I’ll definitely be picking up a copy of How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder from World War II to Hip-Hop, The Machine Speaks when it’s released later this month. It’s interesting to think about how nearly all of our beloved digital tools for art-making have their origins in military research. This tome seems like it might address that a little bit. In the meantime, listen to Holger Czukay indulging in some serious vocoder play.
Breakfast at Sulimay’s is an internet series produced by Scrapple.tv featuring three senior citizen record reviewers Bill, Ann and Joe. The three music experts listen to two songs and give their opinions of them live as they listen. Every episode is shot live at Sulimay’s Restaurant, located in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia.
Marc Brodzik of Woodshop Films started the series after numerous encounters with the witty reviewers when they were just diners. This series is worth seeing Ann’s reactions to the music alone, but watching how serious Joe takes his job is just as entertaining.
Check out their Hard n Heavy special where they review Ensiferum and Trapped Under Ice. This Hard n Heavy special must be inspired by episode 11, a classic episode where Harvey Milk damn near chokes Ann! Her reaction is priceless! Check it below.
It’s the Man of Steel versus the man known as “The Greatest of All Time” in this statue that features Superman taking on Muhammad Ali. Based on the Neil Adams cover art of the original 1978 tabloid version of the book All-New Collectors’ Edition: Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, this surprising scene of the two greats squaring off against one another is available in 3-D form for the first time. The release of this statue coincides with the reprinting of the story in two hardcover editions.
From Broken Fingaz website, “New animation clip by Tant and Unga! We shot it in 3 days on our roof in Hadar… Turn the speakers on before pressing play..”
Fascinating! Speeches given during two evenings in 1974 and stitched together into a nine minute video. I had never seen any film or video of John Birch Society founder Robert Welch Jr. before and this is educational. For a guy thought of as a total crackpot (and I’m not saying he wasn’t) he comes off here much better than, say, Sarah Palin or Rush Limbaugh. He’s at least thoughtful, not hyperbolic and he’s even somewhat intellectual. Certainly puts Glenn Beck into perspective, doesn’t he?
Forget the Flaming Lips and the Easy Star All Star-Dub Band versions of Dark Side of the Moon, this is far better. A fellow by the name of Brad Smith recreated the most famous Pink Floyd album in 8-bit using Famitracker, sound rendered with NSFplug. It sounds like Kraftwerk covering Pink Floyd! You can download the entire album here.
Bonus: The above clip is one of the all-time greatest Pink Floyd moments, the original band performing Astronomy Domine on a TV program called Look of the Week. Dig the classical music critic! What a tool.
People in this country are outraged about many things, but this story really takes the cake pudding. What’s America coming to when you can’t even purchase a package of dessert mix without worrying about it being tampered with?
And why would someone tamper with a box of Jell-O pudding, you may ask? A wanton act of dessert terrorism?
Nope, they simply wanted to get some free pudding. From Fox News:
Suffolk County Police today arrested an East Northport husband and wife for tampering with JELL-O brand pudding mixes purchased at local supermarkets.
After reviewing hours of surveillance video and following up on numerous leads, officers identified Christine Clement, 64, and Alexander Clement, 68 . . . as the individuals responsible for tampering with the pudding mix.
Apparently, Christine Clement purchased the product, removed the original pudding mix and re-filled the boxes with a sandwich bag containing salt and sand. The boxes were then resealed and returned to the supermarkets for a monetary refund.
There is no indication that Christine’s intent was to inflict physical harm to any other consumers or the supermarkets, but to obtain the pudding mix without having to pay for it. None of the individuals that purchased the product that had been tampered with were injured.
These are dark days for America people, dark days, indeed…