July 30, 2009
Last night Depeche Mode proved that their crowd-drawing prowess is undiminished – after nearly 30 years – by packing a gigantic venue. One of England’s most successful bands from the early 1980s, DM lit up the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Virginia. The group is on a world tour supporting Sounds of the Universe, its 12th studio album. As cited in ifmagazine.com, keyboardist Martin Gore has lately been scavenging vintage ’80s keyboards, mixing old-school synth sounds and new technology. Onstage, the performance included a giant light sphere and enormous image projections of psychedelic symbols behind the band’s beats, hooks and pitch-perfect vocals. “It’s No Good” and “Enjoy the Silence” got fans dancing like maniacs with Read More
July 28, 2009
With his ever-unerring sense of when to embrace trends, and when to dis them, geezer rocker Neil Young appeared at the mega Fortune Brainstorm conference last week. According to reporter Charles Cooper – Coop’s Corner on CNET News – Young pushed for more sophisticated digital-to-analog converters in PCs.
“People’s understanding has been skewed by MP3s and convenience. It’s important to get music out there…but not at the expense of quality,” he said. Cooper also quotes Young saying, “All my life, I heard the best sound possible.” But that the “dumbed down” sound that comes out of computers sounds like toy instruments.
It might be remembered that when compact disks first appeared, Young rejected their sound as well, expressing preferring the richer, warmer analog sound of vinyl over the cleaner digital effect of CDs
July 27, 2009
Disney Blog has unearthed Walt Disney’s secret footage capturing the construction of Disneyland prior to opening in 1955. Disney, who had already used time-lapse in his nature films, erected camera towers throughout the construction site precisely to document the building of the park. Imagineering officials narrating the films note that Disneyland was built in nine months, while Disneyland in Paris took five years to build. Other factoids for Disney geeks: There were no guide rails on the Autopia ride, so drivers could pass each other. There were no fences around lawns on Main Street, so pedestrians could cross the grass. Art directors used studio artisans to create attractions such as Jungle Cruise. Architects created many buildings — again using studio technology — with different themes on opposite sides… e.g. hacienda style on one side, New Orleans on the other. Sleeping Beauty’s Castle was built four years before the Sleeping Beauty movie came out: Disney was that brand-confident that it built the product promotion before the product.
July 23, 2009
If you use Google Docs or its new Chrome operating system, you’ve moved into the world of storing info and running code online rather than on your hard drive. The advantages are – for one thing – it’s free: No need pay Microsoft hundreds of dollars for programs. Another advantage is you never lose anything if your hard drive crashes. It’s all up there, “in the cloud,” free to be shared. But is the cloud too accessible? Law professor Jonathan Zittrain says so in this New York Times article. He’s concerned that the cloud is more open to hacking and to censorship by authorities.
But there’s a competing philosophy, advanced by people such as those at PirateBay.org. It says not only that movies, games, programs etc, should be free and accessible, but that copyrights should be extremely limited, with most intellectual property part of the public domain.
July 22, 2009
The Governator and legislators finally balanced the state’s titanic deficit. Now the real problems start. Not only will budget cuts be brutal on State programs, but the state will take more than $5 billion from cities. This includes $72 million from Los Angeles’ Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Wall Street Journal reporter Jim Carlton spoke to CRA Chief Executive Cecilia Estolano, who said, “The state will be in essence shutting down the one economic-development program the state of California has during the worst recession in 70 years.” In other words, when many of these cuts filter down, they will not only shut down police, fire, parks, health and education services, they will also delay hopes of new economic progress.
July 21, 2009
Exene Cervenka, best known as singer in famous, long-time L.A. punk rock band X, has also been an artist for the same period of time (30 years?). Her collage and assemblage work conveys some of the same sensibility as her songs. As Western Project gallery in downtown Culver City says about her new show there, look for “remnants from her travels across the US; photographs, children’s books, bullet boxes and other familiar pieces of Americana… pop culture and cosmology illuminating the light and darker aspects of our society.” The exhibit is “We’re Not the Jet Set,” and she shares it with Wayne White, who “paints language on vintage framed lithographs, recalling the intelligence and incisive bite of Mark Twain.” White is also the subject of the recent release: Wayne White: Maybe Now I’ll Get the Respect I So Richly Deserve, edited and designed by Todd Oldham and published by Ammo Books. Show opens July 25.
July 16, 2009
Bill Gates is working on a project that would slow hurricanes. Dan Vergano from USA Today reports that the founder of Microsoft is working closely with Ken Caldeira (Carnegie Institution of Washington) to patent the new technology. Hurricanes gain speed and power by fueling off of the warmer waters at the ocean’s surface. Gates and Caldeira say it is possible to slow and maybe even diffuse the storm by pumping cold ocean water from below onto the surface. Just dropping the surface temperature by only 4.5 degrees could kill a storm. Numerous questions arise from this project. An important one among them is could this cause irreversible effects to the natural cycle of the ocean thus causing harm and damage?
July 8, 2009
Microsoft’s new search engine, Bing, is a big production: Years in the making, a cast of thousands. Its recent debut has generated favorable comparisons to that king of search Engines: Google. David Pogue in his New York Times Personal Tech column says, “Bing is better.” And he encourages people to compare them side by side, via the useful new site bing-vs-google.com. For one thing, Bing gives you a summary of a search item without you having to click in and out of it. Bing also divides your searches – when appropriate – into categories: For example, if you search for a celebrity’s name, you get sub-searches in: News, Movies, Quotes, Biography and Images. Part of Google’s appeal has always been its uncluttered look. But Bing looks great with its additional design elements. Go to Bing and google yourself – I mean bing yourself – and see what you think.
July 7, 2009
In February, Best Buy announced that it would be selling a range of electric vehicles (EVs). And this week the Brammo Enertia, a much-hyped electric urban commuter bike, hit a Best Buy store in Portland, Oregon, and will expand to other locations nationwide soon. The $11,995 Enertia is part of a growing push by the store to move into electric vehicle sales. While Best Buy has been selling eight models of electric bikes, scooters, and Segways at 21 West Coast stores since May, the Enertia is the premier model on the store’s line of EVs. Best Buy has invested $10 million in Brammo and is training in-store “Geek Squad” members to service the bikes. Read More
July 6, 2009
From London via Sydney comes hot indie four-piece with a woman manning the microphone. Howling Bells (not to be confused with another dream pop band, School of Seven Bells) are expressive, well-trained singer Juanita Stein backed up by the tasteful guitar weavings of her brother, Joel Stein, along with bass and drums. Howling Bells’ dark, moody, minor-key numbers verge on Goth but never forsake the appeal of classic song structure. In their sound some will hear another recent chik-rawk outfit, The Duke Spirit. While others will be reminded of Mazzy Star in their less opiated moments. Howling Bells are on tour with Coldplay.
