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Archive for May, 2008

The 25 Most Rockin’ Guitar Riffs

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Rob O’Connor of Y! Music provides a list of 25 of the most gleeful musical masturbations of all time.

Edward Said’s shadowy legacy

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

To Western Orientalists, he was little more than a crude embarrassment, trying to take away the validity of their study simply because they were born into colonial countries, yet the specter of Edward Said still haunts the political and academic landscape today when discussing the study of history of the Middle East.

Want to Remember Everything You’ll Ever Learn? Surrender to This Algorithm

Sunday, May 25th, 2008

Wired has an article on a way to pep up your memory.

Jorge Luis Borges - Documentary Biography

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

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The greatest fiction writer of the 20th Century is featured in a biography.

Netflix to Sell a Device for Instantly Watching Movies on TV Sets

Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

You couch potatoes can rejoice: Netflix has just come up with a device to make it even easier (as if it wasn’t easy enough) to rent movies quickly.

HT- New York Times (must log in).

- Rudy Carrera.

The Mahabharatha - A child’s view

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Literature (in English) for children, when I was growing up in India, was limited to Enid Blyton and Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. Though I read every book I could get my hands on, the books talked about a reality that I didnt know (long summer days? scones? crumpets?). Some years ago, a publisher in Madras (now Chennai) set out to rectify this situation.

One of my favourites is this one - a retelling of the Mahabharatha by an 11 year old girl. It is in two parts and a wonderfully fresh perspective un-coloured by a need to conform.

A must-read if you like mythology and/or children’s literature.

-radhika

Art World

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Behzod Abduraimov
According to this article, Behzod Abduraimov, a 17-year-old Uzbek may be the future of piano music. May he have much success, as the kid has a long career ahead of him.

Rufus Harley - A Love Supreme

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Rufus Harley, A LOVE SUPREME, Washington D.C. 1987

Yes, this really is free jazz with bagpipes.

Fred Newman: Walking Sound Machine

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

Fred Newman“When you get the sound right … it enters the lower brainstem, below the level of intelligence. It’s primal and subliminal.”
- Fred Newman

In a recent interview, sound effects man Fred Newman credits Mel Blanc as a major influence:

The first movie I worked on was “Gremlins,” directed by Joe Dante. And it also was the first time anyone had access to the Warner Bros. cartoon library of sound effects.

Joe wanted a specific classic sound, the sound of a duck being caught by the throat (making the noise perfectly), but we didn’t know what it was called so we couldn’t look it up on the file cards they had. I had to recreate it.

Later an old sound effects guy heard it and told us it was called “trombone garble,” and sure enough, we looked it up and there it was. Mel Blanc did it himself into a trombone!

The energy of those sounds is incredible. If seeing is believing, hearing is feeling. I tell people that, in a movie, the information is on the screen but all the emotion is on the soundtrack.

When you get the sound right, the emotion is there, and that is the beauty of radio sound too. It enters the lower brainstem, below the level of intelligence. It’s primal and subliminal.

- Fred Newman, interviewed by Ken Deutsch @ rwonline: 5.07.2008: Link.

Mel Blanc
Mel Blanc @ Wikipedia

Fred Newman @ Wikipedia

Newman is best known for his work with A Prairie Home Companion.

~ Karl Jones

The Angels Of Light — Nations (live)

Sunday, May 11th, 2008

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A rather sublime piece of music by the Swans‘ former front man and his new band.

The Webby Awards

Tuesday, May 6th, 2008

The Grammys of the web-designer-geek world is here!

- Rudy Carrera.

A first for Saudis: Mozart performed publicly and women come

Saturday, May 3rd, 2008

I have to say this story left me pleasantly surprised. Perhaps the Kingdom of the Prophet (pbuh) is opening up a bit and may wish to learn about her Western neighbors. If true, this is a wonderful sign.

- Rudy Carrera.

Wherefore art thou Mark Hollis?

Friday, May 2nd, 2008

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The Guardian features the genius of former Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis, whose eponymous album left me gobsmacked by its fragile, elegant beauty. Here he is singing “I Believe In You.”

- Rudy Carrera.