At least they didn’t write “comprised”…

Posted in Too good to miss, WTF | 1 Comment

The Death of Disintermediation

André Rieu is big with folks in my demographic.

Either him or these hokey Gospel shows that pop up with frightening frequency.

When I say that I’ve been to see Daniel Lanois or Willy Deville, I get blank looks.

So where do YOU find good new music?

MTV?

Billboard? This is their current Top 10

1 Rolling In The Deep -Adele
2 Party Rock Anthem – LMFAO
3 Give Me Everything – Afrojack & Nayer Pitbull feat. Ne-Yo
4 E.T. (feat. Kanye West) – Katy Perry
5 Just Can’t Get Enough – The Black Eyed Peas
6 The Show Goes On – Lupe Fiasco
7 Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) [Explicit] – Katy Perry
8 Good Life – One Republic
9 The Edge of Glory – Lady Gaga
10 Super Bass – Nicki Minaj

Nothing to see here, folks. Move along…

(Although I DID meet the Black Eyed Peas on a flight to Los Angeles. Nice enough bunch of kids. Even downloaded their recommendation from iTunes on the inflight WiFi)

I get a fair few samples of really, really good new stuff from a wide range of friends-in-a-networked-sort-of-way.

If they were a band, I’d called them “The Death of Disintermediation”.

They’re people who’ve got taste and a ear for music. They sort out the wheat from the chaff and let you have a listen so that you can go out and buy it.

Pretty much like my Tuesday Tunes

Here are a few places where you’re pretty much guaranteed to find some good stuff.

Aquarium Drunkard

Come Pick Me Up

Hits in the car

I am fuel You are friends

Popdose especially the Friday Mixtape

Quick before it melts

The Music Slut (seriously)

Any major dude with half a heart

BIRP (Blalock’s Indie Record Playlists – 100 Indie titles a month)

If you don’t know how to get these goodies, here’s a “Free Music 101”

You’ve got Firefox as your browser, right?

No?

Get it here.

Now go to Downthemall.

No, NOT “Down the mall” as in “Gone to the beach” – Down them all.

It’s an extension for Firefox and installs itself under “Tools”.

When you’re on a music site with stuff you’d maybe like to listen to, fire up Downthemall, define where you want your downloads saved, say you want mp3’s and click “Start”.

Then do something else while your music downloads.

Import it to iTunes.

Done.

Easy as…..

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If it’s all reet…..

…with Magritte.

(Nicked that from the liner notes on Jackson Browne’s exquisite (in bits) “Late for the sky”

HT BoingBoing

Posted in Art, Too good to miss | 1 Comment

“No one believing in Jesus commits mass murder”

So Bill O’Reilly of Fox News [sic], discounting Anders Behring-Breivik’s self-declared belief in Christianity.

Er…The Crusades?

No?

Not even one of the nine?

The Balkans?

Srebrenica? Over 8000 civilians killed by Serbs?

Serbia: 84% Orthodox Christianity

Ratko Mladic is on trial for ordering their murder.

How about Northern Ireland, then?

Protestants vs Catholics, at last count both Christian beliefs

Probably not.

They were individual murders, not mass murder.

All 3000 of them.

Not unless you count the bombs in city centres….

Posted in This is America, WTF | 1 Comment

Tunes for a Tuesday – 26 July 2011

Claire Waldoff – Als Der Kremser Noch Fuhr Ins Grüne
Crazy World Of Arthur Brown – Fire
Daniel Lanois – Sillium’s Hill
Desert Rose Band with Emmylou Harris – If I Could Only Win Your Love
Gipsy Kings – Escucha Me
Mario Lanza – Loveliest night of the year
Once In A While – Animals Deluxe
Salmonella Dub – Longtime (Sativa Records Remix Featuring Extra Vocals From Yt)
The Black Crowes – Thick n’ Thin
The Mynabirds – What We Gained in the Fire

Posted in Mixtape, Music, Tunes for a Tuesday | Leave a comment

Intelligent design

Wildlife documentary maker and general good egg David Attenborough has admitted he receives hate mail from Christians for not giving due credit to God in his programmes.

“They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator.”

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This is the BBC in London….

Live commentary of the 1st Test England vs India

1617 India 224-5 (40 overs remaining)  

Now then, here’s a turn-up, a Mexican wave at Lord’s … and not surprisingly it peters out as it reaches the pavilion, the disapproving tuts of the members audible even from 100 yards away in the commentary box.

Just love it

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Welcome to LA

The LA Times blog has a category cloud.

You know how they work – the size of the category text indicates the relative access frequency.

This frightens me – Crime & Courts, Sheriff’s Dept, Homicide.

Anything else is an also-ran…

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Domain experts

Domain experts tend to make the best consultants.

They know what you’re talking about.

You know what they’re talking about.

You can usually trust their recommendations.

Andy and Ness are prime examples.

They reckoned that I HAD to try Emerson’s 1812, a pale ale from Dunedin.

Today seemed as good a time as any – Central Europe’s version of a summer day in Dunedin  (13C, gray, rain…).

Excellent stuff….

 

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Season not found

Delightful subtlety from London Daily Photo

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