...dunno why, but this image kind of reminds me of a famous image of big block silver letters that say "all you see is, CRIME IN THE CITY"...extra points if you can name the work I'm talking about, the movie with the quote about it, and at least two hip hop songs that sampled the movie quote...not that hard really...any takers?
Pic from Ben & Jerry's @ Haight Ashbury
Well, it's not Friday, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the size of my hangover after rocking the bells @ the Top last night. I think plenty of ppl are prolly looking to screw off the rest of the afternoon...and far be it from me to stand in your way...how about some games. Hope ery'one has a good holiday.
Well, the rumors are running like mad, but it looks like from most reports my absolute favorite bar in the entire world will be shutting it's doors Nov 29th. After 15 years of business the Top in Lower Height will be no mas. Details as to why it's going away are sketchy, I've heard it was sold and I've also heard it's passed it's "sell-by date"...whatever the hell that means. The owners recently remodelled the inside and painted over the famous Owen paintings synonmous with the San Francisco house music scene, I guess that should have been an indicator that something was up.
One of the first "dj bars" and anchors of the SF DJ scene, the history of this bar runs deep. Hosting just about ever type of music on a different night of the week and almost every SF dj has stopped through at one time or another. MikeBee's blog listed Goldie, Z-trip, Diego....to add to that list Craze, Marcus Intalex, Total Science, Klute, Keaton as well as local legends like Mark Farina and countless, countless others. Owen used to have all the major House DJ's names come through and Juju had about every name in the Drum and Bass spectrum for his tuesday night party. It's one of the few places you could just go to have a drink, dance and hang out with some really cool people without a lot of hassle. Don't get me wrong, it's kind of a complete hell hole, but I'm not necessarily high-end bar type of guy.
Man, I feel so kicked in the balls....this is my absolute favorite bar and I have so many great memories there. I'm a big fan of the Phuturo night that runs there, it was one of the very first places I went to hear drum and bass music, and saw many of my favorite artists play there. Anyway...if anyone wants to have a drink, I'll be having more than a few there tonight for what appears to be the last Phuturo at the Top.
So bummed....BTW, If anyone knows of a better pic of the sign, email me...
TedTheodoreLogn:what’s up colin? how’s studying going?
SchmooveC: hell. I just wat this shit oberiwth.
TedTheodoreLogn: no doubt. you’re gonna rock it tho.
SchmooveC: well see.
TedTheodoreLogn:have you heard of this band called Treewave?
SchmooveC: no.
TedTheodoreLogn: the guy produces all the music with an old commodore 64, an Atari 2600, a dotmatrix printer and some other shit.
SchmooveC: taht sounds dope dood.
TedTheodoreLogn: he wrote all the software himself and hacked the atari to output to an amp. it’s pretty rad. it’s not entirely clear what he does with the printer tho.
TedTheodoreLogn: they remind me of stereolab but backed by bleeps and those crunchy little atari noises.
SchmooveC: i wsa never relly into stereolab but taht sound dope.. u should write about thsi on comecorrect.
TedTheodoreLogn: http://www.treewave.com/mp3s.html
TedTheodoreLogn: aight. are you studying this weekend?
SchmooveC: yeh.
TedTheodoreLogn: if you’re not busy saturday night, there’s a girl led zeppelin coverband playing at 12 galaxies.
SchmooveC: werd. call me.
TedTheodoreLogn: anyhoo, i’m out.
SchmooveC: ez
TedTheodoreLogn: l8
Sept 2003 - Flyers for a lost frog appeared around Seattle
Sept 2004 - Discussions of the flyer begin to appear on the internet.
Nov 2004 - Hopkin Green Frog hopped onto teh interwob, Come Correct, and into America's heart. The whole site started with a humble 4 pics.
Nov 9-21st - the meme grew to 72 images (and probably will continue to grow).
Nov 22nd - The reality behind the Green Meme comes to life. Truth is truely stranger than fiction; The author of the advert is actually an autistic 16-yr old boy from Seattle. His lost frog was actually a beanie baby toy named "Hopkins" sold in toy stores .
Fascinating, heartwarming, and a little sad...all rolled up into the same package.
To bring you this video, wherein there Ghetto Boy's "My Mind's Playing Tricks On Me" is re-enacted with old school Star Wars characters. - (via Catchdubs)
I used to try and link up a flash game every friday...but well, that didn't last too long, anyway, FredFunk hooked me up with a grip of game links...so...enjoy...oh yah, and go vote for Fred Funk, Tung, Loosebeats, and Goldilox in the NiteVibe poll...DO IT...It'll hunt you down otherwise.
A Moon or two ago I rolled down to Wisdom records in the Outer Mission with the one like DK on a expedition to learn more in the ways of dancehall/dub/reggae. Wisdom Records is a small shop with incredibly nice people that specializes in the Kingston sounds. As we sort of eased our way into the many records and cd's lining the walls of the shop, one of the guys who ran the store was nice enough to explain to us how the dancehall genre sort of operates....
Basically it works like this, producers make beats that the MC's "dust" over. The division of performer and the writer is similar to the US music industry, with the exception that MC write their lyrics (in the US music industry, if you don't write the music, you rarely write the lyrics.) Now usually in U.S. hip hop, a producer makes one track, an MC raps over it and thats it. In the Jamaica dancehall scene things work a little different. These producers take the same rhythms and run about eight to ten different MCs over the rhythm to come up with about ten different tracks. Some of the better-known MCs make it on every rhythm....guys like Sean Paul, Elephant Man, Beenie Man, and so on. All these songs together form a "Set". This Set of songs usually comes in two forms; either a grip of 45s or, for the more popular sets, all the songs are pressed into a single LP record. Each set usually contains the instrumental of the rhythm, which is called a "Version". I can't remember exactly, but I think the guy at Wisdom (Javier, was his name, really nice guy) said they ran about 10+ different rhythms per week out of Kingston. So if you're a dance hall DJ, that’s about 60-80 45s coming out each week...and if for each rhythm the dj plays 3-4 tracks from the set, it just a tons of stuff to keep up with.
Anyway, when the DJ's buy the 45's for the songs, a lot of times the buy the whole set. DJ's will usually work the same rhythm for a couple of tracks, switching out the different songs, changing the MC but keeping the same rhythm. This is, by the way, is where the whole dub plate culture was born. With so many rhythms and tracks coming out each week, producers will not release songs, versions, or a whole set and give it or sell it so a dj or a sound system (a group of dj's). Those tracks can go for big money to the right people, but, anyway, this whole environment is where the dub plate started.
Even though it's the blueprint for dancehall today, this whole idea of making a rhythm and having different performers sing over it is something that runs way back to the days of early days of dub in Jamaica. At the time Lee Perry ran The Black Ark and Coxson Dodd had Studio One which were the creative factories of the day since there aren't alot of bedroom producers in Jamaica (since it's a pretty poor country)....maybe I'll do more on that those doods another time. Anyway, the early days of dub music started with the versions and had performers on them as well. I included some of the more classic Dub versions for your Friday listening pleasure. BTW, these riddims were gifted to me by Matt of 1115.org, who simply read on the site, noted that I like dub music, and hit me up on AIM to extend the offer of these songs....take notes people, that's a good man there.
...aight...so, running deep this Friday...check it out.
Rhythm and Sound - The Versions
1. King Version
2. Queen Version
3. Jah Version
4. Troddin Version
5. Mash Down Version
6. Hit You Version
7. Friend Version
8. History Version
Ok, so peeps in San Francisco really dig their metaphysics. They're into the "essence" of things, as they say. Just an all around general belief that all things have beauty and purpose...or something. There's purportedly a perfect alignment for everything; planets, chakras, stars, everything having a correct position in the universe. Vibrations in the earth, etc, etc... Yes, a yin for every yang dusted with karma abounds from bay to breaker in this fine city.
I don't think I would have been able to conjure ("attempt" might be a better word) such prose when I stumbled into the city by the bay five years ago. Over those years, I've seen/heard/experienced many variations of people and their beliefs in the natural movements of the earth. Some being steeped in tradition, others blatantly twisting the concept of a "belief" to serve their own selfish good. That being said, I don't think I've seen anyone relate metaphysics to exact colors. I mean I've heard people speak of greenish blue auras, etc...but nothing with metaphysics ever really seemed exact, it seemed always like their were bigger movements of the universe, things bigger than us we might not understand....I dunno, sounds plausible, but of course everyone has their opinion.
Back to this thing about exacting colors and metaphysics. I happened upon a site this morning (via Cool Hunting) relating to Colorstrology. Colorstrology would be the “mystic science” of linking colors and personalities. In the same way people have astrological signs, this site purports that they also have "colors". By color, I don't really mean "sort of a bluish green color", we're talking about "Cashmere Blue; Panatone® 14-4115".
IMHO, the site's really done well. The concept, however, is sort of an insulting sham that partners some new age colorista with Pantone to produce some generic wistful phrases combined with pre-cataloged colors representing each day of the calendar year. Who knows, maybe there's something more to it. I'm probably just bitter that I'm a "Moonlight Mauve; Pantone® 16-2614".
Hope you have a wonderful, Amarath (Pantone® 19-2410) type of day.
In "honor" of the Virgin Mary Grilled Cheese, it's off to the races for the memes. Satire truely is a gift.
...Team Gibba; a couple so supposedly in love it fuels their web log and recurring newsletter and they seem to have spent quite some time on it...I deeply hope this is a cruel joke, for the sake of humanity in general (via Yap)
...Catch27 which seems to be a perfectly vile formula combining equal parts of Friendster, mySpace, baseball trading cards, and the harsh judgement reserved for realtiy television shows...*shrug* (via Catchdubs)
...people that spend time stamping messages on their money
...and by "this", I mean, transform to a robot and shake that thang on the roof of a parking garage? Nice Citroen ad.
...from a Super Soaker + wiper fluid...that thing is no joke.
So a while ago I posted a bit about a chess game that visualizes all the permutations it's making to calculate the correct move. I had originally thought it was just an exhibit, but today Fred linked me to the actual game where you can see it in action. (Thnx Funker)
I dunno what the deal is, I'm on some wacky content streak...totally bipolar; last week scholarly, this week nutty...scholar to screw up, story of my life...actually, that's a lie, I was never a scholar
Subsurvient Chicken: heee's not gon-na take it anymooooorrre
(click practice if you don't wanna register) - tip via Influenz
damn...collapsed in a Manhatten Recording Studio at the age of 35.
Matt from 1115.org did a nice bit too.
From eBay, a grilled cheese with the image of the Virgin Mary...who sorta looks more like Janet Jackson...reguardless, deep philosophical reference for sure...
(via MattTheGorman)
Edit: Pulled by eBay...what a buncha fascist auctionists
so wrong, so unnecessary...yet slightly genious (not completely safe for work)
As a romantic-existentialist and ascetic I sometimes read hedonist philosophy as a form of escapism. Similar to the way many adults read fantasy stories like Harry Potter as a way of removing themselves from the concrete/mundane of mature life (although some adults read Harry Potter to reacquaint themselves with the sentimentality of children -- We call those adults ‘pedophiles’).
These days many people are overly preoccupied with the immediate horror of the next four years and the seemingly impending fascist state our social security cards mark us as members of. It may be reassuring to realize that these short-term concerns are rendered irrelevant by a future in which all aversive mental states will be eliminated. I was floored by the discovery of people, scientists and philosophers, who currently believe that the evolution of our society depends not on political or social reform but on biochemistry.
Sure these ideas have been around since Aldux Huxley grabbed a pen or Tim Leary crossed his legs on a pillow, but in these days of genome-maps we're beginning to see the groundwork of defendable science backing the notion of a truly post-darwinist species.
I could go on and on about the optimistic future of perennial euphoria but it would only be the ramblings of a presently dopamine inundated brain. Instead, just read the manifesto yourself if you’re so inclined:
Faced with the current nightmare of Animal Farm and 1984's manifestation it may be ardent to presuppose the appealing aspects of Brave New World may come to us around the same time. Just remember to always decline the offer to peer at the man behind the curtain.
OK....sort of a fair warning, this post will definitely be considered by some to be boring, I can't stop with this sight today so I'd thought I'd post it. The site in question is the electronic version of The Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Basically it's an online version of a book that was last printed in the 80's and was originally published in 1973. The book was a compendium of writings from the Journal of the History of Ideas which has been around since 1940 and has been at least published until 2003 (father than that, I can determine). It's basically a journal of all kinds of classical concepts for scholars, researchers, etc, or as the original preface put it:
"Artists, writers, and scientists do not hesitate in their creative efforts and researches to borrow ideas outside their own special fields whenever their themes reach beyond established forms, styles, or traditional methods."
This book was made in the effort to allow people of curious mind to discover more about subjects a little too abstract or evolving to be printed in something like an encyclopedia, and far to dense to make it to a magazine or a newspaper. The authors behind these works were basically the classically trained foreword thinkers of their time. The book has been resurrected in an online format for reference purposes. The material can be somewhat dry at times but the breadth of the work seems pretty exhaustive for a period when everything was indexed by the dewwy decimal system, and since it's over thirty years old I'm sure it's a bit dated. Anyway, I've sort of been skimming through some of the odd texts in spare time, some are interesting, some are just really cheeky and dated. I thought someone might get into it...some of the topics I've checked out:
Ahhh, nothing like a good lighthearted meme to start the week...with any luck the images will continue to grow. (via BoingBoing)
Edit: the meme grew, more pics...this one RULES
So the site's really slow right now, but you knew it was going to happen. People apologizing to the rest of the world via pictures and other messages that Bush won the election. (You might have to check back in a day or two.) Thanks to Chip for the heads up.
...since almost everyone I've talked to in the last 6 hours has mentioned it in jest or otherwise...kind of shocked I don't have 5 petitions from MoveOn.org yet, I guess the day is young.
...so I'm posting this...I think I saw it sometime last year...but I saw it again today and it still holds up for the funny...
This r/c dinosaur ad is sort of like a monster truck ad meets a wrestling ad dated circa 1983...the toy comes complete with "long range precision dino tronics...tronics....tronics". Wow Wee, the company that makes that Robosapien thing you see see everywhere, easily has most extensive odd assortments of radio controlled toys hawked by the most hideous advertising...I mean, cummon they have a R/C Cobra and a Cyber Panther?!
So start with some guys who are really interested in sound and experimenting with visuals. Then add to that the fact that these guys want thos sounds and visuals to complement each other in a simultaneous interactive manner and you'll end up with a project called InsertSilence.
Inspired by a long-time desire to "play animation as if it were music", James Pitaru and James Paterson have developed some small (and not so small scale) sonic and visually reactive animation applets that yields breath taking results. Together they've done work for Diesel, Playstation, Bjork, and various other client. Individually, Pitaru who seems to have more of a sonic focus has work on his own site, more notably , the Blooming Hammond, Mood Sculpture, and his new Sonic Wire Sculptor. James Paterson holds down more of the stylistic scribbling end of the spectrum with his PressTube website which features a semi-daily smattering of quirky images along with more involved interactive drawing and sonic laden pieces. There are far too many for me to point links to, but everyone I've looked at was interesting.
Definitely a must see for the sonic nerds and visual enthusiasts.
