18 • Jermaine Jackson Petitions To Alter Famous Name - I'll save you the click...he wants to change it form Jackson to Jacksun. I hope the judge denies it on the grounds of go fuck yourself (that's a legal term, right?), but if not, exhibit A is that he named one of his sons Jermajesty.
04 • How Apple Avoids Paying Billions in Taxes - They ain't making record breaking profits just from selling a lot of gadgets. Because sometimes it also pays not to think differently.
Sad news for the six people who gave a shit about Chumbawamba - the "anarchist art-punk" band announced they are disbanding. Here's the overly self-indulgent statement:
That’s it then, it’s the end. with neither a whimper, a bang or a reunion. Thirty years of ideas and melodies, endless meetings and European tours, press releases, singalong choruses and Dada sound poetry, finally at an end. It’s hard to sum up why without sitting you down one at a time and having a proper conversation, but that’d take too long. So, in as few words as possible, here goes.
We felt we’d got to a point where what we did as a band – and specifically the writing, recording, touring cycle – wasn’t doing justice to what Chumbawamba set out to do in the first place. We were always as much about ideas as music, and that meant doing more than writing, recording and touring songs. It meant trying to be relevant and active and up-to-date, while trying to avoid the dreaded rut of routine or repetition. being up-to-date meant giving plenty of time and energy to the band, constantly, for those thirty years; a constancy we plainly couldn’t keep up with in the end.
Chumbawamba was our vehicle for pointing at the naked Emperors, for telling our version of the truth; it gave us more than the joy and love of playing live, writing songs and singing together – it gave us a chance to be part of a broad coalition of activists and hectors, optimists and questioners. But eventually the rest of our lives got in the way and we couldn’t commit the time and enthusiasm that the band demanded. Couldn’t keep up with whatever responsibilities came with a band like this.
If there were ever a Chumbawamba manifesto, it would read in the inconsistent, contradictory language of the Dadaists – part strident belligerence and part foolishness. This ending is no different; it comes almost as much of a surprise to us as it may do to you. Always more clown than politician, the band trips over its outsize feet and performs its final tumble.
There have been squabbles and arguments along the way. A deal of griping, frustration, moaning, exasperation – but always alongside a huge amount of goodwill and generosity, good humour and love. What a riot it’s been, frankly. And now it’s time to clear up the mess and move on.
That’s the simple version, anyway.
Wow, that's really making something out of nothing. They had one hit one pop song in 30 years and that's supposed to be impressive? Especially when it overshadowed any of their "message". Rage Against The Machine made more of 45 minutes of music on their debut album than this crappy band did in decades. Goodbye, Chumabawamba, now disappear into history.
Though they may be the modern kings of licensing their music, The Black Keys are not getting any dough to provide the soundtrack to Home Depot and Pizza Hut commercials...yet.
The band's 2010 Brothers was the most licensed album in the WB catalog for that year, and their current record, El Camino, is still generating money for them - not to mention all the dough they stand to get in the copyright infringement lawsuits filed yesterday. The cases against the two companies seeks damages of more than $75,000 apiece, and an order preventing the continued use of the songs in the commercials.
Pizza Hut and Home Depot claim they have not "seen" the complaint yet, and both directed inquiries to the ad's creators, The Martin Agency and The Interpublic Group of Companies - who declined any comment. That's a lot of bucks being passed, but the real bucks will be in The Black Key's pocket soon. It's a slam dunk, since neither company received permission to use musical elements from "Lonely Boy" and "Gold on the Ceiling". I wonder if it would have been cheaper to just license the tune, but seeing as how Mad Men paid $250K for a Beatles song in a episode, maybe it's better to try and seek it through and literally pay the consequences later.
Yuppiepunk was kind enough to collect some of the critical, uh, words about “Lulu,” the awful collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed. I had the misfortune of listening to a few tracks, and it was fucking terrible. Reed said, “It’s maybe the best thing done by anyone, ever. It could create another planetary system. I’m not joking, and I’m not being egotistical,” it was hardly the reaction by reviewers...
Rolling Stone: “Revels in dominatrix decadence and bodily fluids.”
Pitchfork: “For most of the record, Lou Reed and Metallica barely sound like they’re on the same planet, let alone in the same room.”
Chuck Klosterman: “If the Red Hot Chili Peppers acoustically covered the 12 worst Primus songs for Starbucks, it would still be (slightly) better than this.”
LA Times: “This morning when I woke up knowing that the entire day would be spent listening to the thing, I sighed, rolled over and went back to sleep.”
AV Club: “Like an iceberg deciding to start a band with the Titanic.”
The Quietus: “Time that could be more constructively spent watching the grass grow or perhaps wanking into a sock.”
Chicago Sun-Times: “The marriage of Reed’s thin, monotone voice to Metallica’s thick, monotone riffs — and an average song length of nearly nine minutes (including a 19-minute punishment at the end) — produces a listening experience that is never anything more than a dismal, grueling chore.”
Consequence of Sound: “It reads like a misguided Bukowski impersonation and sounds like field recordings taken from Guitar Centers across America.”
Pop Matters: “They let us down harder than the last episode of Seinfeld. Except far fewer people will forgive Metallica.”
A coalition of musicians is demanding the Recording Academy restore more than 30 categories cut from the Grammy Awards they felt were targeting ethnic music and done without the input of its members. I thought that was the whole reason they spun off the Latin Grammys.
A protest was held last Thursday outside an academy board meeting in Beverly Hills, where musicians toted signs, those who brought instruments turned the rally into a spontaneous jam session. Kinda hard to drive the protest point home if it makes you want to dance. It was last month that a decision was made to reduce the Grammy fields from 109 to 78.
Letters were delivered that day to the Recording Academy as well, with the support of musicians like Carlos Santana and Paul Simon (aka the guys who have done world music albums after their mainstream success). But Grammy President Neil Portnow said changes would stay in effect for the 2012 awards, and the effect of the changes would be reviewed before the 2013 awards.
He added, "In this year's awards, there were 34 mainstream categories. Next year, with the changed revision, there will be 20 mainstream categories. That's a significant reduction in mainstream areas. In non-mainstream categories...there were 71. In the upcoming awards, there will be 54." So percentage-wise, the mainstream categories were effected more.
I think it's great that there's a mini-civil ethno-war brewing over these categories, because the Grammys are are just worthless anyway. Best Latin Jazz record versus Best Vocal Performance, Male? Who gives a shit about all the backstroking. Any real musician makes their music for the love of the art, not because a bunch of other musicians who are not even in their genre or familiar with their work cast a vote for them. Nobody gets into music because they're looking to get a Grammy, and the complaint is just crushed egos. They can give out a mountain of awards to Lady Antebellum and Usher and it still won't convince me they're "best anything...other than marketed.
Hollywood trade newspaper Variety has lost in its attempt to pursue a trademark claim in Delaware against the punk band The Vandals. Round one to the punks!
In 2004, the Vandals released their 10th album, "Hollywood Potato Chip". The album's title is a euphemism for dried semen on a casting couch, and the original cover art used lettering that parodied the logo of Variety. It prompted legal action and a cease and desist order from the magazine, resulting in a replacement cover with redesigned lettering. However, Variety brought a new suit over third-party uses of the original cover appearing on the interweb.
The original settlement with the band, in addition to changing the cover, stipulated that band members would have to pay $50,000 plus attorneys fees if the group ever reneged. But with the appearance on the cover art online...
The band claimed it wasn't behind the breaches, and he case will be moving to a California federal court, thanks to Vandals bassist and lawyer Joe Escalante (a Loyola Law School alum who worked in business affairs at CBS, as well as host of the "Barely Legal Radio" program, which covers entertainment legal matters.
On the Vandals' website, Escalante is touting the successful opening move, and a video about the dispute, featuring a fake conversation between Variety's former editor Peter Bart and his lawyer is also posted. In the video, Bart questions why the publication is spending $100,000 in attorney's fees to win a $50,000 claim at a time when the publication is dwindling in size. Good question...
William Shatner is again releasing another album of his unique vocal stylings, and this one's got a concept. "Searching for Major Tom" comes out later this year (following his 2004's effort "Has Been", which surprisingly had several bright spots). Here's the tracks and details straight from Shatner's site:
Space Trucking (originally by Deep Purple) - Deep Purple drummer Ian Paice has performed the drum part. Johnny Winter is on guest guitar. She Blinded Me With Science (originally by Thomas Dolby) - Bootsy Collins is on as the guest bassist. Patrick Moraz (ex Yes and Moody Blues) is guesting on keyboards/synth. In A Little While (originally by U2) - Manuel Gottsching from Ash Ra Temple has added guitar. Empty Glass (originally by The Tea Party) - Michael Schenker (UFO/Scorpions) has added guest guitar. Lost In The Stars (as done by Frank Sinatra) - Jazz legend Ernie Watts is on guest saxophone. Twilight Zone (originally by Golden Earring) - Warren Haynes (Gov't Mule/Allman Brothers) is on guest guitar. Space Cowboy (originally by Steve Miller) - Country artist Brad Paisley has added guitar and vocals. Rocket Man (originally by Elton John) - Guitarist Steve Hillage (ex Gong member and current member of techno rock duo System 7) has added guest guitar Space Oddity (originally by David Bowie) - Ritchie Blackmore (ex-Deep Purple) has added guest guitar. Alan Parsons is adding guest keyboards. Spirit In The Sky (originally by Norman Greenbaum) - Peter Frampton has played guitar on this track. Bohemian Rhapsody (originally by Queen) - John Wetton from Asia has played bass and done a vocal. Silver Machine (originally by Hawkwind) - Wayne Kramer from the MC5 is adding guitar and Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge/Rod Stewart) is adding a guest drum part. Major Tom (originally by Peter Shilling) - Nick Valensi, the guitarist from the Strokes has added guest guitar to this this track. Also Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, black label society) and Mike Inez (Alice In Chains)have contributed to this track. Learning To Fly (originally by Pink Floyd) - Edgar Froese from Tangerine Dream has played guitar and keyboards on this track. Mr. Spaceman (originally by The Byrds) - Dave Davies from the Kinks has added guest guitar on this track. Iron Man (originally by Black Sabbath) - Zakk Wylde (ex Ozzy guitarist) played guitar and did a vocal on this track. Planet Earth (originally by Duran Duran) - Steve Howe, guitarist with Yes, played guitar on this track. Walking On The Moon (originally by The Police) - Toots of Toots & the Maytals has added a guest vocal. Mrs. Major Tom - female singer to add a track -To be announced.
These could make his legendary original version of Rocket Man look like a warm up.
And to think that System Of A Down figured it out first...
That song title juxtaposes the order, but not necessarily the feeling. And now scientists McGill University in Montreal are coming to that conclusion. Published in Nature Neuroscience, their study claims that hearing good music (or even eating good food) can trigger feelings of euphoria that your brain soon grows attached to. Oh, sweet dopamine! The folks in lab coats say:
"If music-induced emotional states can lead to dopamine release, as our findings indicate, it may begin to explain why musical experiences are so valued. These results further speak to why music can be effectively used in rituals, marketing or film to manipulate hedonistic states. Our findings provide neurochemical evidence that intense emotional responses to music involve ancient reward circuitry and serve as a starting point for more detailed investigations of the biological substrates that underlie abstract forms of pleasure."
Does that also explain why I have a bad trip when shitty music from Train plays? Not entirely. Participants had to choose instrumental pieces of music that "gave them goosebumps", and that had no specific memories attached to them. Lyrics were banned because the researchers did not want their results effected any associations to the words they heard. The pieces chosen ranged from classical to rock, punk and electronic dance music. So what can you take away from this? You're probably going to get high if you listen to MAGNA.
In the vein of Blue Man Group, homemade PVC-pipes-as-musical-instrument. Here’s his playlist:
• Office Theme Song (0:18)
• Linus And Lucy (0:38)
• Turkish March (1:13)
• Mario Brothers Theme (1:27)
• In The Hall Of The Mountain King (1:54)
• Bad Romance (2:07)
• Viva La Vida (2:50)
• Like A Virgin (3:03)
• Crazy Train (3:23)
• Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (4:01)
• James Bond Theme (4:15)
• Pirates of the Caribbean Theme (4:35)
• The Final Countdown (4:56)
The Beatles are finally coming to iTunes! Who cares!
In one of their trademark "big deal" announcements, Apple said they would finally start selling music from the biggest band in history. The Beatles had been the most prominent holdout from iTunes (and other online music services), and the legal bad blood between the two giants didn't help. Apple Corps, the Beatles management company had previously battled the computer company in a trademark dispute, which was resolved in 2007 and makes their announcement three years past relevant. But hey, that money for doing a Rock Band version wasn't going to last forever...
Apple will sell 13 remastered Beatles studio albums, the two-volume "Past Masters" set and the classic "Red" and "Blue" collections. People Suckers can buy individual songs for $1.29 apiece or download entire albums, at $12.99 for a single album and $19.99 for a double (those Red / Blue collections, The White Album, etc..). For $149, they're also shilling a "special digital box set" that includes a download of the 41-minute movie of the Beatles first U.S. concert, Live at the Washington Coliseum, 1964.
I'm just going to point out the far lower pricing that you can find on Amazon in case you didn't want to pay more for those same albums. That is, if you didn't already own them on disc, and haven't already ripped it to upload it into your iTunes already. Because that would take the less time than buying it for download on iTunes. Maybe it's good news to the six people who use iTunes but are inexplicably not tech-savvy enough to rip a disc or download the albums elsewhere, but what's the big deal for anyone else?
And in somewhat unrelated news, a dedication of "When I'm Sixty-Four" to Famous Dad on his birthday...
The Glee cast has surpassed the Beatles for the most appearances on the Billboard Hot 100 chart by a non-solo act. Finally, a real musical legacy has been established!
The cast of the series added six debuts to the chart this week, making a total of 75 songs on the chart to the Beatles' 71. The show's soundtrack got a boost after this week's episode featuring the music of Britney Spears. Elvis Presley still leads overall with 108 songs, followed by James Brown with 91, and then Glee. The Beatles are now sixth, behind Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. Songs from Elton John, Lil Wayne, Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z round out the Top 10.
Warming Glow nailed it with both their photoshop and commentary:
Just pay attention to the eye-catching headline, people. No need for context.
So there you have it: irrefutable evidence that a television show that makes covers of hit songs is more influential and successful than the band that defined a generation and changed rock and roll. Again, there’s no need to give this any kind of analysis or critical thought. “Glee’s” bigger than the Beatles. End of discussion. Move along now.
There's a growing opinion that Weezer has not been able to replicate the quality and songcraft of their debut album, and that each successive album has been worse than the last. But James Burns hates Weezer so much, he's trying to raise enough money to get them to stop making music altogether.
Recently, Burns launched an online fundraiser to collect $10 million in hopes of sending Weezer to early retirement, The (Seattle) Stranger reported. Despite only raising $2000 to this point, the movement isn't so much about his own feelings for the band, but rather the anguish Weezer has cause their followers. "This isn't about me. This is about Weezer fans," Burns wrote on the website. "This is an abusive relationship, and it needs to stop now. I am tired of my friends being disappointed year after year."
Drummer Patrick Wilson jokingly responded to raise the stakes. "If they can make it to 20, we'll do the 'deluxe breakup!'". The Stranger interviewed Burns, and he said he'll try and go the distance to raise the money. And as for angry reactions to his fundraising, Burns claims he doesn't mind. "I am not afraid of Weezer fans," Burns said. "I can take it. Besides, I'm doing this mostly for them."
Weezer's latest album arrives in early November, so he'll have to step it up if he's going to stop that release.
UPDATE: Looks like Jimmy has gone all soft and weak - like Weezer, album after album. He posted the following:
Hey, I’m going to break character here for a minute, okay? Okay. The amount of attention this thing has gotten is unreal. I expected to ruffle a few feathers, but this is pretty insane. So, I’ll be shutting this campaign down at noon on Monday.
Why?
Well, I didn’t raise $10 Million, and Weezer are still a band, but I accomplished everything I ever hoped to. I figured since the internet wasted so much of my time with all the ridiculous articles about the new Weezer album, I thought I’d return the favor and waste some of the internet’s time. Boy howdy, did I succeed. So in case there was any doubt (and if there was, all I can say is that you’re dumber than me) that this campaign was anything more than a giant piss-take, I’ll leave you with these last words: I did it for the lulz.
toodle pip,
James
Claudia Friedlander is a classically-trained voice teacher who knows virtually nothing about heavy metal. Invisible Oranges sent her five completely unidentified songs and noted her reaction and comments.
I have nothing but admiration for this singer. Listen how he starts off with a soft growl, then moves seamlessly into a well-supported, sustained high full-voice sound that then evolves into an effortless long scream! His diction is easily intelligible, regardless of the range he’s singing in or the effect he’s going for. He achieves an intensely rhythmic delivery of the lyrics without losing legato and musical momentum, something a lot of classical singers struggle with, especially when interpreting the many staccato and accent markings that crowd scores by Bellini, Donizetti, etc.
This is another very fine singer. His voice is so naturally resonant – he reminds me of Freddie Mercury. Like the first singer, he performs with perfect legato, clear diction, and a consistent, organic vibrancy. He arranges his resonance space to create a shallow snarl without setting up any resistance for his breath. You can tell how healthy his delivery is from the way he moves in and out of brief moments of harmony with the other tracks with impeccable intonation.
Here is some impressively artful singing. He begins in full-voice tenor fraught with sobbing verismo-like ornaments and then wails in an ultra-high, very focused countertenor, alternating these two approaches throughout the song, at times even within the same phrase. But not only do I not understand a single word he’s saying, I don’t even know what the overall message or emotion of the song is supposed to be! It is true of classical singing as well as for any other style: there is no need to sacrifice communication for the sake of stunning effects like this. All I hear is virtuosity. At first it’s cool, then it gets boring, and you shouldn’t feel bored listening to metal.
This is a singer with decent diction and good musical instincts but no command of vocal technique. He is massively over-adducting his vocal folds while driving enough air through them to get them to speak, but his throat is so tight that there is no flow or resonance. His rhythmic punctuation of the lyrics is very distracting, in contrast with Singer #1 who delivered his text with rhythmic accents that served, rather than detracted from the flow of music and poetry. It hurt my throat so much to listen to him that I was tempted to ask Cosmo how long his career lasted before he either washed out or needed surgery. The entire range of his singing is contained within a single octave – with the exception of the moment when he yells “Oh Lord!” a little higher, in my opinion the only quasi-free vocal sound on the entire track.
This singer has a fabulous range of vocal colors and effects to choose from. His diction is easy to understand, and his phrasing is lovely throughout. He begins with such a high, gorgeous, resonant messa di voce that that I was surprised to hear how low his actual full singing voice sits once he moved into it. Clearly he had been singing with a somewhat elevated larynx when he started out so high, and later in the song when he moves into a more shrill, high sneer or a scream you can tell his larynx is in a much higher position once again. The high singing and screaming is still relatively free, but I feel that it would be even more impactful if he would master a vocal technique that would enable him to better integrate all of these different things he does so well, primarily with the goal of incorporating the depth and resonance of his natural low sound into the high stuff. He is the only one of the five who I truly wish would visit my studio some time.
"There are cover bands and then there are tribute bands," say Flavorwire. "The former might be able to pump out some decently convincing covers for a frat party, but the latter lives, breathes, and eerily replicates the lives of the band members." Here are come of the more oddball tribute bands they found.
Misfats Billing themselves as “the fattest Misfits cover band ever!”, you can try and find a heavier heavy metal version of the horror rock band - but you won't. The Misfats proudly change all the lyrics of Misfits songs to be fatty-friendly. That means “20 Eyes” becomes “20 Pies,” and the word “martian” becomes “lardass.” And if you're a BBW who likes darker music as much as dark chocolate, you’re in luck: they’re looking for a chubby cover girl Misfat. You can hear some of their tunes here.
Mini-Kiss Perhaps the most well known of all the bands, this Kiss cover band is in the Dr. Pepper commercial, joining the real Kiss on stage - they're the smaller version. Mini Kiss is not just and advertising gimmick - they claim to be one of the most popular tribute acts in the world. And mixing midgets with grease paint and metal studs is kinda a no-brainer.
Red Hot Chili Pipers Do you love Flea but wish that there was more of a Scottish traditional instrumental arrangement to “Under the Bridge”? Well, you've got at least one option out there. The Chili Pipers somehow fuse bagpipe anthems with alternative rock hits — and not just the Chili Peppers, but Coldplay too. They'll even throw in some classic rock like “Smoke on the Water.”
Lez Zeppelin This all-lady Zeppelin tribute actually tours around the US - and has been since 2004. The real Led Zep, not so much. Advantage? Perhaps... You can look up random B.B. King’s in the country, and there's a chance that they are playing there on any given weekend.
Gabba A British sensation for almost 15 years, Gabba pays tribute to both ABBA and the Ramones by playing the former’s infectiously catchy Swedish dance tunes in the style of 1970s Brooklyn punk. The resulting songs (fortunately found here) have mashed up titles like “Hej Ho Disco,” “Fernando es un Punk Rocker,” and “The Pinhead Takes It All.”
No Way Sis Dubbed “the 2nd best band in the world” by Oasis frontman Noah Gallagher (he would know), this Oasis tribute band gained fame in its own right when they broke into the UK’s top 40 with their cover of “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” I don't know if that song disqualifies them from the title claim, but now there's doubt on being 2nd best. Alas, after Oasis stopped their reign on the charts, No Way Sis broke up and went on to cover other things.
The VW Bugs
The Vampire Weekend tribute band that Pitchfork originally assumed was a joke is, well…not exactly a joke, but not totally sincere either. The band has recorded some convincing coversof Vampire Weekend songs, but also satirizes the band as it promotes the tribute. Also, they’re all Princeton grads to Vampire Weekend’s Columbia alumni.
AC/DShe AC/DShe is a San Francisco-area AC/DC cover band that, surprise!, has all female members. They’ve been playing the tribute circuit for 11 years and claim to be the first in the female metal tribute band wave craze. Also, they claim there was a female metal tribute band wave craze.
Beatallica These guys I've actually heard of and downloaded their albums, which are Beatles covers in the style of Metallica. And they're not too bad either. “Leper Madonna”? You bet!
"The music business historically has been built around albums...This album-centrism is like saying the sun revolves around the Earth. We don't listen to albums now; we listen to collections of songs."
Tom Silverman (chairman and CEO of Tommy Boy Records) and Eric Garland ( CEO of Big Champagne) made their own State of the Music Industry address as a sly way to introduce their creation, the Ultimate Chart. But the data they presented shows an industry in flux.
A shift from albums to singles They claim of the some 100,000 albums released last year, 17,000 of them sold only 1 copy - I find that to be absolute bullshit. You mean to tell me that 17,000 performers (and really more, because many of those were likely multiperson bands) don't know more than one person , and didn't convince them to purchase an album? I don't by it. More than 81,000 albums sold under 100 copies, well, that I'm not surprised and makes more sense. One of my former instructors from the music business mentioned that 99% of the albums released don't recoup their costs to the record companies. Barely 1,300 albums sold over 10,000 copies, and that's between physical units and digital album sales. Only 2% of new albums (tracked with Soundscan) sold over 5,000 physical copies.
They attributed the (per-song growth and) album sale depression due in part to iTunes and other online sales outlets selling every song as a single for 99 cents. "Historically, the price of an album was five times greater than a single," said Silverman, who feels setting the price at a tenth of an album's cost was a mistake. "It should've been a $1.99, and then we would've seen higher digital album sales because it would've been a bigger discount for buying an album." However companies like Universal Music have hit about 14% for complete digital albums sales, suggesting the $9.99 price is right with consumers.
Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter The new figure that is being looked at nearly more than sales are "FFF numbers" - an artist's friends, fans, and followers. All three websites are indicators of the reach that musicians have. On one hand the data show how extensive musical acts are saturating the public, but some of the info is inaccurate. Recently, Facebook forced most users to convert their profile favorites into "fan" data - and adding an act as a friend made the user a fan and didn't really indicate any consumer activity.
Google and YouTube more important than iTunes It wasn't Apple that was viewed as the most important name in music, even though iPods, iPhones, and iTunes are hot music portals. Looking at where people are listening to music—not even just looking at videos — people are turning more and more to YouTube, which they calls the "largest catalog of on-demand music on the Internet."
Internet radio Pandora is now the most popular Internet radio service, with a 52% market share, close to 60 million registered users, and more than 1 billion stations, as if we needed 492 Limp Bizkit channels. Overall, internet radio is still tiny, as Pandora represents under 2% of all radio listening, but let's not marginalize 60 million as a figure.
None of these things is a surprise to me, especially as a musician with some web savvy, but to the general public this may be news. I have been saying it for years how the industry has been fucking itself by pushing mediocre acts that don't have real talent or more than one or two songs, and for it's own ineptitude I'm thrilled at their continued implosion. But since they are only interested in sales, the growing singles market is their only real way to stay in the red, and it only creates more shitty music, and an album of garbage surrounding a decent track or two.
Barbecues! Birthdays for Herr Docktor and JCG! The last F1 race before the road trip to Montreal! Half a dozen new chairs! Are three days enough to fit it all in?
Best of the week: A British scientist says he is the first man in the world to become infected with a computer virus. Serves him right for putting his floppy disk in a corrupted drive.
Dr Mark Gasson had a chip inserted in his hand which enabled him to pass through security doors and activate his mobile phone - basically a sophisticated version of ID chips used to tag pets. And then he infected it with a virus to see how it would transfer...and it did, to external control systems. If other implanted chips had then connected to the system they too would have been corrupted.
The test is a proof of principle that has implications for a future where medical devices such as pacemakers and cochlear implants become more sophisticated, and risk being contaminated by other implants and technology.
Plus: There's billboards, bus-stop ads and television spots for Killers...but thankfully it's putrid evil won't be unleashed until it's release date. There won't be any previews: They're everywhere, featuring Katherine Heigl and Ashton Kutcher juggling guns and bantering over super-secret identities.
Critics won't see the film before it appears in theaters because it's a nasty turd, but the marketing spinsters say it's "part of a growing strategy in Hollywood that relies more on social networking to promote new releases instead of riskier movie reviews". The only thing risky about getting your film reviewed is if it's made of unwatchable suck.
Lionsgate has planned a "courtesy screening" for critics the morning the film opens. It's a tactic studios normally use when there's a guaranteed idiot niche audience, such as for horror movies or ones based on video games — the logic being that fans of the genre will show up, regardless of reviews. Is there a genre base for crappy films?
"We want to capitalize on the revolution in social media by letting audiences and critics define this film concurrently," Lionsgate said in a statement. "In today's socially connected marketplace, we all have the ability to share feedback instantly around the world. In keeping with this spirit, Lionsgate and the filmmakers want to give the opportunity to moviegoing audiences and critics alike to see Killers simultaneously, and share their thoughts in the medium of their choosing. We felt that this sense of immediacy could be a real asset in the marketing of Killers". Holy shit,that is some misdirection!
And: Music Hack Day was a full weekend of hacking in San Francisco. The main goal of MHD is to "explore and build the next generation of music applications, in which participants will conceptualize, create and present their projects". Music + software + hardware + art + the web = sounds pretty cool to me. Of particular mention is Tristan's The Swinger, a bit of code that takes any song and makes it swing. It does this by taking each beat and time-stretching the first half of each beat while time-shrinking the second half. Here's some examples:
Every Breath You Take
Enter Sandman
White Rabbit
You can convert your own at Swingify, but keep it simple - those MAGNA polyrhythms don't quite translate so smoothly.
Worst of the week: A rural Mississippi school district that was sued by a lesbian student who wanted to bring a same-sex date to the high school prom is denying accusations it routed her to a "sham prom" at a country club while most of her schoolmates partied elsewhere. Wow, that's more effort than that episode of G-Force where they made them think their plane took off when it really didn't.
The Itawamba County School District addressed the claims made by the ACLU on behalf of Constance McMillen, who attended a prom at the Fulton Country Club that drew fewer than 10 other students from her high school. Most of her classmates attended a separate event at the nearby Evergreen Community Center, to which McMillen was not invited and saw in pictures on the internet. At the time, McMillen had already sued the district over its policy banning same-sex prom dates and for canceling an April 2 school-sponsored prom after the teenager pressed to bring her girlfriend to the event and wear a tuxedo.
A District Judge had ruled in March that the district had violated McMillen's rights, but didn't force the district to reinstate the prom. District officials had told the judge that McMillen was free to attend a parent-sponsored prom, but officials "deny that the parents decided instead to hold two proms, one for the plaintiff and one for her classmates."
No date has been set for the lawsuit to go to trial, but the case has led other school districts to reconsider their prom policies. And their secret prom policies.
And: A Foxconn Technology worker tried to kill himself, becoming the 13th person to commit suicide or attempt to do so this year at the company which makes high-tech products for industry giants such as Apple, Dell and Hewlett-Packard. China, still looking to be a world leader!
Police said the man, who began working there two months ago, survived after cutting himself in his dormitory room at the factory. The 12 previous suicide attempts involved workers who jumped from buildings. Two survived, so I guess it wasn't 12 attempts, but 10 suicides and two attempts. Another worker killed himself in January at a factory in northern China, because that's team-building.
Hours earlier, a Foxconn chairman led a media tour of the industrial park and promised to work harder to prevent more deaths. Maybe they ought to lock the roof access. They showed off a motherboard factory, hot line center and even a swimming pool for employees. The walled-in industrial park, where 300,000 people work, looks like a small city, with palm tree-lined streets, fast-food restaurants, banks and a bookstore among huge factory buildings and towering dormitories. And soul crushing despair.
Safety nets were being installed on buildings and more counselors were being hired. He also said all the employees were being divided into 50-member groups, whose members would watch for signs of emotional trouble within their group. Or make a mass-suicide pact. Labor activists accuse the company of having a rigid management style, a too-fast assembly line and overwork. Foxconn denies the allegations, and noted that productivity and profits were up for the ninth straight quarter.
• North Korea Accuses South Of Faking Warship Sinking - No country wants to admit they killed 42 of their own sailors for no reason, so it makes perfect sense that they'd make it up and blame it on their neighbors. It only works for Koreans (sorry Iran!).
