thanks America, I think you might be on the right track. That's all, thanks for reading.